Local artists salute ‘the end of the world’
Calgary acts to perform as if it’s the last thing they’ll ever do
First and most obvious question: Will there be refunds? Second and most pressing question: What will be the harsh punishment for those who offer their covers of R.E.M. or The Doors?
Surprisingly, Kenna Burima seems unprepared for both queries. This, despite the fact that she’s the organizer of The End of the World Music Festival which takes place (or doesn’t) Friday evening at the #1 Legion.
You’d think she’d be prepared for anything.
“I don’t think we have ever at any point presupposed or said that the world is actually going to end and give a refund if the world didn’t end,” Burima says of the first question, and laughs.
“At no point do I actually think that the world is going to end.”
Second question, re: suitable disciplinary action against anyone who dares sing the lines, “It’s the end of the world as we know it and I feel fine,” or, “This is the end my only friend, the end.”
“As far as I know, there are no artists that are playing those songs,” Burima says. “God I hope not. But I’ve really given free rein to the artists. I would feel uncomfortable to dole out a punishment for those songs. . . . I’ll have to think about that. But a valid question.”
Of course it is. (Note: Prism tributes are fair game.) But it’s also equally as valid that chances are slim anyone will hear those painfully obvious songs should they venture into the Legion for the all-night fete featuring almost 18 acts, along with visual artists and even a play where revellers can confess their sins and check their coats to a pair of “naughty nuns.”
The reason being that all of them were carefully vetted by Burima when she sent out a call for submissions for the event, which is being funded, in part, with a generous grant from the Calgary 2012 organization.
The idea was one that she’d been mulling over and thought a fitting close to what has been a pretty exceptional year for the entire arts community. Tying it into the idea of the Mayan predicted end day of Dec. 21, 2012, well, that was a natural.
“The best excuse in the world to throw a party is that the world is ending,” she says.
“It’s this human thing where we’re obsessed with this unknowable end, and then to have this
We’re obsessed with this unknowable end
KENNA BURIMA
unique opportunity to have this actual end-date — and not that it’s any realistic end-date — just this concept itself, I think it gets people thinking of, ‘Well, what would you do for your last night on Earth?’
“Being a musician, the obvious answer was that I wanted to be onstage and I wanted to be surrounded by my community and my friends and family. And the festival was born that way.”
Burima says she received just over 50 submissions featuring a wide array of concepts from acts or artists on what their idea was for a final ever performance, and was surprised not only by the topics people wanted to tackle — everything from zombies to avian flu to more personal and contemplative musings —but by the wealth of talent tossing their ideas into the ring of fire.
“It was pretty fascinating to discover some bands I wasn’t familiar with and to get these really well-developed and thoughtful proposals from a variety of bands,” she says.
Whittling it down proved to be a difficult thing, but she wound up with a wide breadth of bands and musicians that includes: relatively new local electro act Home School, who will perform their version of a Native American sweat lodge ceremony; veteran punk act Pine Tarts, whose set will feature music inspired by sources such as William S. Burroughs and The Egyptian Book of the Dead; drone metal act Atomis, who will perform songs inspired by the idea of the end actually being changes in human consciousness; and an After (Life?) Party to close things out, fittingly featuring garage rock act the Von Zippers, who’ve been part of the scene “since the beginning of time.”
Burima, herself, will also get the opportunity to give her final show, which will be an abridged ode to Bowie’s The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars, which she’s calling a “last stop sing-a-long.”
It’s in keeping with what her preferred exit strategy for humanity should be.
“Alien invasion would be my choice, because I would like to be proven right that aliens exist and walk among us,” she says.
While she still maintains that she thinks all the theories floating out there about the end are equally as implausible, she does admit something of a fascination with post-apocalyptic films and books.
And she is hoping that Friday night will be a great way to celebrate that, and a great way to celebrate Calgary culture.
And if the end does come, well, not only will the point of refunds likely be moot but Burima thinks some other good might come of it, too.
“Honestly, in actual fact, I hope that the world does end,” she says laughing, “so I won’t have to deal with my massive hangover or the cleanup the next day.”