Thursday, August 19, 2010

Hammer Time

Spent the weekend discovering a different side of Hamilton.

Friday - James Street North Art Crawl

I've been hearing a lot of cool things about this, which happens on the 2nd Friday of the month. The Globe and Mail says Hamilton is the "new Brooklyn" - a haven for artists and the hipsters who hang out with them.

Now, I don't know anything about art, only what I like. But, even if you're not arty you can enjoy this evening. It's a very cool vibe and everyone is out on the streets or meandering the galleries. Live music, some of which seems to be played from buckets and broomsticks, cool shops that I didn't know existed, lots of people wearing stripes and glasses and lots of little Italian men watching the invasion of their rapidly changing neighbourhood.

I was probably not supposed to walk around with my Ipod - instead to soak up the atmosphere and hip art talk. But life is too short to no listen to the Greatest Hits of Ace of Base.

There was this booth where they were polling people using bingo dabbers. Now THIS is art. Hamilton art, at least. If they had polled in Timbits, I'd be all set.

I bought a greeting card made from an old library book card and it said, "This card is way overdue." Fitting for a lapsed librarian, but I will likely never use it because I hate being late in any way.

Sunday afternoon - Hamilton Roller Derby at Waterfront

Again, I didn't know anything about this, but thought it would be something different to check out. As I sat out in the blazing heat, I tried to figure out how this works. It seems like they are skating around in circles, over and over, until they fall or the ref stops them for something.

Most wore fishnets and underwear over them and were all way tougher than me. I'm pretty sure if I was thrust into this game I would cry, at one point or another.


Their names were the best part:

-Bitchslap Barbie

-Japanic Attack - Naomi that could be your name!

-Ivy Rupted

-Little Red Roller Hood

-Eduskating Rita

I have my own set of roller skates from a garage sale last year. Shockingly, I have never worn them. This has inspired me to get them out of my basement and go for a roll around the block. Probably.

Ran into old friend-style person from library school. As always, they ask if I'm working in libraries, using my Master to its full potential. It's so strange that I even did that - what was I thinking? Sure, I like books, organization and homeless men watching porn on public computers, but come on. That isn't really me. In my career, I look for couch moving, Lindsay Lohan sightings, 2am teardowns, chandeliers and many, many appetizers involving smoked salmon, sliders and cheese. Not so much of that in the library realm. Not the last time I checked anyway - and that was 5:45pm last night when I picked up the Rent soundtrack I had requested. Other than that Seasons of Love song....meh.

Overall, Hamilton has some other things to offer than the nonsense I decry on this site. You may have to go through the sludge, but there are gems around.

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