Troy Night Out Recap & a Challenge to Readers

Last Friday was the first Troy Night Out of the Summer, and as usual it was a fantastic time with what I think is a criminally low attendance considering what’s being offered.

For those that aren’t aware, Troy Night Out is an event held on the last Friday of every month that highlights the vast array of cultural offerings, cuisine, and art that the city has to offer.

It’s seriously a fantastic time.

The jerk chicken. Click for full image.

I dragged along fellow TU bloggers Kacey Bruce (of Savings Source and Press Start) and Dasha Fitzpatrick (of Savings Source). It was the first time at the event for both ladies, and they had a great time. We had dinner at First Choice Caribbean Cuisine on Fulton Street, where the food was great and the chef looks exactly like Method Man (I almost yelled out “M-E-T-H-O-D” just to see if he’d yell back “…MAN!”). Each of us got a different dish and shared the meat portion with each other: Kacey got the curry chicken, I got the jerk chicken, and Dasha got the stew beef. All the dishes were great – how can you dislike a restaurant that serves chicken on the bone? – but the general consensus was that the winner was Dasha’s stew beef.

One of the many offerings at Trashion. Click for full image.

We then visited a few galleries. The Fulton Street Gallery had a display called “Trashion,” which composed dresses and various items throughout the store using…well, trash. In one case a dress consisted literally of a trash bag. It was an interesting display, though I wish I knew the artist to warn him or her ahead of time not to do the “trash bag dress” – it’s actually something that’s been done to death, to the point of one website not too long ago doing a contest where it challenged participants to make their prom dresses out of garbage bags. Other than that, it was a good showing.

The Hellions of Troy also put on a demonstration, which consisted of them playing a pick-up game on Monument Square. The girls were engaging and very open to questions about the sport, and it’s something that I look forward to seeing them do at future installments of Troy Night Out. You can visit their website here.

Live t-shirt screening at Kismet Gallery. Click for full image.

For me, though, the highlight of the night came after Kacey and Dasha departed (both had to be up fairly early Saturday morning) when I stopped in at the Kismet gallery. Kismet’s quickly become my favorite gallery. It recently re-opened to much fanfare, and all of the attention is well-deserved.

The artist of note was Michael Conlin, who in addition to having a fantastic display on the walls was also present to do live t-shirt screenings. Michael has some absolutely fantastic designs, to the point where I found myself excited to look at and purchase clothes for the first time in ages. For $10 they provided the t-shirt, and for only $5 they would put the design on a t-shirt you bring in.

For a cultural Philistine such as myself, it was exciting to come across something I liked and be able to display it in an accessible and affordable manner. Michael Conlin will have a booth set up at the upcoming Art on Lark event, so I urge you all to find him. You can see more of his work on his Flickr page.

And that’s only the tip of the iceberg.

There’s bands playing in the street, fascinating shopping to be done in and around River Street, and no shortage of things for kids to appreciate (Kismet especially has a lot of stuff that I saw kids getting a real kick out of). Best of all? Free. Free, free, free. Did I mention it’s free? Free.

And how can we forget the Troy Night Out After-Party at Daisy Baker’s, which is the event that is responsible for me dancing in public for the first time…well, ever? And actually enjoying myself to boot?

For real, though, I think it’s a shame that more people aren’t making the trek across the river for this event. With all the attention given to Art on Lark and Larkfest, it boggles my mind that a regular monthly event with every bit as artistically adventurous as well as more diverse offerings doesn’t draw more people from around the area.

The next Troy Night Out is on June 25^th. You can keep an eye out for an events listing at Troy Night Out’s official website. And I want y’all to join me, so I challenge those reading this to set aside that evening and come on out. And if you see me around, stop me and say hi and let me know what a great time you’re having.

MORE PICTURES:

Kacey Bruce steps into a display at the Troy Arts Center. For MMA junkies, the video they used was of a collegiate freestyle wrestling match featuring current Bellator Fighting Championships welterweight Ben Askren.

Another display at the Troy Arts Center. There was also a ton of cool interactive stuff for the kids to partake in.

More art at Kismet.

Marcie Pry of the Hellions of Troy intros their demonstration. Do not mess with these girls. They will hurt you, skates or no.

The Hellions of Troy are TOO FAST for my phone's camera to handle!

The finished product of the t-shirt I purchased.