So this weekend had the potential to be one massive fuck up for me. Originally, I had tentative plans to go see the Roller Derby with B and the gang, but that was before it was realized that the Derby was on the same weekend as Artscape — apparently one of the nation’s largest free art fair. Okay, no big deal, because the Derby girls play about every month, and Artscape is once a year, so Artscape was on, but I wanted to make it a day, and B and her friends weren’t going to hit the joint until about 5 for some bands they wanted to see — Cake and Robert Randolf & The Family Band. Hell, I certainly don’t blame them, they live in the area, so they’ve done the Artscape thing, so it was old hat.

It so happened that my buddy Zig called me and said that he and his woman, Ann, were giving the Baltimore tour to Ann’s sister, Robin, on Sunday. I mentioned Artscape and told him I was planning to go up Saturday, and he should see if Robin would be interested. It turned out not only was she interested, but she also wanted to see Robert Randolf & The Family Bad, and we all wanted to see Cake, too. (Except, maybe Zig. He seemed indifferent, cool one way or the other.) Shit was coming together nicely. Not only would I be able to hang out at Artscape all day, but I would be doing so with both groups of friends.

Artscape itself was pretty amazing. Zig, Ann, Robin and I spent the first part of the day wandering around checking out the sights. Their were tons of vendors with some pretty fantastic artwork, as well as some pretty cool displays throughout the event. I’m not a huge art fan, by any stretch, but I can certainly dig some of the more contemporary (I guess) work. Like:

I don’t know if you can consider random pictures of graffiti “art”, but they did make me chuckle, so it definitely got a reaction from me.

This one reminded me of the beginning of Se7en:

And Lego Toga Man rocked. I used to rock the legos when I was a kid, and the piece called out to me.

After catching some shows — including the Edgar Allan Poe-pet Theatre (the story of Poe, puppet style), which rocked — the concerts were about to start. We missed most of Cake, which was admittedly mostly my fault because I was in the midst of a flurry of texts with B trying to find her.

That’s B and I. B is a private person, and I can respect that, so I did an artistic representation. Trust me, it’s pretty close. But B brushes her hair. And wears clothes. And is prettier. But she was there and smiled for the pic.

By the time Robert Rudolph & The Family Band hit the stage, we we all set. Kind of. I was right up on the rail with my friend Dan and his wife Court, right in front of the stage, and Zig, Ann and Robin had played it smart and found some space on the lawn.

That’s me and my buddy Dan right up on the stage. Dan knows a lot about music and is always making me CDs. I think he is trying to break me of my Def Leppard love. I don’t have the heart to tell him that will never happen, but he introduces me to some stellar bands. Win/win for me. I repay him by burning him some old, shitty movies not available on DVD. It’s a good system.

That’s Robin (in the, uh, peach (?) shirt), Ann in the blue and Zig in the, what is that? Brownish? Shirt. That was a good bunch of feet away from me (I completely suck at distance, so I’m not going to try, but every time I turned to see if they were still there, I had to look for them as the crowd was getting bigger). Zig and Ann completely rock. Every Friday I go over their house for dinner. I think they feel sorry for me because the only thing I cook for myself is Chili and Hamburger Helper. I’m comfortable with them giving me pity dinners. I look forward to Fridays.

So, anywho, right before the band started, B said she was going to roam about. I chose to go with her because I knew it was going to be a cluster fuck where I was, for a band I had never heard, and I would be miserable. So I opted to hang with B. Plus she’s a friend I don’t see often enough, so hanging out with her was the winning choice. B, Dan and Court made meeting arrangements in case we didn’t make it back, and we were on our way.

We ended up at her friend’s booth (who did some pretty damn slick work with wire) bs’ing until it was time to go, and headed back to the meeting spot. We said our goodbyes, and I headed off to attempt to catch up with Zig. Since I was riding with him, I had been texting him updates on where I was every 15 or so minutes, feeling like a turd that I got separated from him, especially since it was my idea to come up to the place. He blew it off because they were watching the show, anyway, so I felt relieved about that.

With Ann behind the wheel, we left Artscape around 10ish, but the night was not over yet, as we had one more stop.

Vaccaro’s.

All I can say about Vaccaro’s is…wow. All the joint does is sell deserts, and hot damn are they good at what they do. We each picked out a dish, and we each ate from each others.

Those pics in no way do Vaccaro’s justice. But if you are ever in Baltimore, swing by Little Italy and stop in, it’s well worth the trip.

So that was my Saturday, filled with good times and even better people. I’m extremely happy that it worked out that I managed to see most of my friends on the same day and met some new cool people, as well. One day I’d like to arrange it that I can hang out with all of them at once, without having to run around to do so, and I fear the only way that is going to happen if I have a party. Which would mean me having to clean my house in order to have people over. I guess I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it.