God’s Favorite Beefcake, Seattle WA

So…why this video from 2011 if I’m gonna post about Folklife 2012…well let me tell ya’ll a story and use that as my post with just images from FL2012…

2011…last year I went to the Georgetown Carnival with @boohi_bronson and @smlife and it was a great day for shooting street…I posted quite a few photos…one was of a guy who was dressed like the 60’s MIB secret agent and he was talking on his cell like he was tracking someone…another image was of a Tom Selleck type moustache guy that Boohi and I ran into at Starbucks and his ‘stache was just straight amazing…luckily I ran into him at the Carnival…and another photo was of a man with a top hat, a real interesting moustache, with a vest of golden sequins…all of these posted onto my Instagram of course, but I can’t for the life of me find the original RAW formats that I would’ve loved to post…

The Carnival like Folklife has many awesome characters…a lot of folk bands which makes for dope music…and I’m not a folk music expert or nothing but I do find the history and the music and the people to be very awesome…

Fast forward now to yesterday in Seattle…mass murder that had the shooter murder members of God’s Beefcake, including Schmootzi the Clod and Meshugunah Joe…Joe is the third guy I mentioned up above…top hat, real interesting moustache, and a vest of golden sequins…the muder took place in the Roosevelt neighborhood of Seattle at Cafe Racer, a local coffee spot that was a spot for folk music and art and was well respected for their arts involvement in the community…the shooter then took a bus to downtown and murdered an innocent woman, a mother of two, for her vehicle…and all victims were shot in the head, with one fighting for his life at Harborview now…

The shooter then ends up in West Seattle where Seattle Police finds him and he ends up taking his own life in a residential neighborhood…

Initially when I was at Folklife, I wanted to take photos of the artists and musicians of Folklife in a way that is different that what was getting posted on Instagram…the ducklipped teenagers, the Space Needle, the bursting water fountain in the middle…there were some great shots posted to the hashtag #folklife of some musicians…well I wanted to capture those moments of the artists and the musicians to show that the spirit of the festival was really true to the original founders…it’s about the culture of the northwest, the music, the art, the community…and then a shooting happened on Saturday and I was going to talk about the plague of violence that has happened around town and how the mission of Folklife got lost…since 2008, Folklife has had gun violence top the news at the festival…and i was going to talk about the fucked up things…like the boss (my wife’s nickname) and I were talking about why we had to leave Folklife by 3PM because the kids are starting to show up and that means it’s not such a family atmosphere any more and we should get going…it’s wierd that all of Seattle’s (I’m sure in a lot of the world’s metropolitan cities has this problem also) festivals are set like that…fun times until the late afternoon when it’s time to get moving because it’s about safety…well shit…I’m starting to go into commentary about guns and gun violence and I don’t wanna get into that…

So let me parlay real quick into the music…again I’m not a folk expert…but the music to me, shows a lot of soul and real life talk about being alive in this world we live…I mean all music does for the most part…but folk music really carries that old school vibe for me, with mandolins,  and banjos and washtub instruments…and the carnival and circus feel to it…entertaining and yet gritty and country…I gravitated to a lot of the musicians at Folklife this year…mostly to those that had some great lyrics and emotion in performing…the ones that caught my ear, and my son’s ear…he absolutely LOVED the washtub instruments and the drummers on buckets…for the few hours my family was at Folklife it was a great feeling to remember the mission of the original founders ideas on showcasing the art and music from the Northwest…and I’m not into the stage musicians so much…but really love the buskers…the street musicians…with their music and harmonizing and gritty yeeeehah’s…lots of finger pickin, cheesy grins (Graham if you read this…this is why folks look so happy in my shots)…they just love the music, love the work that they do singin and entertaining!

Two of my favorite bands at Folklife this year was Intuitive Compass and The Bottlecap Boys.

Nora from Intuitive Compass

Summary:  It’s too fucked up that in the news it’s about the violence and not about the festival any more…and it’s too bad that people aren’t willing to go and experience it because of the crowds…and more importantly the violence that occurs at a family friendly event…it’s too fucked up…

For the victims of the murders, for the victims of senseless violence, for the music lovers, for the arts lovers, for my city…this is for you…

REST IN PEACE Schmootzi the Clod, Meshugunah Joe, and the other victims from May 29, 2012.

**Disclaimers: 1. I’m not a journalist 2. I’m not a folk expert 3. I wish this world was different sometimes.**

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Luke from The Bottlecap Boys

Ross from The Bottlecap Boys

Nora from Intuitive Compass

Bass Player for Intuitive Compass

Wyatt from Intuitive Compass

Bellydancer from Folklife

Captain Aaaaar, The Pirate

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No Ask Photography =)

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Brad Puet

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