Posters

AESTHETIC APPARATUS silk screened print show
The Local Gallery in downtown historic Hot Springs, Arkansas
Opening Reception
Friday, March 6th - gallery walk
5PM - 9PM

Images of rock and roll have been embedded in our minds, Jimi Hendrix on his knees summoning fire up from his guitar, The Clash "London Calling" album cover, or a bloody Sid Vicious. Afterall, image is a massive part of the music culture that has been responsible for legions of flannel clad grunge kids, hip-hop waistlines and even Ms. Hannah Montana. Bands design t-shirts, buttons, panties, hats, jackets, album covers and for the sake of this blog - posters. As a kid, I hung glossy Pink Floyd, Doors and Farah Fawcett posters in my bedroom. My college dorm room was an alter to The Cure, Bauhaus and U2. Even today, I proudly display posters in my home - mostly from my old band days and all of The Valley of the Vapors Independent Music Festival hand-silk-screened-limited-edition-signed and numbered posters from some of today's most important rock poster designers like Jay Ryan, and Nate Duval. Silk screened rock posters came into popular culture in the 60's, where replaced by black light posters in the 70's and then came back into importance in the 90's and today. There are thousands of designers and silk screeners creating images for rock shows, festivals, books, pop-icons and so on. One of the best resources for diving into this sub-culture can be found at www.gigposters.com. Gig Posters has a massive and continuously growing library of rock posters to browse.

The VOV has been making it a tradition to ask one of these designers to design and print a limited run of VOV posters each year, and hang a small sampling of their other works during the festival. Low Key Arts has hosted beautiful art shows for Jay Ryan's hand drawn and silk screened poster including the child-like image of teddy bear eating a sandwich in the valley of the vapors. Nate Duvall's 2008 design gave props to the mobster past of Hot Springs with a cheshire cigar grinning Al Capone. This year The VOV has commissioned the Minneapolis collective AESTHETIC APPARATUS.
Aesthetic was started by Dan Ibarra & Michael Byzewski, who by combining their mutual interest in printmaking and music, began to build a groundwork of limited edition hand-printed concert posters that would gain them enough recognition nationally and internationally. Having designed and printed posters for some of todays rock icons like White Stripes, Bob Mould, The Go-Go's, The Decemberists, as well as, politicians and celebrities like Barack Obama.

The Local Gallery in downtown Hot Springs will host the unveiling of The VOV 2009 limited edition silk screened poster, which will be available for sale. The VOV 2009 poster is limited to 65 prints and is printed on heavyweight paper, signed and numbered by Michael Byzewski of Aesthetic Apparatus and stamped for authenticity. In addition, to The VOV 2009 poster, The Local Gallery walls will adorn other Aesthetic prints including; LUCERO, THE BREEDERS, AGAINST ME, THE DECEMBERISTS, SPOON and BOB MOULD to name a few.
All prints will be available for purchase although only a very limited supply will be available.

Hope to see you at The Gallery Walk!

AESTHETIC APPARATUS silk screened print show
The Local Gallery in downtown historic Hot Springs, Arkansas
Opening Reception
Friday, March 6th - gallery walk
5PM - 9PM

Hot Springs - Spring Break, We Need a Place to Crash

Countless times I have been to a show where the band announces from stage, "Hey, we need a place to crash for the night". Yep, believe it or not, most bands touring the underground-DIY circuit can't afford a room at "the six", so they rely (hope) that some kid at the show will meet them at the merch table and say, "you dudes can crash on my floor", which often means that said "kid" gets a chance to hang with the band that recorded the 7-inch that has been spinning on his turntable for the last 7 seven months. For the band it means a hot shower, warm house, maybe some food and laundry, a cool record collection to browse, an internet hook-up, Wii to play, and hopefully a bit of quality conversation to have with a local. In the morning, the kid might get hooked up with a t-shirt and CD, and the band with some pancakes. When the kid and band say good-bye it seals the deal on a relationship that will bring the band back to town - this is what makes The bands, and the people who support The VOV an example of equal exchange, trust and community. This is the root of the underground community and a great example for all humanity. In short, give up your floor, couch, bed, or futon to a band - its good for you. Its good for all of us.

But I digress, so you're not in a band which means you dont have access to a microphone to announce to a room full of strangers that you need a place to crash. If that's the case, Hot Springs has plenty of hotels - both fancy-schmancy and certified dumps. Hot Springs is surrounded by National Forest, so I suppose you can just hike up the mountain behind Low Key Arts and lay your head on a log. For those of you who prefer a little more planning, try THE VELDA ROSE HOTEL, which is across the way from Low Key Arts - an easy stumble home. Mention The VOV and get a $49 room- sweet! For the naturalist, try Gulpha Gorge Campground which is a quick 10 minute drive to downtown Hot Springs. Check the "Where to Stay" section of the site for more info.

Hot Springs for Spring Break!? Who woulda thunk?

HOT SPRINGS (national park) HUH?

Never in a thousand years would I have ever imagined that Hot Springs would be where I called "home" having lived in Chicago for most of my years. I loved having to pick between a dozen amazing rock shows a night, taking my pick of coffee shops, restaurants, and parks to play in - seven days a week and most all hours of the night. Slow, sleepy, relaxed and safe never seemed to be in the cards for me.

Six years ago, Hot Springs came a knockin' with its criminally cheap real estate, its fresh sweet air, its famed and free flowing spring water (yeah, I get my spring water for free at the jug fountains), sorted history of indians, mobsters, gambling and bootlegging. Let's not forget the rocks too - bauxite, nevaculite, diamonds, crystals, crystals and more crystals... However, all that neat stuff aside, it became pretty clear pretty fast that the need to see and hear live music (no, not the bar band blues kind) was pulling at my most deep rooted innards, and was not available here.

Hot Springs is known as one the great small art towns in America, but truth be told as a painter friend of mine said, "filled with old lady art". The kind in really thick gold frames that fits great with your living room furniture. But one Gallery Walk Friday some six years ago I stumbled across a bunch of punk kids with 40's in paper bags blaring Cap'n Jazz cassettes on a broken boom box in a 3rd floor corner gallery. To me, it looked like a typical punk show in any town, USA but there was no band! These kids were having an art show. Instead of guitar amps and drums there was plywood and chicken wire - painted, sculpted and nailed to the wall. On that night, I found that urge pulling at plenty of deep rooted innards.

So anyway, it took a little while to find a small sub-culture of freaks, but like any big town, or small town its out there - you just need to search it out. So figuring that so many of you will be traveling from across the United States and the world for that matter, I put together a to-do list, or a scavenger hunt of places to seek out in Hot Springs National Park. Happy freak hunting!!


THE MERCURY RUB ROOM AT THE FORDYCE BATH HOUSE MUSEUM

The Velda Rose Hotel - across the street from Low Key Arts. Mention the VOV and get a $49 room. (psst... its where the bands are staying)Vicki's Coffee Shop - organic coffee and super hot hipster baristasRedbeards Living Canvas - tattoos, best in the South
CD's For Less - dig into the vinyl bins Quapaw Bath House - a $15 hot springs community bath
The Fordyce - take the FREE bathhouse museum tour
McClards BBQ - super amazing bbqu sandwiches - hey theres Bill Clinton over there...

Bill Clinton's Boyhood Home - go ahead, take a picture.Miracle Electronics - owned by a Reverand who fixes tube amps and has the most killer R&B, Soul, Blues and Jazz vinyl collection for sale.The Country Store - bulk foods, a mom and pop whole foodsMid America Science Museum - interactive museum with a lazer light show and the worlds largest Tesla Coil
The Gangster Museum - the only one in the world
Oaklawn Race Track - bet the horses and visit the casino
Lake Oauchita - a most refreshingly clean lake



Do you have a suggestion for cool spots to see for our VOV Visitors? Drop a comment...

Murder By Death confirmed for The VOV

The Indiana quartet known as MURDER BY DEATH will be stopping in Hot Springs National Park to headline The Friday VOV show with Haymarket Riot (chicago) and The Bitter Tears (chicago). MBD who released their 4th full length entitled Red of Tooth and Claw on Vagrant Records last year has gathered critic praise from Performing Songwriter, Paste, Decoy, Revolver and Alternative Press who said, "they've finally realized the full potential they've been hinting at- and like all great stories, its not always pretty." The addition of MBD to The VOV line-up without a doubt brings The VOV to another level after 5 years. Every day of festival will host the highest caliber of underground music today including The Monotonix (Israel), Pink Spiders (Tennessee), The Queers (Rhode Island), Murder By Death (Indiana), Headlights (Illinios) and whole hell of a lot more.

Advanced ticket information will be available soon.

Get Your Tickets here...Tickets!!

We set up a ticket making assembly line the other day - copy, cut, number, stamp, emboss, stack and wrap with rubber bands. The place reeked of stamp ink, it made our good friend and VOV Board Chair, Shannon sick to her stomach, but we stretched our shirts over our noses and got the job done. Make a package here, one there, and another over there. Mark the envelope for their destinations - official VOV ticket outlets, Maxines, Vicki's Coffee, Redbeards Tattoos, and CD's For Less. We jumped in the car armed with our ticket packets, tally sheets, VOV flyers, posters and scotch tape and away we went to spread The VOV love around Hot Springs National Park. You'll see our strange wooded and one-eyed creature peering out at you from store fronts all around town. It's an invasion!!

Anyway, so what's the point of this rant.. TICKETS - that's what. IMPORTANT NOTE: There are only 200 tickets available for each show, so PLEASE buy your tickets now before the shows sell out. Here's the quick list of ticket outlets.

VICKIS COFFEE CORNER - have a cup of coffee and chat up the beautiful and viciously funny barista girls.
406 Central Avenue in downtown Hot Springs 501-623-2221

REDBEARDS LIVING CANVAS TATTOOS - best tattoo parlor in The South!
413 Park Avenue in Hot Springs 501-623-4744

CD's FOR LESS - vinyl, vinyl, search the vinyl section!
1520 Albert Pike Road in Hot Springs 501-623-1440

MAXINES - Brave Combo tickets only at the bar.
700 Central Avenue in downtown Hot Springs 501-321-0909

and of course, here at www.valleyofthevapors.com Just click the BUY TICKETS icon and purchase through Paypal.