Birthday/Pinball Extravaganza 2009

Well, once again, the PAPA Tournament has come and gone and I find myself with an intense longing for pinball and bad carpeting.

I did terrible this year, as I always do, but I had loads and loads of fun. I sunk more tokens into that machine on the left than I though humanly possible. I was kinda bummed that we had to use tokens this year. I came with rolls of quarters in tow for this, dammit. I could have put them in my fists and punched bitches. It was amazing to see this machine in real life though. Pictures do not do justice to the “hippy-dippy” ness of it. And yes, those girls have ice cream. I don’t know why this pleases me so much, but it does.

The sheer amount of patience required for this would make me go insane. Upon meeting Mike Budai, it seems that my brain died. I had so many questions regarding the building of this, and I seemed to have forgotten them all. Also, might have been all that tequila consumed before we got there. Goddamn birthday margaritas. What did I expect? From what I remember, he found this machine in working order, and art-ed it up. It seems like it would be so intimidating, with the sheer amount of space to fill in addition to the limitations provided by bumpers and flippers and whatnot. It turned out so super awesome, though, and I think I won the most on that one. I could have imagined that, however.

Hey! That’s me and Mike Budai! Look at that. I got some sweet merch and lotsa pictures. I swear, if it wasn’t for said merch and sweet pics, I may not have actually believed that Friday happened. At this point, I was stuttering and sweating and trying not to sound like a ‘tard. I think I failed. And just so you know, Mike Budai has a kickass stern face. See all those pinball machines in the background? Imagine that, but sooooo many more. It’s amazing the amount of pinball machines they can fit in this place. And seriously, they had both Joust AND Dig Dug. What more can you ask for. Well, I could politely request that they were in working order, but it was nice to be able to just gaze longingly at them. And perhaps drool a little. Not enough to damage the goods, I promise.

This machine was super sweet, too. You know, I’ve seen Brian Holderman’s work before and enjoyed it, but never really knew who did it. So now, it’s nice to be able to put a name with an image. I think he did a shirt for the Arts Festival this spring? I could be totally wrong on that one, though. If you click on that picture there, it’ll take you to his website, full of fun, cutesy, creepy little things. And some more pinball love. I feel like I’m so out of touch with Pittsburgh anymore, but that’s a whole other blog, I suppose. Long story short: It’s awesome to see so many talented people coming out of the woodwork these days. And to see so many of them working together. And dear god, I love this style. It’s everything I’ve ever wanted in a Pittsburgh art scene!

Anyway, back to the birthday festivities! Somehow, we conviced Mike to come to Cantley’s. How that happened, I’m not even sure, but it rocked my evening. We had some celebratory birthday drinks and I talked his ear off. He’s an excellent conversationalist though. Everything from art to music to skating to marriage to peanut butter. Yes ladies, he’s married. After that, the good people that are my friends dragged my drunk ass home and we played silly games until the wee hours of the morning and, somehow, continued drinking. I thought that this was a fabulous idea…until I woke up with a killer hangover at 3pm on Saturday and had to go to my mother’s house for dinner. Mom food is some serious hangover goodness, though. Pizza rolls and chocolate milk, I could not ask for anything more.

Thanks to everyone who made it happen! You guys are awesome!

Mike Budai

Mike Budai is an amazing artist and Pittsburgh native, to boot. I can't even tell you the first time that I heard of him or saw his artwork, I think it might have been on the cover of the Pittsburgh City Paper...maybe for the Arts Festival? Either way, that Arts Festival was the first time I got to purchase a little piece of Mike Budai goodness, which was this shirt.

 I absolutely love this shirt. It was already sooooo soft when I bought it and it's only gotten better. I remember seeing it in the booth at the Arts Festival and jumping up and down like a little kid, screaming at my husband to stop so I could buy this, haha. Oh, good times. From what I remember, it was really reasonably priced, too. It's held up pretty well as far as the printing goes. The only thing is that I now have a few small holes in the front from opening beer bottles with it. Oops, sorry, Mike.


My third encounter with Budai's work was the PAPA tournament held in Carnegie. Seriously, this guy does shirts for pinball, how can you not love him!? I actually had no idea that he was doing the shirts for this until I went to buy one. Mine is not this one, however, the one that I got is a dark brown with two hamster-like creatures on the back playing with a pinball. It's adorable.

Then, last but not least, I found him on Myspace. Hooray. So now, I can keep up with all of the awesomeness that is Mike Budai. The pic on the left is the current background on my work desktop, it makes me happy.

Seriously, check this guy out and support your local art scene, Pittsburgh-ers!!!

Mike Budai's Myspace