AAR = After action report, LDO!!

So we held a gathering of the Töads and Buffalo burners at the clubhouse in North Buffalo last weekend. This was a fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants gathering and we got to meet some really cool mofos and work on some shit. Art was inspired. Plans were laid. No animals were hurt in the course of these activities, despite our best efforts.

In attendance was most of the members of Pyromancy, Buffalo’s best professional fire dancing and performance troupe.

The other half of the crowd was local Buffalo burners, and with the facile crossover between the Töad Meädow ideology and Burning Man ethos, they may as well be counted among the Töads as well.

The first stupid thing to happen was when we busted out the pickle electrocution rig, which had been built hours before. The idea is you take your favorite pickle, then impale it on some deck screws, and then electrocute it to teach it who is da boss!

TBH (to be honest), the pickle electrocution, though novel, was underwhelming. No worries though, because George the Töad Extrordinaire, busted out his jumper cables and an old nail to improve on the design and light up the whole pickle.

A photo posted by Töad Meädow (@toadmeadow) on Feb 28, 2015 at 9:17pm PST

Post by George Hampton.

Granted, this may seem like juvenile dumb fuckery, butt, inspiration strikes for those who are open to it. Indeed, new Töad initiate, Nik had a great idea for an art piece call The Circle of Death which involves intriguingly painted wood panels, and a spiral of electrocuted pickles. We’re working out the technical details, but this future art piece, if it comes into being, will have been borne at this gathering. Stay tuned for details.

The circle of death, expressed in pickles

Then there was the matter of the flame effects for the art car. The fire rig had existed for a couple weeks now, in concept. But we took advantage of idle hands to screw it all together.

 

Do we need more #propane #specialeffects in our lives? Only if we want to be taken seriously by those who matter. Work begins on the #artcar #fire rig. Here’s the, um, “exploded diagram” and parts list. Thanks @fredmountphoto for providing the momentum to get started on this. #flameeffects #plumbing #layingpipe

A photo posted by Töad Meädow (@toadmeadow) on Feb 2, 2015 at 9:10pm PST

We set the rig up inside, passed around some pipe wrenches and sealant, and those interested, turned a wrench a few times to make the flame effect plumbing into reality. Again, Tadpole Nik was on top of things. With his experience in plumbing and hydraulics, he taught some new people the basics of pipe sealant and pipe wrench mastery. Even I cranked on some fittings and with each tug of the wrench, brought the world closer to Töadly chaos.  

Töad King struggles with stuck threads. #toadmeadow #flameeffects #propane

A photo posted by Töad Meädow (@toadmeadow) on Feb 28, 2015 at 8:08pm PST

Chris de La Toad showed up late, got drunk, and then finished the flame rig in 10 minutes. Chris de la Toad is part Töad, part machine. He slapped the flame effect rig together 300% faster than any of the mortals. We’re still trying to figure out his secret.

A bunch of other stuff happened, but I’m tired of typing. If you want to experience shit like this, you have to get off the friggin internet, stop wasting your life, and come out to a Toäd gathering. We can only spoon feed you so much.

We’ll be releasing some really friggin cool art online within two weeks. It’s so cool that I’m going to keep it a secret until it’s ready. Keep the eyes peeled.

The next giant Töad blowout…our spring Celebration, is going to happen May 1-3. Mark zee calendar, now.