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DEVO-OBSESSO EVENT REPORT
ANNUAL FAN GATHERING • CLEVELAND, O-Hi-O • AUGUST, 2009
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Each DEVOtional event has offered something special that the previous year's did not, and the DEVOtional 2009 was no exception.

We were extremely fortunate to have Bob "Bob 2" Casale of DEVO as our Special Guest Chef - sharing his culinary talents with 70+ spuds & spudesses. Guests were also treated to a sneak peek at the DEVO Live In London "Are We Not Men?" performance DVD, a very entertaining 'Q & A' with Bob Casale, a live video chat with Shay Spitz Ober (the woman who has her clothing removed in DEVO's Whip-It video) and much more.

As usual, the DEVOtional weekend was more than just the DEVOtional event itself.

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Friday, Aug. 28th - KRK Ryden Art @ Asterisk

Asterisk Gallery has added value to the DEVOtional weekend for a few years now, sponsoring a DEVO-themed art show on the Friday before the DEVOtional. It started with Mark Mothersbaugh's limited edition prints in 2007, and has since hosted KRK Ryden's Devolved artwork. This year Asterisk hosted KRK's show titled "No Pinheads Allowed". KRK has a long history with DEVO, illustrating their product catalogs & Brainwasher fanzine in the early/mid 1980's.



KRK's paintings, drawings and prints adorned the walls throughout the entire lower level of Asterisk Gallery. Included in the show was the original painting for the cover of the "Not Necessarily Beautiful But Mutated" Vol. 8 CD compilation.

The Spudboys had been rehearsing for the past day or so, as usual, and showed up a little later in the evening. I'm always amazed at how The Spudboys are able to rehearse enough to put on such a great show.

Around 9:30pm, many spuds wrapped up their conversations at Asterisk Gallery and headed out to see a nearby concert at The Phantasy in Lakewood, Ohio.


I arrived at The Phantasy during the end of Malcolm Tent's set and was happy to see him wearing his entirely red uniform, which I've seen at DEVOtionals past. Then Chad Opitz took the stage as Nervous Energy and performed amazing acrobatic feats which delighted everyone. Dudical Radical was next, dishing out a very athletic performance, and was followed by A Friend Of Mabel's, who took the crowd on a journey with the help of a very pretty blue see-through guitar. Headliners BADITUDE finished the night off with their nerd-bashing set of work-out worshipping synth rock.

I think a few spuds met at the hotel and chatted throughout the night, but I found myself exhausted and decided to retire early to get some rest for the next day's event.


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Sat., Aug. 29th - DEVOtional @ Beachland

My day started early, around 9am, when I met other spuds at The Beachland Ballroom to start setting everything up. Thanks to everyone at The Beachland for working with us given the gruelling DEVOtional event hours! (Big Audio Mike & Cindy Barber!).

One thing we had to figure out was placement and set up of the huge plexi-glass "D-E-V-O" letters that I brought from NC - which were expertly made by a DEVOted mutant, Rick Harris, from Atlanta, GA. Thanks, Rick! We opted to put them across the front of the stage, and you'll see numerous photos of them throughout the report.


I'm always delighted to see so many familiar faces at the DEVOtional gatherings, and over the last few years have been very happy to see so many new spuds each year - from such a wide range of ages, too.

So many great things happened at the event this year - Fantastic live sets from performers like Nervous Energy, FartBarf, The Weird Paul Rock Band, Burgee Boys, Bottle, and others... including the DEVOtional staples Mutant Mountain Boys and The Spudboys. The Bob Casale Q&A session was fantastic, and I definitely think he should do more interviews for DEVO. With help from Michael Proskin of Catered Productions, and a crew of devotees, Bob 2 was able to put together a fantastic menu of delicious treats for DEVOtional guests. Thank you Bob 2 and Michael Proskin for making it all possible - and of course to Marc Friedman for helping set it all up.


Over the years, I've been noticing that more and more spuds are showing up in full DEVO gear. Some even went through several wardrobe changes throughout the day, representing assorted fashions throughout DEVO's career.

As you can see, there is a plethora of wonderful photos documenting the DEVOtional 2009 gathering. This is because so many spuds donated their time & energy to snap these pics - and I send my thanks to all of you! Much appreciated.

To see full size photos, scroll back to the top left corner of the report and click on the thumbnail image. Then click on the arrows from photo to photo for more pics from the DEVOtional 2009.

Great seeing all the DEVOted spuds and spudesses again! Thanks to everyone who worked hard to make it happen again (Alex Brunelle/Booji Boy's Basement, Scott Orsi, Marc Friedman, Rev. HV Monkey, Rev. Toth Wilder etc.)

Next year is the big 10th Anniversary, DEVOtional 2010, a year which will bring the first new DEVO album in nearly 2 decades. This event will be incredible and chock-full of surprises...so plan ahead! More info coming soon.


- Michael Pilmer / for DEVO, Inc. & Devo-Obsesso.com