As many of you know, I have been doing the events for Kidrobot for quite some time now. I love putting together signings, events, conventions, openings, gallery shows, and any type of party in general. Through the years there have been some amazing times. I have complied a list of what I feel are the most memorable Kidrobot events…so far. Were you there?
NY Store Grand Opening (September 26, 2003)
It’s so crazy to see the NY store now and to think of where it all began. When we first opened our doors in 2003 on Prince Street people were lined up down the block just to get a peek inside the store! Tristan, Mark Bode, Filth, SEEN, and Uglydolls were ALL doing signings at the opening. Everyone was just enjoying hanging out on this nice summer night and it was such good energy. It was my first glimpse into the madness that Kidrobot can create.
The Dunny Show at Visionaire Gallery (May 15th, 2004)
The first of it’s kind! We were soo excited to get all these amazing artists to customize 20” Dunnys for the Visionaire Gallery. This was our very first big event. Everyone was dressed up and it was awesome to see all the Artists come out to the opening. I was running around taking photos for the site that night and about 20 minutes before the doors opened one of the fish in the Dunny fish tank custom died and there was no way of us to get it out. Needless to say he was the star of the show.
Our First SDCC Experience (July 22-25, 2004)
In the past 4 years our booth has gotten bigger and our lines have gotten longer. Our first year at SDCC we had a 10×10 booth made of cardboard boxes. There was never a line and we barely sold out of the exclusive dunnys we had.
I asked DEPH to make us a Kidrobot stencil and to design a few posters for us to sell. I had Huck paint the stencil on the cardboard boxes in the back of the SF store before shipping them down to the convention. Sooo ghetto! But it was fun. The only thing that sucked was that we were right next to the Happy Tree Friends booth and they played the video on repeat all day, every day. I thought we all were going to go over there and kick through the TV screen.
Dunny Series 2 Release (June 16, 2005)
I picked Dunny Series 2 because it was the first sign of Dunny Mania. The first release was cool, but you could see the craze setting in around the second series release. The release at the store was fun, but the best thing about this night was the after party. A friend of mine owned a bar a few blocks away so we decided to take the place over. We got tons of Dunny posters and people were hanging out coloring, drinking, and dancing. It was just a good chill time. And I pulled a pretty good prank on Sket that night.
The MUNNY Show (November 3, 2005)
This was our first time doing an event in 3 cities at the same time. We had huge exhibitions and decorating parties in NYC, LA, and SF. The reason why I liked these shows so much is that there was sooo much room! We were able to fill it with people who were decorating, some just hanging out, and other people dancing. I love events where there is plenty of room for everyone J I also liked how people were able to participate, it was one of the first events I had seen where people could buy their own platform toy and design it in at the event.
DJ Qbert Release Party (January 12, 2006)
This event was off the hook. Huck worked with QBert to create the dunny and then worked his magic so that we could have him DJ at the release party. It was a HUGE deal. We decided to have a signing and an afterparty at MILK, my favorite place to party in SF. A ton of people showed up, the place was packed and everyone went crazy when QBert took the stage. Crews were battling during the set and the vibe was so energetic. It was one of the best times I’d had at a release party, even though the all-night open bar resulted in me falling off the stage, getting a black eye, and telling Huck I wanted a prothstetic….yeah, don’t ask.
The Paint Ball (September 7, 2006)
This was my first time putting together a custom show from start to finish. I thought I bit off more than I could chew when I realized I had over 120 Artists in the show! But every single one that we got back were amazing and having that many different types of artists on display added so much to the show.
The opening night of the event Tilt and Mist worked all night painting a 4’ Dunny and 4’ FatCap. They turned out amazing and it was the first time we’d ever had artists do live painting at an event. The line was down the block all night long and it was one of the largest turnouts we have seen at an event. DJ Nick Catchdubs kept the night going with a great set.
Apparel Launch at Kidrobot NY (Sep
tember 28, 2006)
Who thought releasing hoodies would be so insane that the cops had to come down to sanction off the block?!
Shit got crazy when Swizz Beats came outside and threw out a few hoodies to the crowd. If you’ve never seen someone dive in front of a moving vehicle for a free article of clothing, let me tell you, it’s not a pretty sight. Pandemonium broke out after that and the cops showed up ready to shut us down. I had to get into the cop car and get on the speakers to tell everyone to back away from the door and get in line. I thought vinyl toy fans were intense, man, I wasn’t prepared for that night. This event was stressful and aggravating, but we learned a LOT about crowd management, so it was a learning experience more than anything.
The Standard Presents: Kidrobot (January 25, 2007)
God, this party was MASSIVE! We took over The Standard Hotel in downtown LA for one night. Huck and the ILOVEDUST crew flew in for what turned out to be an amazing weekend in Los Angeles. That night alone we had Huck Gee signing an exclusive 8” Dunny, Munny Series 3 Release and Decorating Party, ILOVEDUST coloring wall, DJ Peanutbutter Wolf, a 20” Custom Dunny Show, and mo-cap Munny display.
The line was around the block 2 hours before the party was suppose to start. At one point a tour bus pulled up and about 40 people got out and got in line. WTF?!?! The chaos started as soon as the doors opened and didn’t stop for the entire night. Some wires for the DJ set were broken and we had to find new ones, some kid knocked over Blaine Fontana’s custom dunny right as the doors opened and I had to call Blaine to bring his glue gun so we could fix the broken pieces, Huck’s 2 hour signing turned into a 5 hour endeavor, and there were hundreds of people outside waiting to get in, but couldn’t cause the stairs were jammed. I was running around so much I finally had to take off my heels and sprint around the hotel in my stockings with a walkietalkie in one hand and my phone in the other. We were so understaffed for the amount of people that came to the event that it was overwhelming.
I’m glad that the event was so successful, but I feel like this was one of those parties where it went by so fast I didn’t even get to sit back and enjoy it. I heard PB Wolf killed it that night.
The Kidrobot Room at CiRCA (October 5, 2007)
When Kidrobot was asked to design a room inside a Toronto mega club, we were suuuper excited. Opening night of this club was incredible. We were able to fly in artists from all over the World to come celebrate with us. MAD, Tilt, Mist, Sket, Tim Biskup, DJ Lance, Tado, Nathan Jurevicius, and Mori Chack were just some of the people that came up to party. We spent a majority of that entire weekend inside the walls of the club and I don’t think I slept for more than 3 hours that whole trip. It was like we had our own little world in that club where anything could happen.
The night of the opening THOUSANDS of people filled the club, Mist and Tilt were painting on girls, I was dressed up as a dominatrix spanking people, and everyone was running around like they were a kid in a candy shop. I ended up breaking my whip on Tim Biskup’s ass around 4 in the morning. He still should have a bruise from that spanking.
Kidrobot Miami Grand Opening (November 29, 2007)
I had never been to Miami, so needless to say, we were all excited about the opening of the store right on the beach. Leaving cold NY in November to go to MIA was a blessing.
Everything went soo smooth, turned out that everyone in Miami was soo nice! The staff quickly became new family members and we all had a great Grand Opening event. Huck flew out for the release of his Miami exclusive skullhead dunny and we took over the roof deck of The Hotel for a pool party. We thought the night was going to end there, but we got our first taste of what Miami had to offer and ended up going to 2 or 3 clubs AFTER the afterparty and getting back to the hotel at 6am. The next day was spent getting my ass kicked on some jet skis. Viva Miami!
Baroness’ 7 Deady Sins Party (April 18, 2008)
I don’t even know where to start on this one. Kidrobot made a limited edition Baroness Dunny for my 29th birthday so of course I HAD to throw a party!! Everyone and their mother was in town for NYCC so it was on.
I put together a costume dance party and topped it off with a surprise performance by Spank Rock. I was afraid that the place would be shut down if we announced that Spank Rock was playing a free show, so I had to keep it under wraps for months. Only a few people knew the day of the party what actually was going down. Tim Biskup started the night off spinning dance music and then Spank Rock took the stage and tore it UP. It was the one of the craziest parties ever – People were dressed up and since we had the whole place to ourselves everyone just got crazy.
