O+ FESTIVAL
Three-day event offers more than 50 bands, murals and wellness.
KINGSTON, N.Y. >> The O+ Festival returns to Uptown and Midtown with a full slate of art, music and wellness offerings Friday through Sunday.
Joining more than 50 bands, art workshops and several new murals for the first time is a comedy night in the backroom of BSP on Wall Street headlined by Janeane Garofalo at 7:30 p.m. Saturday.
Garofalo, a comedian and actress with dozens of TV and film credits, is coming to O+ as part of The Comedy Resistance, a program that pairs world-class comedians with voter registration drives, said Sarah Van Buren, O+ Kingston’s producer.
“It’s very timely,” Van Buren said. “Janeane Garofalo has been somebody who over the last 20 years has been a voice of resistance in the comedy world, a female comedian, a feminist.”
And Van Buren feels O+ is the perfect place to foster the sorts of conversations that will be brought up by the Comedy Resistance.
“It’s an important thing right now,” Van Buren said.
Seaton Smith opens for Garofalo.
He’s an up-and-coming comedian who’s been on several TV talk shows, Van Bruen said.
“We have a new comedian and someone who’s been in the business for a long time,” Van Buren.
Over at the Old Dutch Chuch, Evan Dando of the Lemondheads will play a set starting at 9:30 p.m. Saturday.
Later that night, MC Chris performs his nerdcore rap in the backroom of BSP at 11:30 p.m.
A lasting legacy of each year’s O+ festival is the murals that dot Uptown and Midtown. And this year’s festival features seven new ones.
Among the artists painting murals this year is Will Lytle of Thorneater Comics who is painting the alleyway that runs from the Citizens Bank branch on Wall Street towards Crown Street.
The Anne Hebard School of Ballet at 795 Broadway will serve as Lindsey Wolkowicz’s canvas, while Dina Kravtsov and Mat Schulze piece is at the annex behind the future home of Radio Kingston at 693 Broadway.
Boogie Rez’s mural is at Eddy’s at 742 Broadway, Samantha French and Aaron Hauck’s work is at Keegan Ales on the Prospect Street side, La Morena will take over Lite Bright Neon at 26 Downs St.
Van Buren said she’s perhaps most excited about “Survivor Love Letter” at Family Of Woodstock’s Darmstadt Shelter at 40 Thomas St. which is being worked on by a team of artists including Jess X. Snow, who painted the mural on the side of the Artbar gallery on Broadway last year featuring an indigenous woman with her hair blowing to one side. “Survivor Love Letter” is a collaboration between Tani Ikeda, Jess X. Snow and Layqa Nuna Yawar. Snow and Yawar are painting the
mural.
“The (new) mural is about survivors of sexual assault,” Van Buren said.
O+ will also host a conversation around sexual assault Sunday at the Everette Hodge Community Center at 21 Franklin St at 10 a.m. Sunday.
“Participants will be invited to discuss sexual assault and violence in a safe space,” Van Buren said.
She added she hopes it can help survivors move from a place of fear to having a “transformative experience.”
Also available is Go Doc Go, a phone booth-sized box where women can get an HPV test done free of charge and get the results the same day.
While it’s been available to participating artists in the past, this year marks the first time it’s available to festivalgoers as well, Van Buren said.
The festival features a large number of health and wellness providers, including clinics that provide free medical and dental care to participating artists and also people who volunteer with the festival for at least eight hours, Van Buren said.
Keep It Moving will offer Narcan kits, and training will be provided at the festival’s HO+ME base at the intersection of North Front and Wall Streets from 1 p.m.-5 p.m. on both Saturday and Sunday.
“It’s another conversation we’re encouraging people to have,” Van Buren said. “Especially in the music community, opioids have been an issue. But now we’re dealing with an epidemic.”
The festival also features a number of bicycle rides for all abilities Saturday with registration starting at 8 a.m. at Keegan Ales at 20 St. James St.
Experienced riders can choose from 18-, 32- or 45mile gravel rides that leave Saturday at 8:30 a.m., a 53mile road ride that sets off at 9 a.m. or a 25-mile road ride that starts at 9:30 a.m.
Less experienced riders can opt for the Mural to Mural Recovery ride that departs from the YMCA of Kingston and Ulster County at 507 Broadway at 10 a.m. Saturday and traces a course past the O+ murals throughout Midtown and Uptown.
And there’s one rule for all riders no matter what skill level.
“You must in all cases wear a helmet,” Van Buren said.
The festival kicks off Friday evening with a parade at the Kingston Library at 55 Franklin St. and runs to the Hudson Valley LGBTQ Center at the corner of Wall and John streets.
After that is a post-parade party featuring Qing and Queen, a queer boy band from Catskill at the Hudson Valley LGBTQ Center at 7:30 p.m., Van Buren said.
“It’s a great way to kick off the festival,” Van Buren said.
New this year, the Beverly Lounge at 244 Foxhall Ave. features a number of local emerging bands focusing on DIY youth culture, Van Buren said.
“We have a really great lineup,” Van Buren said.
The musical lineup spans the globe and includes artists like Mamadou Kelly, of Mali, who’ll play a set of West African music in the back of BSP at 9:30 p.m. Friday.
“I’ve seen him multiple times, they’re great performances,” Van Buren said.
Balún, a Brooklyn-based Puerto Rican band originally from San Juan, is set to perform in the front of BSP at 10 p.m. Friday.
The band combines electro-pop with traditional
percussion beats, Van Buren said.
Ariel Acevedo, a Chilean native who now lives locally, will perform as Yolanda, Yolanda at 8 p.m. Saturday at the Beverly.
The festival also features a Health and Wellness Expo on Wall Street in between John and North Front streets from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturday.
Art offerings Saturday include the Exquisite Corpse Pop-Up Cafe from 1-4 p.m. and a collage workshop from 5-7 p.m., both at Outdated Cafe at 314 Wall St.
On Sunday, Jenny Lee Fowler hosts a shadow puppet workshop, also at Outdated from 1-3 p.m.
Van Buren explained why O+ chooses regional cities like Kingston, Poughkeepsie and Haverhill, Massachusetts, over large cities like New York City or Boston.
“In regional cities like Kingston, residents have less access to services they might need, Van Buren said. “They need us there.”