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| - This review is attributable to the First Friday Event that took place on April 1st 2011.
Sorry folks, First Fridays is not for me. I went last week hoping to discover an exciting new aspect of the Valley's cultural ascendance but I left feeling totally bummed. The whole scene felt like a sort of bizarro reverse Scottsdale Fashion Square counterculture. Like day vs night, conformists vs non-conformists, capitalists vs social anarchists. I felt like I was engulfed by people trying so hard not to fit in that they somehow managed to become clones of themselves. And you know what sucks about the whole thing?... I'll bet there are dozens of extremely talented young artists whose work is completely overwhelmed by sheer sensual overload of this spectacle. A perfect example would be this fantastically talented young girl singing and playing guitar. She couldn't be more than 16 years old. Great voice. About 35 feet away there was loud punk rock band jamming away completely drowning out our fresh faced heroine. Or, was it the opposite? Maybe I was the one who was wrong and it was my youthful singer whose little amplifier managed to get in the way of an even more talented band, maybe Phoenix's version of Social Distortion or the Misfits? Either way, I was totally disoriented....... and bummed.
I felt the same way about the conventional art on display. I made a concerted effort to find unique works, possibly a piece that really resonated with me that I would want to see on a wall in my home. Instead 90% of what I saw there reminded me of the doodles and art class projects that my friends and I used to create when our lives were devoted to playing Dungeons and Dragons and watching Hellraiser marathons on VHS.
On a side note, is it just me or do young people who devote their lives to blood, gore, pain and suffering annoy anyone else? If these kids think life sucks now I can't wait to see them after they end up with hundreds of thousands of dollars in student loans only to realize that their newfound reality will be years and years of toiling away in the friendly confines of a 6 square foot gray cubicle. And compared to many third word citizens this new reality would be considered paradise. It's that lack of perspective that I have a hard time accepting. But we all go through our phases and I wish them the best of luck.
Trust me, I feel horrible that I have to write a negative review. I know there is some really great stuff out there. I just couldn't find it. It didn't take me long to simply give up and start drinking. Fortunately we found a cool little place to drown our sorrows called "Lost Leaf" which turned out to be one of the highlights of my evening.
The only way I would go back is if someone convinces me that they can show me all the hidden gems at First Friday buried amongst the dark alleys and dusty, vacant lots. If that happens I would be glad to revise my review and formally apologize for not having the patience to discover these cultural treasures on my own.
And before you rip me apart for not having the ability to see the true beauty of this event please understand that I have read Chomsky, Zinn, Hitchens etc...I spent much of my youth hobnobbing with homeless buskers at The Pearl Street Mall in Boulder. I studied Marx and Engels in college and I have spent entire days soaking it all in at the Pompidou and Musee d'Orsay. And to top it off, I hand wrote "Nader" on my presidential ballot once, and might do it again someday. So spare me the tired accusations of xenophobia and intolerance. BTW...Go Buffs!
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