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'nuff said
Weird Charlotte: Are you originally from Charlotte, or did you come here from somewhere else? If you came here from somewhere else, where was that, when did you land here, and why?
Lobster: I'm a native, believe it or not. HA! I've had a few chances to escape this town, but then I'd just be a small fish in a big pond. Here, I'm a bottom-feeding crustacean in a small aquarium.
WC: Of all you've contributed to the cultural fabric of Charlotte, what are some of your personal favorites?
Lobster: You could call it counter-cultural, I guess. I kinda see myself as a catalyst. I try to always bring the attitude and spirit of change, or evolution. If I meet or know someone who should be part of something unique, I try my hardest to bring them to special events. I'm a Burner (one that goes to Burning Man), Hasher (one that participates in Hashing) and Goth (one who participates in odd rituals of music and fashion) – oh my. Contributing to QZ (since issue 10 and being the guest designer on a couple issues), Amps11 (art director / contributor) and CarnEvil (working to build it since 2001) and the like are my gig, dig?
I've also had the opportunity to work with several artists in town on a variety of projects. You may know Cascade in the Carillon building on Trade Street. I was given the opportunity to work with Jean Tinguely on that project, and it was my least known, but most fun to date. Lately, I've been more of an event organizer. CarnEvil (a.k.a. Eat, Drink and be Scary) has been a huge success over the past few years due to the fact that Jim McGuire and Jade Wills have successfully recruited several volunteers to help them organize it. My roles have been to assist in advertising the party, where I and a few others dress up in costume and hand out fliers all around town, as well as being the "Maze Master" and doing general organization work with the committee. I'm also a non-sanctioned living promo for Burning Man. If you've ever thought about going, just buy me a beer and let me talk for an hour – you'll be buyin' your ticket the next day. Although I've never really originated or started any event of any ongoing distinction or size in Charlotte, I promote the livin' hell out of the events that I think are worthy of creative involvement.
WC: What strengthens your dedication to do what you do, in spite of the fact that Charlotte has not yet developed a critical mass of creatively-attuned people?
Lobster: My eternal desire to have the most kick-ass costume at the party. Some people say I walk the edge – I like to think I'm the guy making it sharper.
WC: What sometimes discourages you about Charlotte and makes you dream of living somewhere else? And where would that somewhere else be?
Lobster: I could insert some holier-than-thou shallow statement about bankers and the Bible belt here, but I think there's actually more to why creative types are discouraged in this town: work. How the hell is anyone who's not a banker, doctor, lawyer or real estate developer supposed to make a decent income in this banking Mecca? Our funkiest of venues keep getting bulldozed for yuppie condos that we can't even afford now. We all pretty much work for ourselves and probably have two or three jobs if we're not stoned all the time. Getting anyone to pay you for anything creative in this town is the real downer. Every client I've ever had has said "I have a niece in college who'll do this for free for me." People forget the fact that you get what you pay for. Artists in Charlotte have a huge uphill struggle to face – welcome, Sisyphus. Oh, yeah, I'd like to live in either Chicago or Asheville, or on any beach. 'Nuff said.
WC: What would help make Charlotte a more vibrant cultural city?
Lobster: 1. National acknowledgment of our local music scene.
2. No more Starbucks – try Smelly Cat instead. The dumbing-down of corporate America stems from the fact that we can go from city to city in a seamless transfer of homogeneity without knowing we even went anywhere different. We need to foster, support and give tax incentives to unique venues to help them open up – and stay open.
3. Events that encourage the freak in all of us to come out. Sunday night drag shows are great at Scorpio's, but how many freaks can possibly go there more than once a year? We need more outlets like Fun Freaky People at Jeff's Bucket Shop for us to let our hair down all week long and let our freak flags fly. The demise of places like 23 Studio, Pat's Tavern and the Wrightnow Gallery created a huge hiccup in this town. Most of the folks that hung out there have found their way to Penguin and Dish...yet Hysteric Glamour is now closing. Pretty soon – if we don't watch it – Charlotte will be nothing but blind sheep establishments full of proverbial "beautiful people" chatting about the latest baby stroller technology and mindless sports stats.
4. Artist-specific events. There are roughly 1000 people in the creative class of Charlotte (or less, depending on the definition), and we all know each other through two degrees of separation. Weird parades, fund raisers, etc. would give local recognition that we exist in numbers and are willing to show this town who we are.
WC: What can we do right now to make Charlotte a more vibrant cultural city?
Lobster: Right now? I don't know that we have the density of community right now to make much of a difference. It seems that there are several groups that have special events to pull their members together, but there really isn't a collective community when comes down to the creative types. Z-Axis and QZ have pretty much given every weirdo in Charlotte their 12.5 minutes of fame, but they're still virtually unknown in the larger community. I've heard that Creative Loafing was working on a television show for public access to cover some more recent places and people, but that got canned.
There needs to be some sort of weirdo rally or call to arms for the creative types to meet on a grander scale. Unfortunately, it would be extremely difficult to contact everyone, let alone create some unique, high-visibilty event in which we could all participate. Most creative types need their down time and time with families and friends to refuel. Transcending time and money and giving creative types an open vehicle through which to contribute (like this website) might work. Meanwhile, we should focus on what works in this town and build it up. Eventually, Purgatory will be too big, CarnEvil will be too big, The Penguin will be too packed, Ace Tattoo will have too many clients – this is when the evolution will need to occur. Anytime the "normals" permeate a local, funky scene, it evolves. Five Points in Atlanta is the perfect example of what happens to places like NoDa and Thomas Street, when the funky becomes more commercialized. By the way, what ever happened to Vision Explosion? Wasn't I supposed to help revive that with someone?
WC: Let's say there's some creative person out there who's considering moving to Charlotte. If you could say one thing to them, what would it be?
Lobster: Do it. We need another volunteer for the Halloween party.
3/16/06
Lobster X moved to Texas in the summer of 2007. You can find him on facebook.
