Simply, well ... awesome

Joanna Pang, the longtime owner of the Trocadero, is a serious businesswoman, not given to superlative. Neither is respected film curator Josh Goldbloom. Yet, ask them about their newest joint venture and each turns gushing teen.

"There's never been anything like this ever and the only word to describe it is awesome," exclaims Pang, talking about the summerlong Awesome Fest, with its mix of concerts, dressed-up live events, film screenings, and celebrity meet-and-greets - all around an '80s theme.

For the first time, Awesome Fest will include not just movies but also concerts and other events at several venues, including Liberty Lands, Eakins Oval, Drexel Park, Parx Casino, the Troc, and the Ritz Theaters.

Goldbloom sounds doubly excited about the Me Decade behind Awesome Fest's 10-week, citywide celebration of 50-plus events, starring the likes of '80s wrestler-turned-thespian Rowdy Roddy Piper (from They Live); Charles" Fleischer, the voice behind the cartoon bunny of Who Framed Roger Rabbit, and '80s new wave hit-makers Flock of Seagulls and the English Beat.

"I've got pictures of me in elementary school wearing Bugle Boy and different color shoes," Goldbloom, born in 1981, says of his Awesome-themed childhood. "My mom pulled me out of third-grade class to take me to see my favorite band, Skid Row. With my dad working public relations for West Coast Video, the film nerd in me watched every movie."

Those films included Killer Klowns From Outer Space ("TBS, three times a day") and Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure ("changed my language for a full year"). They're two of the highlights of Awesome Fest that Goldbloom booked with sponsorship from Parx Casino, a patronage that gave him room for big-name bookings (e.g., Psychedelic Furs), as well as the ability to make a majority of its events free.

"My favorite movie of all time is 1983's Staying Alive," says Carrie Nork Minelli, Parx's director of advertising. "Laugh if you want, but John Travolta, Finola Hughes, and Cynthia Rhodes created the best dancer movie ever." Nork Minelli and Marc Oppenheimer, chief marketing officer of Parx, got involved with Awesome to expand the fest's reach into the suburbs and give Parx exposure to downtown crowds. One of the first events Parx Casino hosts is an '80s-themed prom night that asks participants to dress tackily in wide-lapel tuxes and bubble-hem dresses.

"It's an amazing feeling to do something you love and find out many others, over 25 years later, love it too," says Charles Chiodo, the writer of the DIY classic Killer Klowns From Outer Space with his brother Stephen, who directed the low-budget horror flick. "Our design aesthetic comes from a love of monsters and fascination with the absurd, combining it with the characteristics of Looney Tunes and Dr. Seuss. Throw in a nice dose of Jack Davis from Mad Magazine fame and you get Chiodo."

It's that '80s spirit, from tacky monsters to kitsch prom tuxedos, that Goldbloom capitalized on when he conceived of Awesome Fest in 2010. Though he started simply showing movies, Goldbloom sought to include events, like the meet-and-greets with the films' stars he's doing this year with Dumb & Dumber's Lauren Holly and the aforementioned WWE great Rowdy Roddy Piper.

But Goldbloom didn't want to rely on the camp and glossily popular films of the era. Upon purchasing an outdoor movie screen last year, Goldbloom took his '80s theme ideal to Liberty Lands.

"This year's festival grew out of my necessity to see all of my childhood favorites again on the big screen, outdoors, rather than just the 10 I brought to Liberty Lands" last year, says Goldbloom. "What solidified my decision, though, was the amount of serious indie films on the current festival circuit thematically tied to the 1980s, such as V/H/S/2, I Am Divine, The Kings of Summer, and Downloaded, directed by Alex Winter of Bill & Ted and The Lost Boys fame."

Winter is proud of the '80s film output that made him famous. "Super proud," he says. "I really enjoyed those movies and am pleasantly surprised how they managed to stand the test of time." But like Awesome Fest, Winter is not weighed down by old films, despite joking about being from the "age of dial-up." He has directed films like the new Downloaded documentary about the tragic fall of Napster and the rise of iTunes. "When Napster burst onto the scene, technology took a seismic leap. . . . The world is not changing back," he says, about his film's subject.

To Goldbloom's credit, Awesome Fest isn't just about movies anymore. He enthuses about working with AEG, the concert bookers behind the Troc's biggest events, to create "the biggest, most bad-ass monster" that he could. On the top of that list was England's moody Psychedelic Furs, the smoky, Bowie-sque post-punk band that became a sensation in America when director John Hughes titled his 1986 teen comedy Pretty in Pink after one of its songs. While the band's last studio album was 1991's World Outside, lyricist/singer Richard Butler and bassist brother Tim continued the legacy with a live album, to say nothing of two albums by their second band Love Spit Love, Richard's newish eponymously named solo album, and his recent house-music track "Götterstrasse" with Westbam.

Butler looks back fondly on the '80s, but isn't consumed with them. "Like any other time, you don't look at anything as an 'era' until it's long past," he says. "There was some great music and culture that came out of that decade, as there is in any decade, really. In the moment, we lived our lives, thoroughly enjoyed what we were doing, and continued to grow. Hopefully, we all do that now as well."

Goldbloom sees Awesome Fest in a similar fashion, something he enjoys doing that he expects will grow annually. "It's a destination festival, and we'll continue to expand," he says. "I've stood by one motto since this festival's inception and that is 'Go big or go home,' and nothing says 'big' like 'awesome.' "

The Awesome Fest opens Friday and continues through mid-August at various venues. All information, times, dates, and prices: www.theawesomefest.

com.

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