North Portland’s most unique and eclectic summer event has to be No.Fest InterArts. This June 25 the free experimental art and music festival will fill the streets, stores, allies and sidewalks of downtown St. Johns for a two-day carnival of homegrown avant-garde acts. . Now in its third year, organizers have expanded the range of performances and added a second day in order to include 51 acts in 29 hours: 36 musical, 5 visual, 4 youth, 3 movement, and 3 spoken performances. 

The festival organizers, Sean Ongley, Jeffrey Helwig and Chad Ferguson, began with a simple idea: hold a free daylong music event in St. Johns. With only months to organize, the event grew to include 25 performances on four stages. The trio knew they had stumbled on something great and founded InterArts, a not-for-profit corporation, to represent the No.Fest project for the coming years. Three years later the event had almost doubled in size, attracting major sponsors such as KBOO community radio.

The program for No.Fest 2010 starts off with an art walk on the last Friday of the month. At about 6 p.m. businesses throughout downtown St. Johns will function as makeshift galleries for viewing public art. Local merchants exhibiting art include The Parlour, Lady Bug Café, James John Café, Town Square, Proper Eats, Legong Gelato, and Salty Teacup.

“None of these are traditional galleries,” said Ongley who is pleased to have the galleries hosted by the local business community. Ongley stresses that one of the ideas behind NoFest is the breakdown traditional boundaries between high art and the average person. “It is another example of our desire to blend the arts with daily life.”

NoBody covers NoFest like the Sentinel. It's possible that the Sentinel created this event as a result of some art-provoked night of troubled sleep. It's also possible that the Sentinel had nothing to do with this event. But either way, we do talk about it a lot. The day long, all free, all experimental, all trance inducing acid flashback of art X-plotion that is NoFest is coming this June 25th. We'll have more to say as the event approaches. But here is the initial rundown.
[Event Schedule attached PDF below]

The details: NoFest InterArts
51 performances in 29 hours: 36 musical, five visual, four youth, three movement, and three spoken performances within 18 hours of hard programming. Not to mention 10 full month exhibitions in seven galleries and two surprise installations.  Also, NoFest is introducing a visual art program, art walk, 21+ after hours, opening night, and world music sub-program.  What I'm trying to say is that this is the most complex and cross-disciplinary NoFest to date.

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no.fest_.in_.the_.plaza_.jpg

A few snap shots from Saturday's No.Fest.  As you can see the streets were teaming with all walks of life in what seemed to be a watershed event for the neighborhood.  No.Fest appears to be the first time in decades that a new event has draws such crowds to St Johns for such an extended period and from so far away. Locals reported visitors coming from Southeast Portland and Hillsboro. KBOO broadcast the music all day until 9pm and urged listens to come down to the shows.  Next month, the Cathedral Park Jazz Festival and the new St Johns Farmer's Market should make certain crowds keep heading to St Johns throughout the summer.

ALL NOFEST COVERAGE

No.Fest 2009: A quick video journey last night through the street of St Johns.  Lots of kids and lots of music everywhere.  It was pretty amazing seeing so many different styles of music just sort of mingling in with the everyday life of the neighborhood.  There were the art-rock fans, the young families with strollers and the old time locals all just mixing happily into a musical and community cacocphony. It was that unique brand of Portland 'weirdness' one can only call 'St Johns bizarre'.~ Cornelius Swart

UPDATED 9:30pm
More photos, video and text reporting to come
 

It's a festival filled weekend- Today is Good in the Neighborhood with a parade on MLK and a party at King Park all day. There's also the North American Organic Brew Festival in Overlook Park still tipping it back today (it started yesterday). And then Pedalpalooze is wrapping up. And that's just event in North Portland.

No.Fest: Nu Music Arts, starts today at 10am in the St Johns Plaza and goes all day.  There will be approximately 25 artists and performers at half a dozen locations along a four block stretch of the N Lombard. Locals will be rocking, rolling, dancing and noising it up until 10pm.  The Sentinel will be blogging from the event later this evening.  Check the comments sections of this posting for updates.

Rock Out!                                                                MORE SENTINEL NO.FEST COVERAGE

NPODCAST: NoFest Special Edition Part 2    WARNING EXPLICT LYRICS   [10 minutes]

Outtakes from an interview with event founders Sean Ongely and Jeffery Helwig and songs and samples from bands featured at June 27th's No.Fest in downtown St Johns.

SONGS

1) Shurpa-entire song

2) Illmaculate with DaiN- entire song

3) In C- sample

4) Evolutionary Jass Band Live from No.Fest 08- sample

5) Dead Air Freshers Live from No.Fest 08- sample (band pictured above at Disjecta-click photo for link to flickr) more at www.nofest.net and Sentinel coverage at www.portlandsentinel.com/nofest

~ produced by Cornelius Swart and Sean Ongely, Sentinel News Service and KBOO

NPODCAST SPECIAL EDITION: NoFest Part 1                         [13 minutes long..eek!]

Cornelius Swart sits down at KBOO's studios with NoFest founders (second to speak) Sean Ongeley and Jeffery Helwig (third to speak). The three talk about the Wooley Mamonth Dance Troupe, St Johns own battle rap star Illmaculate, the Evolutionary Jass band and other acts that will pack downtown St Johns for an intense 12 hour  interdisciplinary cacophony of sights and sounds.  Now in its second year, how does NoFest differ from Seattle's Bumbershoot or Portland's TBA festivals? Push play and listen to a fascinating talk about this free for all collision of experimental art, noise music, DIY spirit and neighborhood values. Music samples from NoFest acts to follow. NoFest June 27th, 10am-10pm, downtown St Johns. more at www.nofest.net all Sentinel NoFest coverage here

~ Produced by Sean Ongeley and Cornelius Swart, KBOO and The Sentinel News Service
 

From super-sweet press release:

From the desk of No.Fest:
Nu.Music.Arts: St.Johns

2nd Annual No.Fest will be held on June 27th from 10am to midnight, in St. Johns of course. But this is about our fund raiser.
On May 14th, 2009 there will be a benefit show at Backspace for No.Fest: Nu.Music.Arts and KBOO Community Radio. No.Fest will announce the complete program and collected works of 2008 via www.nofest.net, including audio and video recordings of Evolutionary Jass Band, White Rainbow, and many others from No.Fest 2008.

SENTINEL NEWS SERVICE

By Roger Anthony

David Hunter's video report on last Saturday's NoFest. The first time, experimental music festival, appears to have been a big success. After talking with Dave it appears we were listed and thanked by festival organizers as sponsors.  Well what do you know!  We'll take all the love we can get. Thanks guys.We did cover the event pretty extensively.  We certainly think all those sponsors (and that includes the Sentinel too I guess) who put it together did a great job.

POD compiled by Assistant Editor Liz Scott

The first annual NoFest happens tomorrow in St Johns. The organizers hope to further Portland's rep as a noise rock and x-perimental music hub by putting on a free music festival dedicated to music that pushes ''the boundaries in innovative art and music'.

The event starts with an improvisational jazz "Jam & Toast" session at Proper Eats at 10am-noon.

By Liz Scott

Three thirtysomething “avant-garde” friends got together and decided to put together a festival for St. Johns.

One of them, Jeffrey Helwig from the St. Johns confectionary palace Legong Gelato, says, “It’s an experiment in bringing music and art to St. Johns and celebrating the summer solstice with joyful noise.”

The result — bursting forth this month — is No.Fest, a new music at arts festival being held in several downtown St. Johns venues.

Sentinel News Service

Cornelius Swart and contributing baby intern Liz Scott speak about St Johns new NoFest for experimental music. Roger Anthony and Swart discuss Swart's recent escapade with Portland businessman Mike Jingozian at the Libertarian national convention and a brief comment on the hub-bub about the I-5 bridge. Enjoy.