Artscape vs. Whartscape

vs.

Good lord, Charm City is throwing down the gauntlet this weekend. There's Artscape--the country’s largest, free public arts festival--and rival weekend fest, Whartscape--the partial birth contortion food baby genius of Wham City, a collective of local Baltimore artist-agitator-weirdos.

Starting Friday afternoon and running until Sunday evening, Artscape’s enormous line-up reads like a MARC train schedule, with live acts departing every hour or half hour. It’s kind of overwhelming, but once your eyes adjust, it’s easier to tune out say, the more family-friendly acts (if that’s not your thing). Music highlights for me run like this (see schedule for various locations):

Friday
3 pm: Teeth Mountain (trance-y, also playing for pay at Whartscape)
4 pm: THUS (weird instruments)
5 pm: Lucky, the Magic Clown (finally a chance to relive childhood horrors!)
8:30 pm Roberta Flack (I’m not a huge fan, but you know, legend and all)
8:30 pm Joan Jett and the Blackhearts (duh)

Saturday
3 pm: JuiceBoxxx (this guy slayed at SXSW)
5 pm: Lucky, the Magical Clown (ok, on the second day he’s upgraded to magical? this is terror!)
8:30 pm: DIPLO (bring your burned copy of the Deceptacon remix for signing!)
8:30 pm: Dru Hill and SISQO (yes!!!! are you for serious??)

Sunday
2 pm: Sac Au Lait (I don’t know what this is, but I hope it has to do with milky balls)
4:30 pm: Chopteeth (D.C. Afro-funk mind-blowers)
7 pm: Ecstatic Sunshine (also on the Whart bill; psych-rock)

Artscape wins points for being free, including a visual arts component (not listed here), and well, a critical mass of magic(al) clowning. But . . . Whartscape starts a day earlier and runs later, is pretty inexpensive when you consider the bang for your buck ($12 for day passes; $40 for four-day pass), and aligns more closely to my art-indie musical tastes. If you read what the kids at Wham City are doing to support small bands in Baltimore, it’s pretty impressive and in-step with a lot of sentiments I’ve read on TNG about celebrating local artists who are challenging the mainstream “sterilization” of art and music.

Wham City is a bunch of kids that met at SUNY Purchase, moved to Baltimore, and spent some time drinking, smashing things, and collaborating on art. They’re still doing all three, but they’ve created the most amazing rubble. This is their 3rd fest, and if you believe the local (and Pitchfork) lore of Whartscapes past; this bill of mostly Baltimore bands is not to be missed.

Thursday night is more of an experimental music and theatre showcase, Friday is lo-fi singer-songwriter jams, Saturday and Sunday are Natty Boh’s-to-the-wall oddball eclecticism. So here’s a hits list for Whartscape, but pretty much, the whole thing is awesome (hit the links and make up your own genre conclusions, I’m getting lazy):

Thursday
10:20 pm: Ultimate Reality (video/music performance)
11:20 pm: Matmos

Friday
7:55 pm: Santa Dads
8:35 pm: Lesser Gonzalez
9:55 pm: Jana Hunter

Saturday
3:10 pm: Food For Animals
3:30 pm: Wzt Hearts
5:00 pm: Ecstatic Sunshine
6:30 pm: DD/MM/YYYY
7:00 pm: Mae Shi
11:55 pm: Nuclear Power Pants
12:15 am: Videohippos
12:45 am: Celebration

Sunday
2:40 pm: Ear Pwr
4:55 pm: Future Islands
5:55 pm: Dan Deacon
8:00 pm: Parts & Labor
8:30 pm: Ponytail
11:40 pm: Ninjasonik
2:00 am Who Is The Tunafish Man? (Dan Deacon + Girltalk + Spankrock)

If you see me sweating my face off at one of the shows, please say hi! Okay, now I’m going to go get fired from my job because I’ve spent an entire day compiling this.

Special thanks to Jelissa B. Daul for knowing what’s up.