VIDEO: ORPHANAGE RATS @ TOTALLY AWESOME FEST 9

By Dustin Krcatovich on November 1, 2013@fmdust

FM DUST had the extreme honor and pleasure of curating the Saturday afternoon festivities at TOTALLY AWESOME FEST 9 this last April. This long-running, free spring festival was started in Ann Arbor, MI by Patrick Elkins, Jason Voss, Penelope Bristol, and myself in 2005. It has continued in neighboring Ypsilanti every year since, mostly thanks to Patrick.

This afternoon curation, which took place on April 27, 2013, constitutes catalog number DUST043. Performers included some of my favorites in the area (and, in Sky Thing’s case, beyond): Matt Endahl, Oak Openings, Orphanage Rats, Sky Thing, Sam Haddix, Actual Birds, and Charlie Slick. Funnily, half of these people have moved away from Michigan in the last few months…

This video is from the killer Orphanage Rats set that happened that afternoon. You may remember O. Rats from their Forced To Drive cassette on FM DUST a couple years back (DUST028, hopefully available soon for free download), or maybe you follow Knox Mitchell’s prolific/awesome Green Records and Tapes label and have been kept abreast of their activities that way. Orphanage Rats is Knox (bass/electronics), Sam Hooker (of Tarpit, guitar), and for this set and on occasion afterwards, Fred Thomas (of the Life Like label and about 1000 bands, drums). It was a great gig, all sets were amazing that day. Glad I managed to capture a couple moments for posterity. Video of the Endahl set coming soon.

Dustin Krcatovich is a cartoonist, writer, designer, founder of FM DUST, and a collector of certain curios and ephemera (with a focus on 20th century "junk culture"). His writing and illustration work appears frequently in The Quietus, Tiny Mix Tapes, and Esquire's Culture Blog. He is also a former editor and contributor to Secret Zen Garden,Saagara's illustrated mindfulness/wellness blog for young people. He currently resides in Portland, OR.