By Lindsay DePietro

Day 9 of Infringement: Heartfelt art, talented musicians and vocalists, and the wildest burlesque performance featuring water-guns, juicy fruit and a SpongeBob kiddie pool.

My first Infringement destination was Cafe 59 to see Monica Power’s art pieces on display. She made two creations, “Wedding Remnants” and “Street Art.”

For her “Street Art” project, Power said, “This idea for it started a very, very long time ago when I found a piece of jewelry in a parking lot, and thought, ‘I will make this into art someday.’ And then over the years, I just kept collecting those things and finally decided, ‘It’s time.'”

Her “Wedding Remnants” art piece is more close to her heart, depicting the process of how her wedding dress was made from her mother’s dress. The artwork features a picture of her mom in her wedding dress, a sketch of the re-imagined wedding dress, and then a picture of herself wearing it, along with scraps from the original dress.

“I don’t know if either of these pieces are for sale. … Honestly, the wedding dress one is not for sale,” Power said. “I don’t know how long it will be hanging at Cafe 59, they can keep it there as long as they’re comfortable having it there, but it’s definitely coming back to my house at some point”

Making my way to my first Day 9 performance, I caught singer and multi-instrumentalist Shannon Vanderlaan in action at Trinity Church. Vanderlaan started her performance on piano and then switched over to the guitar, all the while singing her heart out. Her vocals were extremely beautiful, especially in the open space of the church venue.

Although I attempted to make a few more Infringement stops during the day, luck was just not in my favor so I headed out later in the night to catch some performances at Milkie’s, and it was a full crowd tonight.

First up was the acoustic trio Danny and the Planets. It was a pleasing performance, with some dedicated fans in the crowd throwing out song suggestions and singing lyrics. The trio could be seen sipping their beers and joking among each other and audience members between songs, and just having a good time all around.

Now what came after their performance was the ultimate surprise to end the night. The Foxy Thrills were next up on the Infringement agenda, but what I didn’t know was that they were a collective of independent burlesque performers, and that they were about to give the show of their lifetime. There were four separate performances, one of them being a duo.

Now I haven’t been to many burlesque shows in my life, but to me this was a pretty epic one. It was raunchy, it was entertaining, and it was definitely wild.

Like seriously have you ever been squirted with a water gun during a burlesque performance, or witnessed someone viciously devour an apple while another women twerks all over it, and then they both proceed to take turns gobbling on a large chunk of watermelon while almost fully nude. No, I don’t think many people could say they have.

I will admit some of these performances got pretty graphic. I had to refrain from the urge to close my eyes during some particularly explicit scenes. Overall, the crowd was hooting and hollering, throwing ones, and having a grand old time. I think I can confidently say it was an especially successful night for Infringement.

To view the list of performances for Saturday (Aug. 20, visit either the Infringement website for the full schedule, or the Buffalo Hive Calendar.

Some more scenes from the Buffalo Infringement Festival Instagram page: