PIER PLEASURE

Multi-media arts event and benefit for Hallwalls, with music by Odiorne, Dread Beats, Lee Ron Zydeco & The Hot Tamales, Outer Circle Orchestra, Gore Gore Girls, Poetic Voices, Sid Winkler Organic Analogue Trance Thing, Joe and Sue Rozler, a duo performance of John Lombardo and Joe Rozler, Baby Steps and DJ Xotec (hip-hop spinners). Also with Chevon Davs and Friends. Also presented a fashion show by Buffalo State students, Erin Habees and Mary Popedick, and Desiree Murphy from North Tonawanda High School, a reality installation by Josephine Anstey and Dave Pape, body-painting by Cole Ferron, self portrait station set up by Brian Nesline.

Hallwalls Presents: Pier Pleasure It’s Party Time! Prepare for a fun filled night on the lake. Friday, July 19, 2002 at The Festival Grounds at the Pier Between the Skyway and the Seaway 8 pm to 4 am. (from the west take the skyway to the Fuhrmann Blvd./Coast Guard exit, the first right after exiting off the Skyway is the Pier Frontage road to the parking lots). It’s a beautiful location that is people friendly and a delightful site. Hallwalls Pier Pleasure is a summer waterfront party. The outdoor band stage will feature the exceptional poetry slamming Poetic Voices, and bands Joe Rozler & John Lombardo Duo –improvisational jazz, Odiorne-alternative, Lee Ron Zydeco & The Hot Tamales-cajun, Sid Winkler Organic Analogue Trance Thing – jazz improv, Dread Beats – caribbean/reggae & Outer Circle Orchestra – afro-carribean-pop, the always entertaining Drag Queens troupe Chevon Davis & Friends. The second level of the Pier will be a dedicated dance floor and DJ stage with a bar featuring hip hop spinners Baby Steps changing to techno DJ Xotec in the wee hours.

Artvoice will have a set up where patrons can paint 2 x 2 feet paintings on the patio, video loops by SUNY Media study students and a Virtual Reality installation by Prof. Josephine Anstey. Cole Ferron will be painting bodies using liquid latex and other breathable body paints, 2 fashion shows one earlier and one later, the first show will showcase clothing stores on the Elmwood strip organized by Mary Popedick, make-up by Quill’s Apothecary, hair by Workshop; the later fashion show unique creations by Desiree Murphy.Amazing views, incredible sites, people to watch and music galore on the shore of Lake Erie. The Cotter, a classic firefighting boat, will be cruising by around 9 pm to entertain us with a display of old fashioned firefighting technology spouting explosive water sprays near sunset.


Pier Pleasure FAQ
1. Is Pier Pleasure this year’s Artists & Models Affair?
Pier Pleasure is NOT Artists & Models. It is its own new and unique event. However, from a fundraising standpoint, it IS taking the place Artists & Models usually fills as the major special fundraising event that Hallwalls depends upon to get us through the final quarter of our fiscal year, which ends August 31. We also hope it will draw as many as or more party-goers than Artists & Models usually does, AND we’re going all out to make it as fun, raucous, musical, stylish, hip, diverse, and memorable as Artists & Models always is. It won’t have the elaborate installations that Artists & Models is known for (which is the reason we’re not calling it Artists & Models), because the Pier is not conducive to those and we only have the day of the event to set-up instead of a week or two before. But it will have even MORE bands and DJs, and there will be some performance and multimedia elements that will make it more than just a line-up of bands, several large bars, and non-stop dancing. However, it will indeed have several large bars, a great line-up of bands, and non-stop dancing. In fact, it will even have artists (small a) and models (small m), as well as musicians, drag queens, slam poets, audience-participation painting, and virtual reality. Plus a spectacular view of the lake, the Buffalo skyline, the monumental grain elevators, and the sunset. If the Bisons are at home, add fireworks at 10 P.M.!
2. If this isn’t Artists & Models, when IS this year’s Artists & Models?
There will be no Artists & Models as such in 2002. But we’re planning to bring it back in 2003. We had been trying to secure access to an actual grain elevator for this year’s Artists & Models, but we couldn’t work it out in time to make it happen this year. Meanwhile, we had discovered the nearby Pier site, and heard that it was being developed as an event site to be called The Festival Grounds at The Pier. We contacted the developer immediately, even before we had entirely given up on a grain elevator site, booked the date (one of the first groups to do so), and here we are, four weeks away.
3. So why the title Pier Pleasure?
Well, like most Hallwalls Members Shows and Artists & Models Affairs—and like last spring’s Trimania—we wanted a catchy and clever title, preferably one containing a pun. Since it was at the Pier, one of our Board members came up with “Pier Pressure.” We thought that name suited the event, since “peer pressure” usually refers to things prohibited by parents and other authority figures that your friends try to get you to do, like dressing outrageously, staying out late, listening to loud music, and drinking. But some people thought the word “pressure” might send the wrong message, because the point of the event is, of course, to get loose and relax. So someone else came up with “Pier Pleasure,” a triple pun combining “pier” with “peer pressure” AND “pure pleasure.”
4. But why The Pier?
It’s a great waterfront location that hasn’t been accessible to the public for a while. Its got great views in every direction: it’s urban, industrial, and lakeside all in one. There’s tons of free parking. And the guy who’s developing it as a summer events venue has really spruced it up. The bars are there. The bandstage is there. You can be on multiple levels, inside or out.