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What do Blowfish have to do with Music+Film? Everything.

Posted September 28th, 2011 by
in Uncategorized 

What exactly do Blowfish have to do with Music+Film? Why is one of our annual Festival parties named after a fish that puffs up when threatened (I’m no expert on sea animals…so don’t google that). Well, it’s my hope that after this insightful blog post, all those questions will be answered and so much more!

Our annual celebration of the incredible fusion of music and video began my first year working with the Festival: 2006.  At the time, the Festival had a program where they highlighted music videos and did an industry panel with music video directors. It was one of my favorite programs.  Music is a type of storytelling, and when the words of the artist are brought to life through film, it’s quite the magical process. It made perfect sense at the time to take that idea one step further — why not have an actual event where you combine, music, film, and live performance? And drinking! The perfect combination. With the help of the late, and very integral staff member George Lin, we were able to host the first Blowfish Concert during opening weekend of the Festival at the now defunct Luna Lounge in downtown San Diego. Amongst the music video premieres, the evening was highlighted by the now world-renowned Far East Movement.

Since then, the event has grown in size, moving on to different venues around San Diego, including a concert venue at Mission Beach and several clubs in Downtown. We’ve hosted some of the best in the Asian American indie music scene including the Blue Scholars, Lyrics Born, Kero One, The Visionaries….the list goes on.

So it’s a thrill for me to say we’re continuing the tradition of Blowfish and all of its glory this year with one of our best parties yet. We’ll still be showing music video premieres during the evening. There will still be drinking. But this year, you’ll be watching the premieres and drinking in a warehouse! And we’ll be partnering with one of the pioneers in video and dj mash ups: DJ Mike Relm! Mike Relm in a warehouse!  I first saw him live when he opened for Jurassic 5 and Common, and it was one of the coolest experiences ever. Especially since we’re a Film Festival, having the DJ that does video and music mash ups is the best way for us to run Blowfish this year.

So be sure to mark down the date, Friday, October 21, 2011, in your calendar and tell your friends, your moms, and your cousins. It’ll be an incredible night — plus all the Fest celebs, and folks from Friday Night Premieres KNOTS and BANG BANG will be celebrating that evening after their screenings.

Want to get in for free? We explain it on the party page, but the easiest way to get in to this Festival hot spot for free is to sign up with our party sponsor, www.chroniclr.com.  Sign up for a free account on their website and e-mail the confirmation to blowfish@sdaff.org. That’s it! We’ll add you to a guestlist for the evening.

Full disclosure: Chroniclr is a very cool site with social media aspects that allow you to “chronicle” your life with live timelines and photo hosting.

So…we’ll see you at the party. Culy Warehouse in Gaslamp (335 6th Avenue). Be there.

OH! And…I guess I never explained why we call it Blowfish.  But, do you really care?