Ice Cream Man

I like doing new things. Art Basel was something I heard about sometime last year and was a bit envious Jeremiah was able to rock it last year. Lucky for Newt and I, Nike Sportswear was throwing a kick-ass party down there and we were asked to join them to sling some cream. I had been in Florida for the Ice Cream Convention and Amusement Park Expo so it made it easy to leave the truck at the airport for a few days while I flew home to put us some Xmas lights. When I got back to Orlando to pick Newt up all I had to do was get to Miami, clean the truck, and sling for four days. Easy peasy.

Art Basel is apparently the largest art event in the country. Im not exactly sure what that means, or encompasses, but I saw enough art in Miami and Miami Beach to not question their title. When I arrived on Wednesday I wasnt even sure what was going on. I knew I needed to be in town for the Nike party and that Id be staying with Jeremiah, Logan, and some other artists who were in town for Primary Flight, a street art extravaganza that covered Miami. Outside of the Cans Festival in London I was lucky to see this summer, I havent known of another collection of the quality of artists doing work on walls around the Wynwood district of town. Once you see all the pics, Im sure youll understand the praise I give everyone.

The first night we stayed pretty far north in Miami Beach and didnt do much besides drink a few beers and talk about everything that was going to be going down. There is ZERO parking in North Miami Beach. Normally I wouldnt be too happy about paying $22 to park but with an oversized vehicle thats too tall to fit in parking garages, I was happy they let me park Newt on the ramp leading up the fancy Miami Beach Resort and Spa. Upon checking out I made back to Miami to pick up some cash then cream then over to the only quarter-fed car washes in town.

Since I really didnt know what was going on, I cruised around Wynwood for a while trying to get a grasp of where might be good places to sling. Surge and Jeremiah were chillin’ at the Theme Magazine party where Logan had a print and there was free Red Stripe. We slang there for a bit then Lin Yee said we should check out the OHWOW gallery a bit west of North Miami Ave. We had a truck full of cream and J and Surge were down so we loaded up some Red Stripes then headed over. The spot was perfect for slinging but I didnt want to just drive the truck into the big back parking lot area where everyone was hanging out, without asking someone first. One of the suit-clad bouncers said if youve got free treats, bring it in so we backed Newt into an ideal slot. It was the perfect place for us to be and business steadily picked up throughout the night. The coolest part was we met some folks who had driven an ice cream truck in the Gumball 3000 a few years back. I had heard of them before and seen pics and couldnt believe, of all places, wed meet in a parking lot in Miami. We did an interview with Jacob from New Times which was a li’l bizarre but fun. Once it hit 1:00 it was time to get back to Miami Beach and try to find parking then find some floor space in Logans room at the Royal Palm.

Fridays main gig was Nikes Art Damage party. Nike made it possible for us to be at Art Basel and they were throwing the best party in town at Karu & Y next to the New Art Dealers Alliance (NADA) fair off North Miami and 14th. Word on the streets was that the new owners of the venue dropped $20 million into fixing up the joint. That seems a li’l steep but this place was fannnncy. The Art Damage Party took up the back half of the extra large joint and we parked in the entrance area so that everyone walking by would see the truck and free cream. The best part of the night was that Panda Bear AND No Age were playing. That was what made this the best party of Art Basel. I think Panda Bear has only played 6 shows in the US the last few years so we were beyond excited to be able to sling cream and rock out for the night. While people were waiting to get in I walked up and down the line gifting treats. The security guards and all the production people were also taken care of then I just hung out at the truck for a few hours. Outside there was a screen showing a Nike art piece and the music behind it was a loop of the beginning of a Butthole Surfers song that lasted maybe a minute. Everyone kept hearing the same thing and when I ran into Dean from No Age he mentioned the song and I said, you should start your set off by playing that, people will get a kick outta it. Soon after Randy came out and they were practicing by the back of the truck. I had wanted to catch the beginning of their set and was trying to time it perfectly so I could run in but I ended up missing out.. damn. I did close up the truck for most of the Panda Bear set and that was the smartest thing I did all weekend. If youre unaware of his solo work or work with Animal Collective should pick up his album, Person Pitch, and youll understand why there were so many people freaking out over his performance. The room where he was playing was a good size and there were speakers in all four corners so if you got towards the middle of the dance floor you got some surround sound action. Thanks Christian and all the Nike crew for making that possible.

The average time I got to bed over the 4 nights we were there was prolly 3:30 in the morn. Due to parking meters that needed to be fed in South Beach, I had to wake up each morning at 8:45 and walk to wherever the truck was and put in 4 hours of time before getting a few more hours sleep. Once we were up n’ at ’em on Saturday I headed back over to Miami to hit up the Primary Flight pieces and the Wall of Fame. My favorite type of art is the outdoor kind and a lot of the best artists in the world were throwing pieces up during Basel. Boxi and Daryll had pieces up on 26th (?) and N. Miami. The Boxi piece ended up being one of my favorites from the weekend. It almost looks too simple shades of grey being the only colors used but upon closer inspection and seeing the stenciled dudes in space suits, its worth checking out if you happen to be going to Miami. While there.. .you should actually download a map from the Primary Flight site and hit up some of the other stuff too. The Wall of Fame right next to I-95, around 6th Ave and 24th St. was covered with works by Logan, Boxi, SRTA of She Kills He and a bunch more. We camped out over there for an hour or so and all the artists loved the free treats. Most of them were working the whole day without a break and would stock up on two or three pieces. My main priority for the day was the Alabama/Florida football game so I tracked down a sports bar and headed over there and hung out for a couple hours. The game was a damn good one, I just wish Bama woulda pulled it off. After the game I drove around Wynwood for a while but couldnt really find anything going on. The rest of the gang had headed back to the room and I was happy I made the decision to join them. After a Red Stripe in the room we headed down to the beach then went swimming in the heated pool where I got to backstroke for a while and stare at the moon and stars over Miami Beach. It made me remember how lucky I was.

We really didnt have many plans for Sunday, which is the best way to approach my favorite day of the week. Once we checked out of the hotel Daryll mentioned that the Aqua hotel across the street was having a show and I dropped him off so he could ask if we could sling cream out front. They said cool so I pulled around the block then parked in their driveway off to the side so cars and shuttles could get through. It was an ideal spot but there was too much traffic and having a dozen or two people in front of the truck was making it too tough for the shuttles to get through so I took off and parked the truck then headed back to check out some art. We lucked out cuz thats where a lot of the best emerging artists were being shown. I ran into Freddi whos new gallery Cerasoli LeBasse was there and had some beautiful pieces. I also ran into Andres from White Walls in SF and saw some work from Chris Crites, aka Bag Painter. You should check his stuff out. After an hour or so we took off and got some Cuban food before heading back over to Wynwood to check in on El Mac and Retnas gigantic wall and drop off some stencils to Books. Surge was stuck at the airport in Fort Lauderdale so we headed that direction dropping J Shea off at the airport along the way. I had forgot but there was a roller coaster just off 95 right before the airport. I quickly realized it was Sunday and that they might be open. Sure enough they were and Daryll and I took a spin then walked through the arcade and found a bunch of games with free credits on em. Twas a great way to end a wonderful work (ughh. Vacation) weekend.

Thanks to everyone at Nike for making it possible to be out there and to give away cream. Thanks to Logan and the Primary Flight crew too. Off to the airport!