Lebowski Fest really “Ties the Fans Together”

by Gadling Staff on

Each week, Gadling is taking a look at our favorite festivals around the world. From music festivals to cultural showcases to the just plain bizarre, we hope to inspire you to do some festival exploring of your own. Come back each Wednesday for our picks or find them all HERE.

No matter what part of the country you live in, chances are you can roll your way to one of many cities that hosting an annual Lebowski Fest this year. The festival(s) celebrate the Coen Brother’s 1998 film “The Big Lebowski” starring Jeff Bridges, John Goodman, Julianne Moore, and Steve Buscemi. Organizers Scott Shuffitt and Will Russell started the first Lebowski fest in 2002 in Louisville, Kentucky. It was such a success that there are now multiple festivals a year in select cities across the country. (If you’ve never seen the movie, I recommend reading this quick synopsis to familiarize yourself with how the below activities cleverly tie the film and festival together.)

I became a huge fan of the film in college, so I made the two hour trip from Nashville to the Louisville festival last July. I followed the advice on the Lebowski Fest site and rented a discounted room at the suggested hotel, which is within walking distance to the bowling alley where all festivities take place. Make sure you book your reservation early as the rooms tend to go quickly.

The first night’s events include a screening of the film, followed by live music or a special appearance from a comedian or actor. The organizers try to bring in a well-known act and you will be pleasantly surprised with whom they are able to round up.

As fun as the official events can be, don’t forget to check out the pre-fest activities are also good fun. Upon arriving to the field outside the bowling alley, you can try your hand at the “ringer toss” where participants throw a suitcase full of the dirty white laundry over the Dude’s car to hit a target on the other side. This is your chance to meet other die-hard Lebowski fans, strike up conversations, and make new friends over a few oat sodas. Some festival-goers even dress the part, donning costumes and personifying their favorite characters from the film. These costumes serve a greater purpose later on in the festival, so be sure to bring a camera.The second night is when the real magic happens. If you’ve purchased your festival tickets in advance and arrive to the bowling alley early you can reserve a lane for unlimited bowling. Lanes are given up on a first come, first served basis.

Even if you don’t get a chance to bowl, this night serves as a social hour and you might even run into certain actors from the film who played minor roles. For a Lebowski fan, this is still an exciting run-in. Sharing a White Russian (or a caucasian) with Malibu’s Chief of Police is something to write home about!

The highlight of the festival is the costume contest which takes place in the bowling alley. Participants are judged by the audience based on originality and quality of costume. There are so many “Dudes” they have to award a prize just for the best Jeffrey Lebowski look-a-like. If you feel confident and can whip out your best Walter Sobchak aviator shades, I say enter that contest and go for it.

Overall, the best part of any Lebowski Fest is meeting new people and interacting with fans from all corners of the world. Sure, you might wake up the next morning with a headache from all the White Russians, but sharing a few laughs, and a few burgers with like-minded people really ties the whole thing together.

In 2010, Little Lebowski Urban Achievers can spend two days in Orlando (May 21-22), Louisville (July 16-17), Chicago (September 17-18), Seattle (October 15-16) or one in New York (November 4). Los Angeles already celebrated this year on April 2-3. Ticket prices can vary from city to city so check The Lebowski Fest website for updated pricing info.

Visiting the Mangum Rattlesnake Derby

by Gadling Staff on

Each week, Gadling is taking a look at our favorite festivals around the world. From music festivals to cultural showcases to the just plain bizarre, we hope to inspire you to do some festival exploring of your own. Come back each Wednesday for our picks or find them all HERE.

Each Spring, avid rattlesnake hunters and handlers gather in Mangum, Oklahoma for the annual Mangum Rattlesnake Derby. The event began in 1966 when the Shortgrass Rattlesnake Association organized the first weekend-long derby to hunt, measure and cook the reptiles. Each year, a crowd of approximately 30,000 hunters and spectators gathers to take part.

The Mangum Rattlesnake Derby, held near the end of April, includes a wide range of snake-related activities, music, contests and food. Visitors come to watch snake handlers, eat at the “Bite-A-Snake Cafe” or enter the snake pit and try to find the longest “rattler” and win the derby. There’s also carnival rides, one of the largest flea markets in the state, live music by regional musicians and a royalty contest.

Want to know more about this crazy snake shindig in Southern Oklahoma? Keep reading below.

The highlight of each year’s Derby is the Longest Snake Contest. Rattlesnake hunters explore the southwestern Oklahoma hills and countryside seeking the longest and heaviest snakes to win cash awards and trophies. Hunters must register for the guided hunts and attend a safety course. Measuring and weighing of the live snakes often requires four men to hold the dangerous reptiles during the process. Snakes at this Oklahoma event routinely measure in excess of six feet long.

Young women who attend high school in Greer County also compete for the coveted title of “Miss Derby Princess” winning not only gifts and cash awards, but also a college scholarship. The winner must be brave enough to pose for a photo with the winner of the “Longest Snake” contest

Meanwhile at the Snake Pit, two handlers stand inside a ring with over a hundred rattlesnakes slithering around their feet. While one handler entertains the crowd by actively working with the Western Diamondback Rattlesnakes, the other educates the crowds about the art of “charming” snakes and facts about the elusive and deadly creatures.

Another highlight of the weekend is the “Butcher Shop Show” where spectators not only watch a snake being prepared for the fryer, but also learn about the delicacy of serpentine meat. The show may be a bit too gory for children and those who flinch at the sight of blood, but it is as entertaining as it is educational. Even in death, a rattlesnake is still deadly and must be handled with extreme caution. After skinning the rattlesnake and removing the head, the butcher demonstrates how the deadly jaws have one final bite left by using a hat or scarf from an audience member.

While some spectators believe that snake tastes a lot like chicken, patrons at the “Bite-A-Snake Cafe” can cast their own vote as to the flavor of serpentine cuisine. Volunteers from the Mangum Mounties Association batter slices of rattlesnake from the butcher shop and fry the meat for anxiously awaiting customers.

Some have decried the butchering practices as inhumane towards the snakes. The Derby Association addresses these questions on its website, indicating that the snakes are “dispatched according to acceptable commercial practices” and that by holding the festival, they hope to “correct modern misconceptions about the rattlesnake.”

Whether you’re watching rattlesnakes get measured, learning about them at the snake pit, or eating one after its been deep fried, visitors to the Mangum Rattlesnake Derby are sure to come away with a unique understanding of these amazing creatures.

Baby jumping at Spain’s oddest Corpus Christi Festival

by Gadling Staff on

Each week, Gadling is taking a look at our favorite festivals around the world. From music festivals to cultural showcases to the just plain bizarre, we hope to inspire you to do some festival exploring of your own. Come back each Wednesday for our picks or find them all HERE.

Every year Catholic observers around the world celebrate the holiday of Corpus Christi. The festivities represent a Christian feast in honor of the Holy Eucharist. But in the Spanish city of Castrillo de Murcia, they like to do things a little differently. With colorful costumes, religious processions, mystery plays, mock terror and a uniquely Spanish ceremony that involves jumping over babies, also known as “El Colacho.”

Starting in late May or early June and lasting for five days, visitors will witness a series of rituals that are a mixture of traditional Spanish folklore and religion, each designed to cleanse evil from the little town. It works like this: a group of local men representing evil are denoted as the Brotherhood of Santisimo Sacramento de Minerva. These men are responsible for organizing the celebration. They are then split into two groups; the El Salto del Colacho (the devils), who wear brightly colored red and yellow costumes and will later jump over the babies, and the El Atabalero, who dress in black suits with large sombreros and carry large drums. Oddly enough the men who play these strange roles do so as they feel their lives have been cursed in one way or another. Taking part in the ceremonies is believed to eliminate the evil perceived to be plaguing their lives.

Wondering what happens next? Keep reading below to learn more about one of Spain’s craziest festivals.

On the chosen Wednesday, the festivities begin with the Brotherhood terrorizing the town’s people with whips and batons. Their evil pranks last till Sunday when the holy activities begin. Citizens decorate their houses with flowers and create small altars. Wine and water placed on the altars represents the blood of Christ and the baptism by water. The Eucharist symbols are meant to be consumed by the procession observers.

The procession begins, comprised of clergy and local children who are celebrating their first Holy Communion. The group starts at the church, winds around town and returns to the church. This activity is symbolic of holiness, capturing the perceived evil and laying it before God.

Finally, the festival’s most curious ritual, the baby jumping, is ready to begin. Infants from newborn to 12 months of age, dressed in their Sunday best, are brought to the street and laid in two rows on full-sized bed mattresses. As soon as the procession ends, the men chosen as “the devils” burst out of the church and run down the street toward the babies.

One by one, they jump the full length of the mattresses and over the unassuming children. The devils immediately run out of the town. This bizarre sight represents evil being cast out of the town and taking the sins of the infants with them. The babies are considered to be as cleansed as if they had been baptized. A fresh start for the newborns and another year cleansed from sin in the Spanish town of Castrillo de Murcia.

** Images courtesy of the Wikimedia Commons Project **

Theater, art, and Haggis! A guide to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival

by Gadling Staff on

Each week, Gadling is taking a look at our favorite festivals around the world. From music festivals to cultural showcases to the just plain bizarre, we hope to inspire you to do some festival exploring of your own. Come back each Wednesday for our picks or find them all HERE.

Known as the “largest festival on Earth“, Scotland’s Edinburgh Fringe Festival has something for everyone. From students donning kilts wanting to groove to the newest Jazz singers to street performers on stilts, this annual festival is an adventure where the energy flows into the streets and makes everyone feel like a performing artist for the day. The Fringe has come a long way: from its 1947 beginnings with only eight theater companies, to the present day festival, which sells over 1.8 million tickets each year! Tourists now travel from around the globe to experience this extraordinary event.

Begun by the Festival Fringe Society as an “open access festival” allowing unrestricted exhibition by anyone interested in performing, the modern version of the festival now features some of the world’s most unique and avant-garde artistic and theatrical pursuits. The shows range from dramatic Shakespeare told from the perspective of dinosaurs to puppets singing show tunes. However, the performances are only half of the experience that comes along with the price of the ticket. What else happens at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival? Keep reading below.

With over 34,000 performances taking place over three weeks, the word ‘venue’ takes on a whole new meaning at the Edinburgh Fringe. The performance spaces range from a traditional stage to more progressive bars to classrooms with floor seating to places not so appealing like toilets!

Shows start all throughout the day and run long into the night, so every attendee should pick up a program. Treat the program like your tour guide for the length of your visit. Inside you’ll get reviews, a synopsis and location information for each show. Grab a scone and your program and hike up to Arthur’s Seat, the highest point in the city, for a panoramic city view and chart out each day. Since performances vary a great deal in length and are located all throughout the city, double check your times and locations before buying tickets.

Though the offerings of the Fringe Festival change every year, the one show that is on the top of every must-see list is the Military Tattoo at Edinburgh Castle, a 90-minute celebration lead by over a thousand musicians and ending with fireworks. Tickets for the event are in high demand every year, so make sure to buy those tickets in advance. When it’s over, walk to a pub and have yourself a “dram” of Scotch while trying the Haggis (a Scottish tradition of a sheep’s heart, liver and lungs mixed with spices) and tasting the tatties (potatoes). Like the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, it’s a one-of-a-kind Scottish experience!

This year the festival is scheduled from August 6-30th. Follow on Twitter and Facebook to stay up to date on the latest happenings of the Fringe!

The Summer Redneck Games: A Hootin’ Good Time!

by Gadling Staff on

Starting today, Gadling is taking a look at our favorite festivals around the world. From music festivals to cultural showcases to the just plain bizarre, we hope to inspire you to do some festival exploring of your own. Come back each week for our picks or find them all HERE.

Each July, nearly 100,000 visitors descend on East Dublin, Georgia to participate in a one-of-a-kind event known as the Summer Redneck Games. This unique festival is a celebration of “all things Redneck” including special feats of athleticism, a variety of culinary treats and plenty of fun.

The story of the Redneck Games begins in 1996 before the Atlanta Olympics. After outsiders began making fun of “Rednecks” who were hosting the games, a group of volunteers decided to do something about it. Enterprising locals took critics’ remarks as a challenge, organizing their very own “Redneck Games” and agreed to donate the proceeds from the event to charity. In its inaugural year, more than 5,000 visitors showed up. The organizers knew they were on to something. Over the last decade, the Redneck Games have continued to grow, with participation reaching 95,000 rednecks during the annual one-day July extravaganza.

Much like the Olympic games, the Redneck Games hosts a number of challenging athletic events, but with a uniquely Redneck twist. Favorite contests include the Hubcap Hurl, the Bobbin’ for Pigs Feet Fest, Mud Wrestling, and a special contest called Redneck Horseshoes, which uses toilet seats in place of the standard iron game pieces. There’s also plenty of authentic Redneck foods for hungry spectators, including Corn Dogs, Alligator Kebabs and Elephant Ears. You’re also sure hear authentic Redneck slang like “y’all,” “fixin’ to,” “do what?,” and the all-time favorite (as coined by Redneck favorite, Larry the Cable Guy), “Git R’ Done!”

Though the Redneck Games would seem to be a decidedly local affair, it has slowly attracted fans from across the U.S. and around the world. As the event has become more popular, a steady stream of participants from “above the Mason-Dixon line” has joined in the fun, with events taking place as far away as Canada and a range of international media coverage.

There’s many misconceptions about the Games – critics decry the Redneck Games as nothing more than horseplay and drinking beer. But much like the comments the led to the event’s creation, event organizers and supporters have taken the remarks in stride. To its fans, the Redneck Games remain nothing but a silly, great time. Despite the increase in attendance and popularity, it remains much the same pure fun that it has always been.

Want to join in the craziness? Head down to Georgia this July 10th to check it out. Everyone is welcome – even Yankees…