A frightful mess of blood, gore and science gone awry, the Zombie Tacomapocalypse was a huge success for the mad, world-ending geniuses at Treefish Studio. An art show to end all art shows (not to mention the world itself), the first Tacomapocalypse was a thing of surprising beauty, and the launch party was just the shindig to send the world out on.
But, a year has passed and the world seems to have forgotten that it ended. So now – just like the Rapture – it’s happening for a second time: tonight, from 5pm-9pm, Tacomapocalypse II launches at Amocat Cafe.
Described as “a humorously macabre art show” by one of the open calls for arms art, this year’s Tacomapocalypse will feature live music by Gibson Starkweather, a mob of fully re-animated zombies, tasty snacks (including your own brain) and a horde of flesh-eating artwork depicting zombies, ghouls, The End of the World as We Know It™, Tacoma and possibly a dash of love. Because you just can’t bring the world to an end unless you love it enough to tenderly caress it as you stab it to death, re-animate it and set about fulfilling your evil, sadistic plans of doom and mayhem. [Editor's Note: The end of the world may or may not contain actual love. Possible alternatives include sadistic infatuation and bloodlust.]
Though last year’s show failed to permanently end the world, 2012′s Tacomapocalypse II – predicted by the ancient Mayans long ago – is sure to stop the orbit of the Earth, freeze the sun solid and implode the very fabric of our reality.
And if not, there’s always next year.
Official Press Release:
Tacomapocalypse II, the second darkly humorous group art show hosted by Treefish Studio and Amocat Cafe, begins February 3rd, 2012 at Amocat Cafe, 625 St Helens Ave, Tacoma WA. Two- and three-dimensional art featuring apocalyptic themes by local artists present a bold alternative to the Valentine decor more commonly expected at this time of year.
Opening festivities begin at 5:00 PM, and will include snacks, additional artists on hand, live electronic music featuring Gibson Starkweather, a zombie horde, and other special features and shenanigans, to conclude around 9pm.
Tacomapocalypse II runs through February, and is viewable during Amocat’s regular winter hours of 7 to 2:30 Monday thru Friday, and during special events as they happen (Such as the monthly music events. See their page at AmocatCafe.com for updates and further details.)
“This is our opportunity to make his dream a reality.”
Those words were spoken by Dennis Lucas, a member of Occupy Tacoma and one of the organizers of Occupy the Hood, at a candlelight vigil held in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. at Occupation Park.
The vigil began at about 7:15 PM on October 15th, slightly later than the scheduled 7:00 start. Occupiers lit candles and stood in a circle on the sidewalk by Pacific Avenue for a moment of silence followed by time of open sharing and discussion.
“When I was growing up,” explained Lucas, “I was more of a Malcom X fan. I didn’t get the whole non-violent aspect of [Dr. King's] movement. But as you grow up over a period of time and you start to learn and understand life, you realize that the only way to get anything accomplished would be through a non-violent protest.”
“I respect him for his bravery to be a forward thinker and understand that before most people did,” Lucas added. “We all know from being in this Occupy movement that dealing with aggression and not responding with aggression is a hard thing to do.”
“That’s what I believe this Occupy movement is actually picking up off of, from the civil rights movement. Because it’s all inclusive, the way Dr. King was. He started out championing for the rights of African Americans, and then progressed into championing for the rights of human beings. And that’s what we’re all about.”
“Martin Luther King talked about the idea of a beloved community, and I didn’t quite get that for a while,” said Jo Walters.
Walters went on to describe how she used to think that King was being very specific, referring to loving your neighbors and countrymen or love between the different races. “But it’s so much broader. What he’s talking about is a sense of humanity, seeing our entire community as beloved by all of us and feeling a sense of collective responsibility for each other.”
“I think that’s what the Occupy movement is doing: it’s helping to move his dream of a beloved community forward.”
Occupiers continued to share their thoughts, both about Dr. King and their visions of an ideal future. Most, if not all, of these idealized worlds reflected King’s own ideas in one way or another.
Toward the end of the event, Mike Ladd pointed to another Occupier’s sign, which included a photograph of King being arrested by two police officers in Birmingham, Alabama.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. being arrested in Montogomery, Alabama on September 4, 1958.
“In school,” said Ladd, “we hear about his nice black guy who fought for civil rights and got assassinated and how sad it was.”
“We hear about the I Have A Dream speech – it’s a beautiful speech – but we don’t read Letter From Birmingham Jail, we don’t read Beyond Vietnam and we don’t hear about the Poor People’s Campaign,” Ladd continued. ”I’m more partial to the image of Martin Luther King sitting in jail than I am to him giving a speech, because I think it gets to the essence of what he’s talking about.”
Ladd elaborated, describing how King had come to the conclusion that “the issues of race and civil rights [were] intimately intertwined with that of social class.”
“In many ways, we’re picking up where he left off.”
“We are the change we’d like to see in the world,” said Francesca Carreras-Velez. “This is it: this is happening, and it’s unstoppable.”
“And the only way we will be stopped is if we stop ourselves.”
First Night is easily my favorite event out of the entire year. Tacoma’s way of ringing in the new year surpasses any other in terms of sheer enjoyment, and this year was no exception.
Every year, I try to drag more and more friends out, and this year I managed to get Paul Fleece of Norman Tweeter Productions to attend, camera in hand (though as his fingers do little in the way of movement, he required the help of our friend Jonathan and myself to actually hold said camera). Check out the video that resulted, including the excellence of the Fab 5‘s Christopher Jordan and local musician Aaron Spiro.
Occupy Tacoma initiated its first action eight days ago, on October 7, 2011. I went to this first march expecting no more than a couple dozen at most, a scattered handful being more likely. What I found, instead, was what The News Tribune reported to be around 200 people. I was shocked, and happily so.
Photo by NorthTacoma.net
I’m impressed that the Occupy Wall Street movement has spread as virally as it has. I just took part in my own local version, Occupy Tacoma. A local paper, The News Tribune, posted a blog during the march saying there were about 200 people present. That doesn’t seem like much, but…honestly, I expected a couple dozen at most. Tacoma isn’t a city known for protests. We’ve got Seattle to the North of us and Olympia to the South; those cities are protest magnets. Stuck in between the two, my own city doesn’t seem to get that active very often, probably because the more protest-minded citizens find larger groups to share their anger with elsewhere.
Occupy Tacoma looked different from Occupy Wall Street, as all the #Occupy events take different tactics. Some take all the legal measures, some take a more anarchistic approach, some get violent, some stay peaceful…the thing that impresses me, though, is the variety of people in the crowd.
A lot of people like to dismiss protests - any protest – because all they can see are “anarchist punks” or “lazy hippies”. This is already a poor mindset to have for any protest, but it’s especially inaccurate for the #Occupy events across the nation. At Occupy Tacoma, I saw people of all ages, all walks of life. Sure, there were folks there who would fit the stereotypes you’d expect at a protest. But there were all other types there, as well. And everyone there, whether they fit the idea of a “stereotypical protester” or not, was an American – more importantly, a human being (well, okay, there were some dogs as well) – who has grown sick of seeing the American dream kicked around by corporate interests.
Occupy Tacoma marches toward the Federal Courthouse. Photo by Adam J. Manley.
Those were my initial thoughts, as recorded on Google Plus. Since that day, I’ve taken part in community-driven planning meetings for the continuation of Tacoma’s arm of the #Occupy/99% movement. And today I was surprised to see even more people than last week show up to the march and rally we held today. Hundreds more turned out at People’s Park, marching down with us to an assortment of sites before ending with a rally at Tollefson Plaza. The energy was nearly sparking in the air.
Occupy Tacoma marches down Pacific Avenue after flooding Wells Fargo Plaza. Photo by Adam J. Manley.
After the rally, a smaller (but not insubstantial) portion of the protesters moved on to Pugnetti Park – which Occupy Tacoma has renamed “Occupation Park” – on 21st & Pacific, next to the Washington State History Museum. A barely known little thing that few even realize exists as they walk or drive along the side of it, it is now the site of Tacoma’s occupation. If you have any time in the coming days and weeks, take a few minutes, a few hours or even a few days, if you can, and join Occupy Tacoma in solidarity with the rest of the 99%.
Voting requires that you register at KingOfWeb.com, but once you’re registered you can vote ten times every day. If you don’t want to commit to me, votes can be spread out to multiple people, but given how low a vote count I’ve got right now, I’d love you forever if you voted for me ten times a day.
I talk a bit about why I want to win in the video above, but basically it comes down to this: I’m still on a slow recovery from having my home condemned out from under me just weeks after moving in back in 2009. I used all my money moving in, and had a carefully crafted financial plan to build my money up again, but it depended on things staying stable. Less than three weeks after moving in, I got home from lunch to notices on the building door, from the city and the fire department, saying that everyone had to be out by that night.
I was briefly homeless – not living on the street, as I had a floor to crash on, but still very much without a home – and from then on, it’s been a struggle. I was, that very month, beginning a review period at work, and the stress caused my job performance to suffer. I was let go before I could pull everything back together. I’ve since lived on donations, odd jobs and self-employment as a videographer and editor.
For the latter part, jobs have been sparse, but I’m starting to pull myself up, get more clients, and whatnot. But I’m still jumping at any chance I get to better get out of the hole I’ve found myself in. I competed in YouTube NextUp unsuccessfully, and now I’m trying my hand at King of the Web. Some of the smaller monetary prizes would, at least, help me rebuild a rent buffer, but the larger ones – even second place – would help me purchase new equipment with which to better find work in my field.
On that point, I’m especially working at buying a new camera; mine died last spring. I’m currently utilizing a borrowed camera, but I have to return it by Christmas. Right now, I’m not sure if I’ll have enough saved up by then to buy a new one of the quality that I need to make the videos that I do (both for myself and for clients). It doesn’t help that self-employment comes with a lot of cost: trips to promote my business, license fees, etc.
I don’t mean to sound like I’m sure I do; I know everybody has their own sob story, especially in this economy. But that’s a little bit of mine, simply because I want to let people know why I want this so badly. I love making videos, films, movies…it’s what I live and breathe. I have some lofty goals, and many stories to tell. So please consider helping me get there. And thank you for taking the time to read this.
Come on, you know the alien invasion is coming either way. Might as well vote your extraterrestrial master democratically into his (my) role as monarch. Right? Right?
**IMPORTANT! The site you must register to vote at is kingofweb.com, not kingoftheweb.com, as I said in my video. Please spread the word on my error even as you spread the word of my mighty awesomeness!
The Westlake Center in downtown Seattle proved unfriendly to visiting Slutwalkers, kicking anyone associated with the protest out. The claim was “indecent exposure”, however most of the Slutwalkers entering the mall were dressed no more indecently than the typical, everyday Seattlites that regularly shop there.
In response, the collected Slutwalkers tell Westlake to stick it somewhere indecent.
