Arts and Crafts usually invoke image's  of leather wallets and macaroni pictures. This is not the case at Mad Art gallery.  Mad Art is one of the biggest galleries in St. Louis,  located in an old police station they host a yearly weekend long exibition of local artist's, creators and performers called The Big Ass craft show. The event showcases over fifty local artist's and their various creations involving everything from clothes, jewelry and home goods to beautiful paintings and sculptures.  All of them priced very reasonably and the opportunity to buy directly from the artist make the purchases a lot more justifiable.

I have to been to quite a few different events in St. Louis involving some kind of art presented in a different atmosphere than the usual quiet,  stuffy  gallerly's where where you are left to wander around and look  at  the walls with a merlot in one hand and a program of some sort in the other.  I am personally very excited about these events as I have a huge appreciation for beautiful things created by talented people but I like my art to involve a little more loud music and  a couple good drinks.  So I feel that events like this are a great way to have a good time,  see some great entertainment and interact with local artists and performers in on a real basis.  

But the best part of the event (at least the night I was in attendance) was the show going on through the night. DJ Mahf was on the wheels spinning a wonderful mix of great old-school hip-hop and newer, fresher beats and a little Queen just to be safe.  He kept a good atmosphere and  seemed to really enjoy himself.  Then Clownvis Presley took to the stage and presented a show filled with magic, music, fire performances and some of the areas most notorious beauty's showing us their "better sides" .  Clownvis is the only clown Elvis impersonator and really knows how to put on a show. His act is comprised of a couple of different  Elvis tunes and some hilarious magic acts, meanwhile introducing the other acts in between.  And then out came the women.   Sturdy Gurlesque, Lola Van Ella and GoGo McGregor all performed through the night, each with two different acts. All three women had a completely different personality and performance style. All of them looked amazing, independent and beautiful while at the same time oozing sexuality.  GoGo McGregor performed more classic acts of burlesque accompanied with Beautiful feathered black fans. Lola Van Ella chose to sing both of her acts and I must say I am amazed that such a big voice comes from such a little bit of lovely.   Sturdy Gurlesque really heats things up, literally...with fire. First she performed some sexy, sexy fire tricks and her follow up number was an enchanting gypsy dance with more fire...sexy, sexy fire.  Then they all ended it with a rowdy group effort involving Clownvis singing accompanied by the rest of the girls showing off more of their "talents".  Assorted Toothpicks then took the stage and finished the night off. The band seemed to have some sound problems and I got the impression they were not used to performing for crowds often. Aside from those issues they were alright and more importantly every act of the night really seemed to enjoy themselves and their performances .

 The Big Ass craft show was a good ass time.