He dumped me at a restaurant. It was harsh. So was the lighting.

So this weekend is the Fort Worth Main Street Arts Fest, which I've never really bothered going to before. For one thing, I hate people.



For another thing, I normally just hit Denton's Jazz Fest, but sadly I'll be out of town when it rolls around this year. Also, since I practically live in Fort Worth, I thought I'd check it out. We stopped by Thursday evening, and I was really surprised!

Now, I love the Denton Jazz Fest, but some of the "art" tends to be...ok, tacky, kitschy, embarrassing. You know, not all of it by any means, and what is good is exorbitantly priced. The latter was still true here, but there were far more booths with cool stuff. Mostly with a somewhat obvious, demented theme, but enjoyable nonetheless. So it makes for some good wandering around. And naturally I forgot my camera. So I'll get some pics today.

The food wasn't quite as good as Jazz Fest--first of all, most of the merchants are downtown eateries, which is hardly anything new. Also, there is not a fried booth, and how is that bloody possible? However, there is a booth that sells these awesome mini-cake donuts, and I got to sample something my dad has always advocated: donuts and beer. Damn, it is indeed a wicked combination. Two very enthusiastic thumbs up.

We also hung out by the 9th Street Stage, and I saw two artists that really impressed me. The first was Ricki Derek and the Vegas Six. It was this jazzy, lounge-singer act--lots of Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, etc.--with plenty of tongue-in-cheek humor and borderline over-the-topness. It worked so well; the whole act was so charismatic and quite talented! I think the singer normally has his own big band, which I'm sure is good as well, and they often play at Scat Lazz Lounge downtown. I've only been once or twice, but I've been wanting a reason to go back. Ta da!



The second band, Odis, was really enjoyable, and I even bought their CD. Their first few songs reminded me of a Robert Rodriguez soundtrack, which was cool, and then the more songs they played, the more apparent it was they had their own sound. I admit I prefer hearing them live than the CD I bought--now that I listen to it on my ipod, I hear a few other bands coming through, of whom I'm not usually a big fan. But it was a really great live show, and they'll be playing at my Central Market's Outside Patio in a couple weeks (May 14), so again, twist my arm, I just may go.

I will definitely bring the camera today. Also, it pissed down rain all yesterday, but I'm pleased to see rain out of the forecast for the remainder of the weekend!