T.J. Harden
05-13-2011, 07:03 AM
Beneath the Greasepaint, the Roar of ‘Fam-i-ly!’ (http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/02/arts/music/insane-clown-posse-at-gramercy-theater-bamboozle-festival.html?_r=1&pagewanted=1&sq=juggalo&st=cse&scp=1)
When Violent J, the alter ego assumed by the husky Detroit native Joseph Bruce when he performs in the rap duo Insane Clown Posse, arrived at the Skyport Marina on East 23rd Street in Manhattan, it was just after midnight on Saturday morning, and he was still wearing the greasepaint that makes him look like a demented distant relative of Emmett Kelly.
Dozens of fans, some with faces similarly decorated, were lined up to join him on a chartered ship called the Jewel, and they knew exactly how to react when they saw him and his musical partner, Shaggy 2 Dope, the nom de clown of Joseph Utsler: At maximum volume they began chanting, “Fam-i-ly! Fam-i-ly!”
“We’re going on a cruise!” Violent J shouted back.
For Insane Clown Posse, this three-hour tour of the East River was an occasion to celebrate a recently concluded concert at Gramercy Theater, the group’s first New York show in roughly a decade, and to unwind before a planned performance Sunday at the Bamboozle Festival in East Rutherford, N.J.
For the 200 or so of the group’s devotees, who call themselves Juggalos (and Juggalettes), the party was not just a chance to hang out with their favorite musicians and trade makeup tips; it was also a time for reconnecting with a larger community, from up and down the East Coast and around the country, and reminding themselves that no matter how they are viewed by the world outside, they will always have a place to belong.
Beneath the face paint, and in spite of the band’s cartoonishly gory lyrics, the followers of Insane Clown Posse are striving to transcend negative stereotypes and show that they are not the murderous reprobates depicted in these songs. But further beneath those impulses, some fans wonder what this self-selected tribe of misfits and outcasts stands for.
“We’re the most hated band in the world,” Violent J said in a preconcert interview in his dressing room. “If we were loved by everybody, it wouldn’t be as special.”
Read the rest at the link
When Violent J, the alter ego assumed by the husky Detroit native Joseph Bruce when he performs in the rap duo Insane Clown Posse, arrived at the Skyport Marina on East 23rd Street in Manhattan, it was just after midnight on Saturday morning, and he was still wearing the greasepaint that makes him look like a demented distant relative of Emmett Kelly.
Dozens of fans, some with faces similarly decorated, were lined up to join him on a chartered ship called the Jewel, and they knew exactly how to react when they saw him and his musical partner, Shaggy 2 Dope, the nom de clown of Joseph Utsler: At maximum volume they began chanting, “Fam-i-ly! Fam-i-ly!”
“We’re going on a cruise!” Violent J shouted back.
For Insane Clown Posse, this three-hour tour of the East River was an occasion to celebrate a recently concluded concert at Gramercy Theater, the group’s first New York show in roughly a decade, and to unwind before a planned performance Sunday at the Bamboozle Festival in East Rutherford, N.J.
For the 200 or so of the group’s devotees, who call themselves Juggalos (and Juggalettes), the party was not just a chance to hang out with their favorite musicians and trade makeup tips; it was also a time for reconnecting with a larger community, from up and down the East Coast and around the country, and reminding themselves that no matter how they are viewed by the world outside, they will always have a place to belong.
Beneath the face paint, and in spite of the band’s cartoonishly gory lyrics, the followers of Insane Clown Posse are striving to transcend negative stereotypes and show that they are not the murderous reprobates depicted in these songs. But further beneath those impulses, some fans wonder what this self-selected tribe of misfits and outcasts stands for.
“We’re the most hated band in the world,” Violent J said in a preconcert interview in his dressing room. “If we were loved by everybody, it wouldn’t be as special.”
Read the rest at the link