First Night is self described as a public celebration of the arts that revives the ancient tradition of marking the passage of time with art, ritual, and festivity.
This is the third year Austin’s made a stab at the new year’s celebration, and it feels like it’s starting to take on the Austin ethos.
The Grand Procession parade took place right after dusk and was primarily taken over by mutant bikes, curtasy the Austin Bike Zoo including a Praying Mantis with the band Pong rocking it on it’s “tail”. The butterfly theme of metamorphosis and rebirth also permeated the celebration.
The highlight of the evening took place on Auditorium Shores where there was the resolution clock effigy burning to channel the inner pyro in the thousands of people that were there.
I was disappointed that I missed the Cosmic Intuition show, …next year..
see the entire flickr set here
Brian Birzer is a freelance photographer based in Austin TX
all images are © 2008 www.birzerphoto.com
