Pitchfork Music Festival 2009

I remember being 13 and going to the first Lollapalooza and how it was a huge life changing event in my little adolescent existence. I was just beginning to develop into a young little person with music tastes and artistically becoming aware of who I was and what I enjoyed. I remember being in awe with not only the amazing bands performing, people watching, not to mention drooling over an entire stadium of gorgeous skater, industrial and gothic boys (I was 13!!!) but I remember going into the artist tents and perusing all the artists and their wares, thinking to myself “one day I wish I could be as cool as all of these awesome ladies”

Fast forward 15+ years….

Pitchfork is small in comparison to Lolla, but it was another one of those life changing events in my life. 3 stages of bands, people watching, yes boys, and this time I was one of those awesome ladies vending their wares. There were a ton of little things which threw me back to that one little event that changed my life back in 1991, faces, oh the faces. I can’t even stress enough that for such a huge city Chicago is, the music scene is soo small, I always run into old familiars. Always!! I saw little gothic, indie and grunge kids. (yes, I said grunge) I think the 80’s are dead in Chicago and the new trend for the little ones is the 90’s, which makes me feel awfully old at this point. Perhaps, it due to the lineup of Pitchfork, Lolla being held in Chicago, music from the 90’s being played on the classic rock stations, Riot Fest, who knows but the 90’s are alive and kicking with the young teenage kids in this city. I saw Pixies shirts, Meat Puppets, Jesus Lizard, Flaming Lips, Jane’s Addiction, Naked Raygun, RHCP, Nirvana, Joy Division, Jesus and Mary Chain, Love and Rockets and Mudhoney just to name a few of the band shirts donned by little 14 year olds. It was very surreal to feel like those 15 years never happened…

I was nervous going into the fest, mainly due to the initial investment I paid to be a vender. I thought “as long as I make my booth back I’d be a’ok” Well, I surpassed that the first day and was pleasantly surprised on how well the weekend went over. I had many people recognize my art from local stores. A few of my etsy customers came up and introduced themselves and I was thrilled to be able to meet them live in person! I was interviewed for Café Magazine and Love Chicago took a few pics of my booth for their Blog. I gained another Chicago store that will soon be carrying some of my treasures and had a blast talking to people and seeing some great live bands. I owe my soul to Ken and Dianna for helping me out the entire weekend and putting up with my overly stressed and overly tired brain. Those two will forever be in my debt for that weekend. Eventhough it was July, it felt like it was the kick off to Summer.

Here’s a link to Café Magazine’s write up on Pitchfork:
http://www.cafemagazine.com/index.php/component/content/article/214/214

and LoveChicago’s Blog:
http://www.lovechicago.org/Mambo/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=189

Thank you to everyone who made my crazy flashback weekend such a success! I appreciate it more than words can ever express. What a crazy gypsy summer I am having!!

Xoxo’s
Natasha