We, Sparky and I that is, do Bele Chere every year and we always seem to go on Saturday during the hottest part of the day. Sometimes we can talk some of our friends into going but this year we went solo. It was pretty hot but not as hot as it has been in years past.
This kid was typical of how people dressed their babies this year:
However most other people gave their babies food or something to chew on, these folks were going in a different route. Good for them, gnawing on an empty tray will build character in that kid some day.
Speaking of food, I'm pretty sure those hippies fried the chicken and tater tots in Patchouli oil and they laced the waffles with Mary Jane.Here's a brief summary of some the things I learned at this year's event:
Video games are not just for inside play anymore.
Some white guys can't keep their shirts on, no matter how much other white guys want them to. And by other white guys I mean me.
Kids with hair-dos like this always crack me up.
Turns out that the long lost black member of Dexy's Midnight Runners was not an urban legend after all. He's real and he was in Asheville yesterday.
The gal at the candy apple/fudge/ice cream booth is kind of okay with fat bastards who take her picture. And by fat bastards I mean me.
Some people have waaaay more balls (or in this case ovaries) than me. This chick was doing a karaoke version of Little Drummer Boy. It was Christmas in July for about three minutes.I also learned that douchebags come in all manner of shapes and sizes. Here's 'Hong Kong Phooey Douchebag':
Here's 'Jesus Hates Anyone Who Isn't White Douchebag':
And finally we have 'Hey Look At Me, Aren't I Super Clever and Amusing Douchebag(s)':
I also learned that buskers are everywhere.Hey look, it's the little drummer boy:
It's the angsty guitar girl:
And finally we have the white noise busker:
I also learned that superheroes walk amongst us and they dig ice cream just like we do:
But the biggest thing I learned from this year's Bele Chere was that you can take the granny out of the trailer park, but you can't take the trailer park out of the granny:
I'm betting she was on her way to eat some of that patchouli fried chicken, get the letters 'G-I-L-F' tattooed on her lower back, or to see if Spiderman would shower her in a stream of his hot wet 'webbing.'Oh Bele Chere, how I love you and I'm already looking forward to seeing you again next year!
While we waited for Todd and Donna to arrive from Knoxville Sparky perused some of the artists booths and I got to see a fabulous show put on by Baton Woman (I have no idea what her real name is). Baton Woman is a gal who is in her mid to late 30's, she's rail thin, and very energetic. I was innocently snapping photos faster than a Japanese tourist when I heard her loud music coming from her portable tape player. Then I turned and I saw her doing a kick ass baton twirling routine. She was tossing that baton high and catching it, smiling and showing off all the while. It was a treat to see her work her baton magic. By the time she finished she was beaming with joy. She smiled and waved to the five or six of us who watched her and I started applauding because she put on one heck of a performance. I tossed a buck and some change in her tip bucket and I told her she was great. You could have powered a small city with the wattage of her smile when she heard me say that.
This flute guy was playing some serious screeching shitty stuff. I wanted to ask him if he took requests and if he said he did then I was going to request he stop playing but alas I did not. I settled for making snide remarks about his awful musical stylings with my buddy Todd.
Speaking of music, we watched this guy with a drum walk up and start to jam with the three other guys. They smiled and let him sit in for about half a song but when he his drumming started to drown out their playing they ran him off.
As the day wore on the temperature went higher and the ones who suffered the most were little fair skinned white kids. In the above picture the woman in the wheel chair was trying to comfort the squirming kid in the stroller but as you can tell he was hatin' on her efforts.
One of the great things about Bele Chere is how community activist organizations use it to spread their messages. PETA has a booth, the ACLU, various conservation groups, and all kinds of political organizations have booths as well. This year I was glad to see that the Obama campaign had booths all over the place and they were registering voters right and left. They also were not content just to sit there so they'd send out people into the crowds to ask if anyone wanted to get registered. I had about three of their people at various times ask me if I was signed up to vote. I looked for Bush McCain backers and Republicans who wanted to get people registered to vote but I found none. How shocking.
But the gals who are still using it are still cute as buttons.
Thankfully the "wok hat" look was confined to this one gal.
One of the exceptions was this artist who makes metal fish and mermaids. I love this guy's work. When I hit the lottery jackpot I'm going to buy some of his art.
These two little gals, ages probably in the range of 10 to 12, act was to recite song lyrics in unison and then they'd just suddenly freeze and glare at one another. Then after a moment or two they'd start up again in unison. It was kind of unsettling to see them but after watching for a minute or so their act became kind of cool.
This chick is one of a cadre of young people who dress up like statues and beat on a drum. They'll stand stock still and then every three minutes or so they'll beat out a rat-a-tat-tat and then freeze again. If you toss them a tip they'll bow as a way to say thanks for your generosity. Some of them, like this chick, do it well and they have great make up and costumes, but some who do this really suck at it. 
These pricks stood on a street corner and tried to make the rest of us frightened enough to join them in their delusional religion that's based on fear, obedience to the patriarchy, and death and dismemberment. And they were joined by a couple of asshole who spread the "good news" about how all of us who do not believe as they do are going to burn in hell because we don't take the metaphor of Jesus as seriously as they do. Oh well, some people are never so happy as when they're ruining it for the rest of us. 
New York Times columnist, bestselling author, and Bush administration apologist Thomas Friedman had a booth where he tried to tell anyone who would listen that we need to give the war in Iraq another six months before we even think of pulling out and he also preached about how much we should all love globalization even though it's ruining our economy, our food system, and our lives. As you can see his booth was not well attended at all.
And finally we spotted a member of the Loyal Order of The Water Buffalo dancing to the strains of a Zydeco band, that's him in the fuzzy blue hat. I tried to get a better shot of him but his dance moves made that impossible.
We got these postcards of handpainted photos by an artist named Donna Brown. I really like them a lot. I especially like the top one which shows a handpainted photo from an Asheville business called Kim's Wig Boutique. They actually have wigs that color in that store, I know because when we walk by it all the time when we go to downtown Asheville.
And I really like my new Patriots for Peace sticker too. 
I also got a button that has a picture of Jesus smoking a pipe that says, "Crack Whores for Jesus." I can't wait to wear it around Johnson City, I'm sure it will endear me to many more people.
It reminds me of Degas, but Ms. Stoddard has a style all her own. She also had some great paintings and prints of buss forms and dresses. I liked this one because the female figure is faceless and Ms. Stoddard made that playing card part of the print. I like mixed media stuff in case you could not tell.