I am SO SO SO SO SO excited to bring you this SUPER FAB guest post from fellow photographer/writer Suzi Pratt and musician (The Intelligence, Coconut Coolouts, Lambourginiz, Dancer And Prancer, and possibly 1-50 more bands) Pete "Wheels" Capponi. Pete has collaborated with other fine Seattle music folks in the last few years to bring us the awesomeness that is PIZZAFEST: a mini-festival held at the legendary and raucous (and soon-to-be-no-more, at least at its current location) Funhouse each summer. PIZZAFEST has a simple premise: for patrons of the arts to ingest as much loud garage punk music, beer, and pizza as is humanly possible, with a pizza-eating contest that is known for its...lack of delicate table manners, shall we say. I don't know what more you could ask for in life, really.
I was all set to attend my first PIZZAFEST, but then my summer travel plans changed and I ended up 2000 miles away from the Funhouse in early August. Suzi once again offered to step in and up and through for me, because not only is she a nice and very talented person, she shares my enthusiasm for diving into craziness and coming out soaked in Pabst and tomato sauce for the chance to get INCREDIBLE photographs, and she sure did! Here's Suzi's write-up of her experience!
Pizza Fest might seem like it belongs in a prolific pizza-city such as Chicago or New York, but it turns out Seattle is more than an appropriate locale for such a celebration. The Emerald City is home to a plethora of local pizza joints (Big Marios, Pagliacci, Via Tribunali, etc), and lots of pizza-eating fans who also love their punk rock. Thus, it makes total sense that Seattle's Pizza Fest equates to three full days of pizza-pie lovin' AND a showcase of punk and garage rock music. This year was the third incarnation of Pizza Fest, and it spanned from August 2-4 at the Funhouse. The musical lineup included Sonny and the Sunsets, Personal and the Pizzas, and Grave Babies, to name a few. Each act took place in the Funhouse's indoor stage, lending itself to the hot sweaty mashup of fans grooving to the beats while trying to pretend it wasn't hotter inside than out (which it was!). Meanwhile, the Funhouse's outdoor yard might have been cooler due to the chill night air, but it wasn't any less crowded, especially when Pizza Fest's token pizza eating contest took off. Food consumption contests are never a pretty sight, and this one was no exception, especially since it took place close to midnight on a Saturday in the heat of summer. About half a dozen contestants gathered around a picnic table, digging into a box of pizza while surrounded by raucous spectators cheering them on and occasionally emptying pints of booze over the crowd. This year's winner turned out to be both female and British -- can't say anyone saw that coming!Take a peek at some of the madness in the photos below and get a glimpse of what you missed if you weren't there to witness it yourself! (Click to enlarge photos!)
And here's Pete Capponi's insider insight into more of Suzi's fab photos!
Despite the obvous schtick they have taken and run with for years, Personal and the Pizzas are all truly great rock musicians and write totally sick jams. Drew (Personal) has a record collection of the densest punk and rock jams you or I have seen. The last time I was at his place he just jammed tunes for hours while we sank suds and waxed on what we thought were the gnarliest tunes ever. Drew owns them all. Believe it.
Because of the obvous joke of the band, The Pizzas often get overlooked for writing and playing some of the baddest rock jams around today. Yeah, it's totally lighthearted in most of the sentiment, but the bottom line is they are total fucking SHREDDERS. They write top-notch punk rock songs. Take a listen to Pizza Army or They'll Never Find Me. Nobody can argue with those tunes being the genuine article of wild-ass, party rock jams. And don't even TALK abut Brass Knuckles. An al-time clasSICK!!
Mike Bova, of The Vomettes of Austin, Tx, took his first shot at the eatng contest. Im certain his motivation for entering was not to win but to perform yet another hilarious/disgusting act of party animalism. THIS IS NOT AN ACT. Mike Bova is the living incarnate of Bluto from Animal House crossed with GG Allin, sort of. He is a human cannonball of partying and if it weren't for (contest winner) Harriet, he woulda stole the show.
Mike was too big of a pussy to finish his whole pie so naturally he wadded it up and launched it into the crowd like a sloppy grease grenade. My girlfriend had to pull out a Matrix move to avoid geting plastered in the face by it! (She still had pizza sauce in her hair the next day!!)
These are the best Pizza Fest pictures EVER!! Harriet just came outta nowhere (well, the UK, I guess) and not only knocked the pizza eating competition on its ass but she also stole the hearts of every man, woman and child (pretty sure there were some children there) at The Funhouse that night. She is a true and regal champion. All hail the Queen!!
This is Gary with a Circle Around the A. He plays bass in Personal and the Pizzas. He likes sellin' "used cars," The Stooges, and bubble gum. I once saw The Pizzas do a drum roll while a cross-eyed Gary blew a bubble bigger...and bigger...and bigger. After it popped Personal just yelled "Ahn, tah, tray, fah!!"(one, two, three, four, just in case yer 2 dumm 2 know) and they ripped into Pepperoni Eyes. Sickest stage move ever.
Well, hell yes, is what I have to say about it all!! See more of Suzi's PIZZAFEST photos right HERE on her Flickr, too! Thank you again, Suzi and Pete -- you guys rule!
© Copyright 2008- Marianne Spellman