Anarchists, left-leaning minds and others who revel in America's counterculture gather to share ideas at AS220's Foo Fest.

01:00 AM EDT on Sunday, July 16, 2006

BY KAREN LEE ZINER
Journal Staff Writer

PROVIDENCE -- How would you write the blank slate of tomorrow?

Ask the anarchists, who were selling the probative, political and provocative during the Anarchist Book Fair portion of yesterday's Foo Fest, sponsored by AS220.

Titles such as The Child's Guide to Nihilism and Immigrants, Unions and the New U.S. Labor Market -- Fresh Fruit and Rotten Wages, and poet Allen Ginsberg's Howl, Che Guevara's The Bolivian Diaries and Anarchy magazine (featuring an interiew with Unabomber Ted Kaczynski) were for sale beneath a tent on Empire Street.

So were T-shirts (George Bush -- "International Terrorist"), beaded cell-phone jewelry and Woodstock and Ramones posters and vinyl LPs from Bowie, The Dead, the Kinks and so on, and campy Hawaiian shirts and polka-dot skirts.

"We want to make a signature event that really celebrates the alternative," said AS220 artistic director Bert Crenca (dressed festively in a neon-green T-shirt that set off his signature white goatee). Crenca added, "It's really critical that we keep it free."

Crenca explained that the Foo Fest evolved from AS220's early-days "Marathon Cabaret" that used to last until 3 or 4 in the morning, which morphed into the annual Fool's Ball fundraiser that's now "kind of schmooze fest" and now this new fundraiser, the Foo Fest.

"We moved it into the street, in response to the city wanting to have more events in the summer," said Crenca.

So by the way, what is "FOO?"

Crenca didn't really trust himself to give an accurate description since it means, well, "kind of everything and nothing." And at AS220 -- the nonprofit arts space that includes galleries, performance spaces and studios -- "We like things that don't make a whole lot of sense."

So Crenca deferred to the Foo Fest program, which says, "Well to be honest, we don't really know . . . but the closest explanation . . . is that FOO is everything and anything, and that's exactly what we expect you to find today at the Foo Fest."

Which was true.

A whiff of patchouli oil here, some left-leaning face-painting, screen prints of HP Lovecraft, and a photo booth "Photographic Memory" -- an AS220 student project. For that, you could have your visage memorialized beneath a white helmet or a wig, and drape a feather boa around your shoulders. Or not.

Angela Burkett, a Providence teacher, enjoyed the literary offerings, "and the people mingling and talking and sharing ideas about politics, conflict, progress and change." And Erika L. of New York came to support her friend, "who's organizing a radical community parenting workshop."

On stage at Empire Street, indoors at AS220, and here there and everywhere, bands such as The Kamikaze Hearts and Pumice and the Notekillers and Pearls and Brass, and the What Cheer? Brigade were going to rock through the wee hours.

At the Anarchist Book Fair, Aragorn! ("That's my real name," he said), was selling Anarchy magazine. Aragorn said he lives in Berkeley, Calif., which enjoys a counterculture reputation that has persisted at least since the '60s.

"We review the anarchist press," said Aragorn, who is one of the editors, "and each issue has a theme. In this case, the theme is anthropology." Among the books reviewed in the current issue: The Angry Brigade -- a history of Britain's first urban guerilla group and Fire to the Powder Keg, War and Social Guerrilla Struggle in Iraq.

By early afternoon, Empire Street was in a mild state of anarchy. Foo-Festers chatted at sidewalk cafe tables, bought glass baubles, chugged Narragansett Beer, chowed on Little Rhody hot dogs, talked alternative talk and perused alternative thought at the book tables.

Crenca said the event is expanding, and as the word gets around, "we'll just keep growing up the block." He added, "The buzz is already starting."

kziner@projo.com / (401) 277-7375