Posted in: Comics, Recent Updates | Tagged: bar, Comics, eccc, Scott Morse, trickster

ECCC: Tr!ckster And Live Art After Hours

Published Sun, 01 Apr 2012 16:00:50 -0500

Cameron Hatheway reports from the streets of Seattle, round and about ECCC. We are not picking up his bar tab.

I don't appear to learn from my mistakes. After being terribly hung over from Friday's reporting, I went out once again to get equally smashed last night. Only I originally had one event I was planning to go see, and that was the ECCC Official Live Art Event at The Crocodile bar. Minutes from walking out the door, I suddenly see a tweet from Scott Morse:

TR!CKSTER in Seattle?! What a wonderfully delicious surprise! I was a huge fan of their parties in San Diego last summer, and sipped upon some of the classiest of drinks. So naturally, I was intrigued to attend. With no physical address listed, only a cross street, my taxi driver and I were on the lookout for a bar called the CANON, but weren't able to find it. For 15-20 minutes we drove around the same area, but couldn't find anything. The reason being the bar had black tape on the windows, and no lights turned on. The only indication that anything was going on inside was a burly-looking bouncer at the front door. I approached, said the secret password ("TOPNIF"), and went inside.

Instantly I was surrounded by people in this dimly lit room, with hundreds of bottles of hard liquor canvassing the walls. The setting felt nice and old timey, with a mixture of Victorian and Western styles. I approached the bar and ordered a Coyote, which was served with a chilled metal straw. I didn't recognize any faces in the crowd, but that didn't stop me from making new friends. I had the pleasure of meeting Andrew, an artist who just submitted some material to an upcoming anthology of sorts. We chatted about the convention, and I discovered he was a Volunteer for the weekend. Saturday was apparently very busy for them, and his legs are starting to get sore from standing all day. After finishing my drink, I ordered one more for the road; The Crow. I haven't had much experience with rye, so I definitely took my time with it. I did spy Scott Morse from across the room, and a little later Steve Niles as well. It was a very enjoyable gathering, but I didn't dare take pictures in fear of being kicked out.

Finishing my very strong drink, I hailed a cab and headed over to the ECCC Official Live Art Event. The Crocodile bar was already in full swing, and hundreds packed in front of the stage to witness the painting of an almost nude woman. Oh yeah, and there were also other artists on stage painting on canvases as well, but it was slightly hard to concentrate on those when you have a slightly nude woman acting like a living canvas in front of you! Women were switched throughout, and I even saw one guy become a canvas as well. There was so much happening on the stage, there was never a dull moment. No two paintings were alike, and it's always wonderful to see the different styles coming to life in front of you. The DJ did a superb job, playing everything from Daft Punk, Weird Al (White & Nerdy), to even The Time Warp. Stumbling back to my hotel around 2 in the morning was slightly challenging, but the hang over later wasn't as bad.

Cameron Hatheway is the host of Cammy's Comic Corner, a weekly audio podcast. You can follow his Emerald City Comicon adventures on Twitter @CamComicCorner.

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