Lebowski Fest 2009

Source: JamBase
March 3, 2009
View read count

+1 Announces Lebowski Fest:

May 7 Movie Party at The Wiltern / May 8 Bowling Party at Cal Bowl

By Jerry Duvall

In this, its 8th year, Lebowski Fest is stronger than ever, and looks primed to start growing in spurts. Lebowski Fest 2009 is scheduled to kick off in Los Angeles, on May 7, with a screening event at The Wiltern Theatre, followed by a bowling night at Cal Bowl. And you never know who will show up when Lebowski Fest rolls into Tinsel Town...

In the coming months, Lebowski Fests will be held in 16 cities (and counting) across North America, including Los Angeles, Louisville, Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, San Diego, Las Vegas, Austin, Minneapolis, Chicago, Toronto, Boston, Philadelphia, Washington DC and New York.

www.LebowskiFest.com has also gone through an extreme makeover to match the beefed up routing. The new site is live as of last week, and with the help of photos, fun merch, and the latest tour info, it really ties the festival together.

Upon its release in 1998, The Big Lebowski was misunderstood. Inspired in part by the noir mysteries of Raymond Chandler, the film is a meandering tale about a listless stoner and bowling enthusiast, known simply as The Dude, who finds himself in the middle of a plot involving kidnapping, extortion, nihilists, the avant-garde art world, Tara Reid and the L.A. porn scene. Then, there was that business about a missing rug. Critics and the general public promptly dismissed the Coen Brothers' comedy as a forgettable mess, and it flopped at the box office. Since then, however, the film's true merits have slowly come to light. Namely, The Dude - who has become the patron saint of slackerdom - and the film's idioms, which have become slacker gospel. Still, when two friends Will Russell and Scott Shuffitt decided to throw a bowling party in honor of their favorite movie, they had no idea that the subsequent gathering of fellow Lebowski fans would eventually spawn a full-blown movement. It did. The fans are now known as “Achievers," and their movement is called Lebowski Fest.

The first Lebowski Fest took place on October 12, 2002, at a bowling alley in Louisville, Kentucky. Russell and Shuffitt posted flyers around town, expecting 20 or so of their friends to show up. Instead, Lebowski loyalists flocked from all around, and a revolution was born.

“What do you do for recreation?" Julianne Moore's character Maude Lebowski asks The Dude in the film. “Oh, the usual," The Dude responds. “I bowl. Drive around. The occasional acid flashback." Lebowski Fest organizers have not strayed very far from that formula - much to the delight of Festival attendees. “Achievers" are regaled with two nights of events: live music and a screening of the movie on the first night; followed by an evening of bowling, replete with wild costumes, trivia contests, unlimited bowling, White Russians, and what-have-you. Lebowski Fest has also incorporated various reenactments of scenes from the film, art exhibits, and games, like the Ringer Toss, whereby contestants toss a bag of white undies out the window of a '72 Plymouth Fury III (dubbed the Lebowski-mobile, naturally), toward a Nihilist dummy target, for prizes. The Marmot Fling (catapulting a stuffed ferret into a small bath tub) and The Sheriff of Malibu Coffee Mug Toss are also “Achiever" favorites.

When Louisville band My Morning Jacket took the stage at their local Fest, they did so in true “Achiever" style: Frontman Jim James came dressed as The Dude, drummer Patrick Hallahan as Walter, bassist Tommy Blankenship as The Jesus, guitarist Carl Boremel as Karl Hungus, and keyboardist Bo Koster as a Nihilist. At the peak of their set, fireworks began to fill the sky behind the stage. “It was truly an amazing moment," says Russell. “The fireworks were apparently from a completely unrelated event down the road, but Lebowski Fest took full credit." Other live acts through the years include They Might Be Giants, Dr. Dog, Comedian Brian Posehn, Mike Doughty, Vietnam, Legendary Shack Shakers, Jon Spencer's Heavy Trash, Har Mar Superstar and many others.