IN A WORLD...where even the DUST was EPIC...

WELCOME!

to our Epic Dust Extravaganza!

darin has been working on this project for many moons, as you probably know if you ever look at this here westward diary. (i'm speaking with a twangy accent, in case you couldn't tell)

friday night darin's little film company, Cinema Caldera, premiered the first two episodes of our homegrown, homemade cinematic western series Epic Dust.

the event was like an old-timey show with comedy, music, poetry, prayer, western wares for sale, lots of beer and whiskey and hootin and hollerin.

our friends all came out in full array of costume to celebrate old west mythology and legend.

adam's dad is a professional bluegrass player, and his parents have rad 80s western style outfits.

adam and maya borrowed some digs for a more "dallas" style cowboy look. so good.

as part of the extravaganza, us etsy ladies brought some of our western and prairie style vintage to display and sell for the night. rachel wore the most amazing brown polka dot gunne handed down from her grandma that grew up in san francisco. it has a unique old gunnies label i've never seen before; we think it is one of the very early ones.

our little shop.

part of the night's gimmick was the offer of free popcorn but at the last minute, the movie theater (who was going to donate) fell through. so emily and i took matters into our own hands. a half hour before the doors opened we ran to the grocery store, picked up bags of popcorn and a pound of butter, and then descended upon our poor friends ian and eric in the kitchen of cosmic cafe (the venue) begging their help to get our little kernels popped!

em, so hot she melts butter.

serving up hot fresh popcorn like good old gals should!

addie and art showed up late after being snowed in and dealing with frozen windshield wipers.

and hot damn were they a sight for sore eyes.

LET THE SHOW BEGIN...

us ladies were pretty much just boozy soiled doves over on the sidelines,

while the extraordinary (and hilarious) jamie van camp played a charismatic cowboy named Texas Jack.

jamie tells about a wild bull, lesley plays her banjo after a stint as the dramatic miss Manifest Destiny herself, that crazy old version of the american dream.

at this point the first two episodes of Epic Dust were played back to back.

to wild applause, and whoops of joy. we were blown away by the turn out and the enthusiasm.

the crowd spilled out into the lobby...not everyone got to see the show it was so packed!

each episode is around 13 minutes long; if you'd like to see them you're in luck...

our brilliant friend eric launched the official Epic Dust website the very next day.

if you read my blog, you'll see many names and faces you recognize!

darin and stan, proud directors and cinematographers.

then jacob's band Flannel played.

complete with a rollicking banjo player, a saw player and all sorts of fiddle and guitar pickin madness.

needless to say it turned into a rather joyful hoe down!

followed by a very late night and a whole lot more mingling...

...speaking of mingling, here's mister Mingle himself, jacob mingle that is, the owner of cosmic cafe which we are lucky to have as our local venue to hold such amazing events.

thanks all for reading and therefore by proxy supporting our creative endeavors. i'm so proud to be part of a community of such amazingly talented and wildly expressive people!

annnnndddd....that was just the beginning of the most wonderful weekend on earth!

because the very next day i finally got to meet up with some of my favorite ladies in the world.

more to come soon!