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Seth Fein discusses The Inaugural Champaign-Urbana Lebowski Achievers Festival
4:00 am Apr 23 - by Matt Carey – buzz Writer
To quote the dude
“Will you come off it, Walter? You’re not even fucking Jewish, man.”
“This is what happens when you fuck a stranger in the ass!”
“Donny you’re out of your element! Dude, the Chinaman is not the issue here!”
“Nihilists! Fuck me. I mean, say what you like about the tenets of National Socialism, Dude, at least it’s an ethos.”
“Nothing is fucked? The god damn plane has crashed into the mountain!”
“Walter, he peed on my rug!”
“Shut the fuck up, Donny.”
“Donny: Are these the Nazis, Walter?
Walter Sobchak: No, Donny, these men are nihilists. There’s nothing to be afraid of.”
To quote the dude
“Will you come off it, Walter? You’re not even fucking Jewish, man.”
“This is what happens when you fuck a stranger in the ass!”
“Donny you’re out of your element! Dude, the Chinaman is not the issue here!”
“Nihilists! Fuck me. I mean, say what you like about the tenets of National Socialism, Dude, at least it’s an ethos.”
“Nothing is fucked? The god damn plane has crashed into the mountain!”
“Walter, he peed on my rug!”
“Shut the fuck up, Donny.”
“Donny: Are these the Nazis, Walter?
Walter Sobchak: No, Donny, these men are nihilists. There’s nothing to be afraid of.”
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The Inaugural Champaign-Urbana Lebowski Achievers Festival »- Event has already occurred
- Canopy Club »
708 S. Goodwin Ave. Urbana, IL 61801
(Show on map)
buzz: How did you decide to bring Lebowski Fest to Champaign?
Fein: I’ve been a pretty huge fan of the movie since I saw it in the theater in 1997, so it was something that became a slight obsession for me. In 1999 or 2000 after it came out on DVD, my friends and I were all into it then; of course, time has gone on, people have actually created legitimate Lebowski Fests like the real Lebowski Fest, which is in 14 places this year. You know we do Pizza, Pitcher and a Movie here, and I put Lebowski on there, and there was about 50 people that showed up, which is a really good night for Pizza, Pitcher and a Movie, and you know, it was just evident that that’s everywhere. My wife got me a book for Christmas called I’m a Lebowski, You’re a Lebowski, and I was reading it, thinking to myself, they do it, why can’t we do it? It’s easy. You know I produce Pygmalion Music Festival; doing events is not lost on me, it’s what I do for a living, so I thought I’d do it.
buzz: What went into organizing this event in particular?
Fein: Two phone calls, really. Called up the bowling alley, let them know what I wanted to do, they were like, ‘Great, lanes are reserved.’ Then I put tickets on sale, got a couple of bands to play, which I think are a nice additional bonus. There’s a very limited number available to the bowling part, then, of course, the movie and the show afterwards are free. It’s going to be a small little group of local Lebowski freaks. So the planning was easy. We’re going to have a costume contest judged by me and a couple other people, we’re going to have a ringer toss and we’re going to be filling it up with dirty undies, the whites. The planning was planned for us; we read about what they do at other Lebowski Fests, and we just kind of mimicked that. By no means are we ever trying to be like, ‘It’s our idea;’ all credit is given where credit is due. We just thought we’ve got our own little community here, and, of course, I could continue to quote The Big Lebowski when I say stuff like that, but yeah, it was a pretty easy planning phase because it was kind of done for us.
buzz: Is this something you are looking to do annually?
Fein: I think it’s a situation where I’d like to see, you know, I did this on a whim — a couple of months ago, I decided to do it, so I asked our graphic designers to whip something up, and it was done. I don’t see it being something where we’d not do it unless nobody shows up, but we’ve already sold advanced tickets. Even if it’s a small group of people, I think it’s worth celebrating. It’s the best fucking movie ever. I would say it’s the best comedy of the last 25 years. It could be argued that it’s not, but I’d tell those people to go fuck themselves.
buzz: Are you going to dress up at all?
Fein: I’m not much of a Halloween guy or a dress-up guy, but I’ll probably dress up in a robe and shades, and I’m going to look for some jellies, see what I can find. My wife is also not much of a dressing-up person, but I think she may try and dress up as a white Russian.
buzz: At what bowling alley are you doing this?
Fein: Old Orchard. It seemed like the right fit — it’s closer to the Canopy Club than the other ones, and it’s kind of small and old-school, the way that the bowling alley in the movie is.
buzz: What bands are playing?
Fein: It’s just two of my favorite locals. Zach May and the Maps, who are real new, who I think have the most potential of any new band I’ve seen all year to be something really dynamic in the music scene. And World’s First Flying Machine is a band that I’ve been into and championing for the last couple years; I just felt like asking a couple of my favorite locals to play would help just give the night a little more flavor after the movie and the making of — have a little live music.
buzz: Will they be playing songs from the movie?
Fein: I asked them to check out the soundtrack and see what they could come up with, but I’m not going to force them to do it; it’s just something they’re doing for fun, so it’s something that I’ve obviously thought of — as to whether or not they do it, I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.
buzz: In the book, they talk about the two guys who originally made Lebowski Fest. Have you e-mailed them or had any contact with them?
Fein: No, not yet, but I know a guy who knows them very well, and I’ve spoken to him about it, and I said, ‘You don’t think they’d be upset?’ and he said, ‘No, not at all, not unless you were trying to market it nationally as a competing Lebowski Fest.’ After I do this one and kind of get a flavor for it, I may ask them, ‘Hey, I did my own last year; would you be interested in making a Lebowski Fest Champaign so that we could be official then?’ I’m not trying to go up against them or anything. I just have so much going on in my life, especially now that Pygmalion season is here, it’s not worth it for me to try to do too much organization. After this year is over, I will contact them.
Lebowski Fest is being held Sunday, April 26 with bowling starting at 3 p.m. and the movie starting at 6 p.m. Tickets for the bowling section are on sale for $15, and the movie showing and band performance afterward are free.
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