Happy Artoversary Artomatic!

According to my big fat Greek dictionary- "automatic" originates from the Greek word automatos which means self- moving. Synonyms include "involuntary" and "spontaneous."
Mix this concept with all kinds of artists gathered in a formerly empty space in Washington DC, and you have Artomatic -a happening event which this year includes 9 floors, 4 stages and 4 bars, performances, exhibits and classes going on for approximately a month ending July 5th. And free admission to boot.

Add to this one Pup Tent and you have a "pop-not pop" phenomenon 9 p.m. this Friday- just one of a gazillion things going on here in our little government town.

Peep on Rocking by Lyn2

If you haven't been to Artomatic, your time is running out. Be sure to check out the Peeps exhibit, which began as a Washington Post Style Invitational contest but morphed into something sure to put the DC art scene on the map again. The deal is people create scenes from books, movies and other culturally iconic things out of- you guessed it- those marshmallow beyond sugary mind messing confections- Peeps. Having a hard time imagining this? Check it out. Once you see it-you'll think in Peeps forever.

This Friday, June 13, you can not only check out all the great "arty madness" and the scene that goes along with it, but the band PUPTENT will be there, too, bringing their diabolical skronk pop-not-pop sounds to the electric stage. Also playing are 302Acid, whom our friend, Philvis reports is "a multimedia mix of projected film/light show, upright bass, percussion, computer sound generation and more." He also recommends Artomatic for its good cheap beer. Puptent plays at 10:00 pm- 302Acid after that. You can check out all the calendars and artist profiles at www.artomatic.org