By Lindsay DePietro
(Image above: Flow/Buffalo Contact Improv. Photo by Lindsay DePietro)

My day three of the Buffalo Infringement Festival (Saturday, July 27) was spent in big part at Ol’ Wondermoth, with a short pit stop to Allen Street Hardware to catch a few performances going on inside the bar.

What on a regular day is just any old red-bricked porch at Ol’ Wondermoth was transformed into a stage in the spirit of Infringement. People gathered on the lawn where a selection of mismatched chairs were spread about for audience members to sit and enjoy the acts.

A bucket of chalk was put out for people to doodle away with while at the festival and by the end of the night the strip of sidewalk in front of the makeshift stage was filled with colorful messages and pictures.

While bystanders walked over the temporary art on their way to unknown destinations, many stopped to look on at the performances with intrigue.

I got an overwhelming sense of community as I sat in the front yard of the housing cooperative and listened to the small group cheer on and encourage each performer song after song. Some audience members sat and watched for hours on end.

The first performance I had the chance to witness on this lawn was RomCom Victims with their catchy melodies. Their performance set quite a relaxing vibe to the evening.

Next up was Flow, consisting of a group of four individuals from the Buffalo Contact Improv Collective. As their vocalist sang and strummed away on the porch, the three other performers did, well I’m not quite sure what. They frolicked around the lawn, performing acts such as rolling around in the grass or crawling in it, rolling across each other’s backs, and even off the table placed in the center of the yard. They took on many positions such as sitting on one another’s backs, performing assisted flips and turns, and I honestly couldn’t even tell you what else. The official name for this demonstration: contact improvisation. Two audience members were even doing their own more tame version of it while sitting in the grass in the spectator section.

Taking the three minute drive over to Allen Street Hardware, I stopped in to catch two of the performances. First up was Jaynie Crash and The Tall Men, which was a well-oiled musical pair. Next up was Earl who strummed on the guitar, while telling stories in a somewhat singing voice.

Heading back over to Ol’ Wondermoth, Danielle A. could be seen speed walking down the sidewalk to make her performance in time, and good thing she did because the crowd was thoroughly pleased with her musical abilities. She powerfully pelted out lyrics to both song covers, like “Bust Your Windows” by Jazmine Sullivan, and from some of her original songs, one of which she called “Rain Down.” At one point, an onlooker stopped in his tracks bug-eyed when he heard Danielle’s vocals.

To view the list of performances for Sunday, July 27, visit either the Infringement website for the full schedule, or the Buffalo Hive Calendar.

Some more scenes from the Buffalo Infringement Festival Instagram page: