KEEP OUT THE MISSISSIPPI

                Something there is that doesn't love a wall,

                That sends the frozen-ground-swell under it,

                And spills the upper boulders in the sun;

                                                     Robert Frost, Mending Wall

Artica head guy Lohr Barkley leads the annual parade by the Mississippi River flood wall.       

 

 

COULD ANYTHING BE SIMPLER?

Artica has no censorship. You can  say or show whatever you want, and then the interpretation is up to the viewer. The rainbow border on this piece gives us a hint that there is more to it than X = X.          

ARCS OF FIRE

More entertainment at Artica before the bonfire. Some good luck at 1/6 second with the image stabilization. If I was whirling that thing I'd want one of the fire suits like the guys on the right are wearing.           

PUBLIC HUMILIATION

St. Louis leading comedian-provocateurs are at it again. Audrey Crabtree and Lynn Berg placed themselves in stocks of a sort, stood on a platform and invited the public to mock and jeer at them for any reason, or no reason. Hurling water balloons was explicitly permitted although I don't thiink it happened. What sins they might have committed to deserve this were left to the imagination, sort of a Rorschach test for persecutors. Maybe it was cathartic for the audience. Maybe it just built bad karma.                  

WARM UP

Okay, terrible pun. I couldn't help myself. Before the immolation of Our Lady of Artica, there is always entertainment from fire dancers. Hard to shoot because there is not much light but the torches themselves so shutter speed is a problem.. Sometimes you get lucky. This was shot at 1/60 sec. using a lens and body that both had image stabilization.                  

ARMAGEDDON, ST. LOUIS STYLE

Artica always ends on Sunday night with the burning of the wooden effigy of Our Lady of Artica. Although I have hundreds of pictures from this weekend I have to cut to the big finale for the sheer drama of it. The structure is perhaps 10 meters high. It was a perfectly clear night and we wondered what the passengers in the planes flying overhead thought when they looked out the window.

Lots more of this to come. Ya know, there's a lot going on in this town if you know where to look.                 

KEEP ST. LOUIS FREAKY

Seen in the Audience at Artica yesterday afternoon. Who says this is boring Midwestern fly-over country?

The big burn is tonight. Lots more to come.