RON SWARNER: CHAT WITH JAMES HUME >>>
You may have found yourself ... staring at a naked belly dancer painted green. You may have found yourself ... in a confessional booth unaware that the entire party is watching you on video. You may have found yourself ... hypnotized by the naked baby swimming toward a dead president on a projection television. You may have found yourself ... shaking your groove thing to the sounds of Tacoma’s hottest bands. You may have found yourself ... drinking like a fish in the company of fashion models and drag queens.
And you may have asked yourself ... why must it end?
Because James Hume believes its run its course. With 10 surrealist extravaganzas under his belt, the maestro behind Kulture Lab, Hume, is ready to pack it in after one more show: his magnum opus â€" the Penalty for Removal Redux â€" which will include 20 burners from some of the Pacific Northwest’s premier graffiti artists, live performances by Can-U and Josh Rizeberg, and a rotating cast of amazing DJs this Saturday at The Warehouse in downtown Tacoma.
What Hume and his cohorts â€" Jeff Olson, James Bender, Jim Price, Dave Davidson and Rob Anderson and others â€" created was genius. They grabbed “culture,†shook it until the “C†fell off, replaced it with a K, paired it with a lab and introduced Tacoma to a new medium in which to view visual art, live performance art, music, fashion and film. One, long, thrilling experiment, if you will.
I caught up with Hume for his thoughts, random as they may, on the Kulture Lab series.
WEEKLY VOLCANO: What was the first thing you thought about when you woke up this morning?
JAMES HUME: Why is Houston S. Wimberly lll Esquire Jr. laying next to me?
VOLCANO: What do you have for breakfast?
HUME: Jack on the Rocks and a fistful of Saltpeter.
VOLCANO: Where do you feel most inspired?
HUME: Europe
VOLCANO: Saturday is your last Kulture Lab party. Are you sad?
HUME: I have a mixed bag of emotions. Woeful despair and suppressed glee to name a few. It's been a good run and I'm proud Tacoma has embraced such an underground event.
VOLCANO: Why do you think they have been successful in Tacoma?
HUME: A few things. A low cover, Tacoma does not like to pay a lot at the door. Variety, we have tried our best (within the confines of a box) to make each show unique in its own way. Tacoma does not like monotonous, predictable events. Availability, we don't stick around long enough for people to get sick of us. Tacoma has a short attention span and what's cool today, is not tomorrow. And above all, we hang great underground artists from Tacoma.
VOLCANO: You held a graffiti-themed Kulture Lab before. What will be different this Saturday?
HUME: Almost everything. Larry Huffines and Ivan Cunningham have spent months building huge sets that are truly artworks in themselves. Once they are tagged, they will make an unforgettable and ominous display unlike anyone has ever seen at Kulture Lab. Bring your cameras. It's a shame it will all be landfill by Monday.
VOLCANO: If you could go back and start the series over what would you do different?
HUME: There was never any naked dancing midgets. Bummer!
VOLCANO: If you could save only one item from your Kulture Lab parties what would it be?
HUME: My integrity.
VOLCANO: If you could choose to come back as person or thing, who or what would it be?
HUME: I would come back as Paul Newman, John Huston, Jack Kerouac or Anita Ekberg's boobs.
VOLCANO: What’s next for James Hume?
HUME: First off, an enema and a week’s sleep. After that, excessive masturbation.
[The Warehouse, Kulture Lab presents the Penalty for Removal Redux, with walls of amazing graffiti, performances by Can-U and Josh Rizeberg, fashion, film, dance and more, Saturday, March 21, 7-11 p.m., 21+, $5, 1114 Court E., Tacoma]