The Aberdeen Downtown Association held it second annual Wine Walk on Main Street tonight. Six full blocks of art, music, and marauding packs of well-coiffed Aberdonnas strolling about with wine glasses—what fun! But let’s leave the ladies to their fun and meet some of the artists:
Jacob Bosmoe was whipping up this “loose and abstract” rendition of Main Street. A couple people told him the painting “feels pretty drunken,” and Jacob’s fine with that.
Jacob ran the Aberdeen Originals gallery downtown featuring local artists for a few months, but he says he got tired of giving up his weekends just to almost make rent on the shop. He shut down the shop, moved some of the gallery inventory to display at the new Brass Kettle Gastropub and Restaurant on Main. Jacob says he’s feeling more relaxed now that he’s out of the gallery and worrying less about creating art to sell.
But he’ll still be glad to take your money. One gal passing by asked where the painting would hang. “Your house!” he said, if she raised the going bid on his sidewalk bid sheet. He was up to $110 when we visited.
Ragtop Radio! Pete’s on banjo, Jeremy’s on mandolin, and Bob’s on guitar. The guys like working Main, but they say fans need to bring them more wine.
Singer-songwriter Mary Elizabeth Wachs graduated from Roncalli last year. A semester of school in the Twin Cities didn’t sit well with her. A trip to India in January did… and it got her thinking she should go full steam with her music. She’s taking her guitar and R&B/Indie/Pop sensibilities to Atchison, Kansas, where she’ll study social media to boost the business side of her music-making… but jeepers! She’s already got forty-some videos up on YouTube—what more does she need to know?
Mary Elizabeth hopes to make it big in Kansas City, where I hear everything is up to date. Just stay out of those burley-cues, Mary Elizabeth!
Singer-songwriter Traci Linn Samelson grew up down the road in Redfield. She went to college in Fargo, then headed to Tennessee to make it big in music. She was about to sign with Warner in 2008 (or was it 2009? Traci Linn wasn’t sure as we spoke; her mind was on her music, and who keeps old calendar pages, anyway?) when she had to come back home for health reasons. Now she plays weddings, funerals, and special events and lives in Tulare with her fiancé and her little boy. Traci Linn says Tulare’s an all-right place to raise a son; worst that can happen is some big semi comes barreling along on 281 and runs someone down. Hey, truckers! Slow down at Tulare, and pay attention!
I assume your cup was either empty or contained something free of any intoxicant.
Is that Kurtz I see puffing herb back there in the shadows?
Curt, the tickets for cups were actually sold out well before I arrived (much to the chagrin of a couple of young ladies who asked Jacob and me where they could get glasses), thus insulating my teetotaling from temptation. I did consume a couple cookies from Red Rooster before hitting the street to blog.
No sign of Kurtz in this neighborhood. Melissa Mentele was around with her medical cannabis petitions, although somehow we didn’t manage to connect—I was so busy working my way down the street getting the above stories and taking signatures for the redistricting and rate-cap petitions that, by the time I got down to the south end of Main where I’d heard the cannabis petitions were, she was elsewhere.
Traci played for our wedding. She is a rare talent.
Indeed! We could use more events like the Wine Walk to give more people the chance to see all the talent we have around here.
That’s a great event for Aberdeen.
Mary Elizabeth must be related to former NSC boys basketball coach Bob Wachs. He was there when I was. He was smart, though not universally liked, and yelled at the players like a banshee. His glare and his temper scared me. I’m glad my women’s coach wasn’t like that.
Awwww you missed me! I left at 7:45 so I would be able to make the almost 3 hour drive home partially in the light…I am night blind and forgot my glasses at home. We did wonderful down there. 88 signatures, 2 new volunteers and a business on Main that is going to circulate the petition at their store :-) Not to shabby of a day.
It was another great night on Main Street…my second Wine Walk as a vendor. Maybe next year I’ll take to the street with my easel. So glad to see Jacob doing Plein Air! I was indoors at the Chamber of Commerce with my Art Card prints so missed publication – darn. You did, however get my trusty plein air-ing van ARTOURO parked there out front. Thanks for covering this. I love Main Street. It keeps getting better.
I’ll get you next time, Betty! Stop by the SD Blogosphere Picnic next weekend, and I’ll put a face to your name!