Manifest Live Blog
5:52 -- It's getting to be evening. The wind's picked up and the Spectacle Fortuna participants are staging in the SPB lot. In a couple minutes we'll run out to catch the start of the parade, then it's right off to OK Go. Today has been absolutely amazing. Lots of thanks to all the participants, departments and organizers. This has been one amazing day and we already can't wait until next year!
4:45 -- WOW. Wow. We just saw Krystal Metcalfe (who won this year's Biggest Mouth talent show) at the SPB stage. UNBELIEVABLE. We were up front dancing with the student leaders. We'd tell you more about it but we have to hurry off to the fiction readings down at Plymouth Court!
4:02 -- After catching a few of the AEMMP performances in the Hokin, we hit the streets to find some more TICTOC performances. After a spontaneous game of tug-of-war, we ran into Justin Kaufmann and Schadenfreude performing How to Act Like a Cowboy. Uproarious? Is that the right word? We're off to try and meet the roaming Monica Ecchs but along the way we've stumbled (almost literally, once) upon taxidermied pigeons tucked into miniature beds. Methinks this smacks of Adam Rust!
3:39 -- Additional: it looks like we'll get pictures up to the website as soon as early next week. Check back next week and we'll have the images our photographers are taking right now!
3:21 -- Took a quick break at the Garden Stage to take-in a couple of Rocky Horror Picture Show numbers. It was just as fun and campy as one would hope. Then we cruised up Wabash from 11th all the way to Balbo, checking out the Transmission cars. The Graduate Film students were shooting a movie out of theirs; Pump Ink Thread has a cast paper car that is indescribably cool; the guys in the BioTour bus were showing off their solar panels; and there was a lady in blue giving out free ice cream! But the most impressive, by far, were the low riders in the Kar Kulture Pavilion. Simply, incredible.
2:44 -- OK, OK, we had every intention of hustling out of 1104, but thought we'd go upstairs to check out the Interdisciplinary Arts Masters show up on the second floor. And it was well worth the flight of stairs (actually, it would've been worth dozens of flights). It was all jaw dropping. But when we walked into Loni Diep's installation of paper dresses our breath was taken away as well. OK, now, slack jawed, we're headed off to Transmission.
2:23 -- We're currently in the lobby of the 1104 S. Wabash building listening to TICTOC artist Chris Hefner's strange antediluvian soundscapes. It's a low-fi antidote to the high-tech Interactive Arts and Media show we just walked through. Now we're gonna grab some FREE POPCORN (here in the lobby, come grab some) and check out Transmission!
12:58 -- We just got out of 623 S. Wabash which is abuzz with activity. Outside, All Things Lucid are playing good ol' fashioned American folk music. Inside, however, we saw the Interdisciplinary Art Thesis show in the Hokin Gallery. Some really good stuff in there. If you're in the neighborhood, make sure to stop by and get one of the beautiful LIMITED EDITION PRINTS of the manifest bunny from the A&D Print Lab students. They're free!
12:28 -- The Manifest Kick-off just set off the corner of Wabash and Balbo! From down the street came the punk rock marching band Mucca Pazza, winding their way through the crowd towards the SPB stage. After an energetic set by Mucca Pazza we got best wishes by President Carter, Vice President of Student Affairs Mark Kelly and the student leaders, all telling us to enjoy everything at Manifest. Yes! Lets!
