Everything We Saw And Heard At The Granfalloon Festival In Bloomington (2024)

And so it goes. Granfalloon: A Kurt Vonnegut Convergence, hosted by the Indiana University (IU) Arts and Humanities Council, celebrated its fifth year in 2024. Inspired by the life and work of Kurt Vonnegut, one of the most famous writers to ever emerge from Indiana, the festival spans three weeks in May and June.

Each year, the festival's programming draws inspiration from a different novel in Vonnegut's bibliography. This year, it was "Jailbird," a novel written in the form of memoir that examines the history of corporate business culture and the labor movement in the U.S. as well as McCarthyism, the Nixon administration, and the Watergate scandal. The themes of "Jailbird" — the tension between capitalism and communism and the interconnectedness of all things — were evident throughout the festival.

LEO was fortunate enough to be welcomed to Bloomington to experience what makes this festival so truly unique. Here is some of what we saw and heard at Granfalloon.

What Exactly Is A Granfalloon?

A "granfalloon" is a group of people who imagine that they have a connection, but the connection is illusory. Vonnegut describes a granfalloon as "a proud and meaningless collection of human beings," and uses the example of "Hoosiers," who are people from Indiana, but who have no spiritual destiny in common. They share little more than the nickname. Created for the novel "Cat's Cradle," this satire of tribalism — in which a group of people affect a shared identity but whose mutual association is actually meaningless — inspired the name of the festival.

The organizers say that "the festival takes its cue from Vonnegut's deeply felt need for community as well as his mistrust of overzealous political formations and group think." Indeed, the festival programming reflects both that need and that mistrust.

Jazz and Assassins

Granfalloon is presented concurrently and in partnership with the IU Writers' Conference and the Bloomington Handmade Market. The festival began with the "Spectacularly Inaccurate Tour of Bloomington," a theatrical walking tour led lifelong resident Bart Katz. Four four consecutive days, Katz led visitors on a satirical tour of Bloomington, from City Hall to Courthouse Square.

Situated down a narrow flight of stairs in a commercial building downtown, The Orbit Room is a subterranean bar with a small kitchen and an intimate performance space. On Friday, The Orbit Room hosted two sets by a jazz musicians who are IU alumni: Anna Butterss on double bass, and Ben Lumsdaine on a trap kit. Australian-born Butterss has toured with Phoebe Bridgers and Aimee Mann, among others, and performed jazz with Jeff Parker and Makaya McCraven. Bloomington native Lumsdaine is a multi-instrumentalist who augmented his percussion with analog electronics. The small space was filled with capacious appreciation for the duo's artistry.

At the nearby Bishop Bar on Wednesday and Friday nights, a cast of four from the IU Musical Theatre group performed the one-act musical "Assassins." The original music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by John Weidman portrays a group of historical figures who have assassinated (or tried to assassinate) Presidents of the United States. The satire explores what their actions communicate about their social ideals. This IU Musical Theatre production was directed by Ray Fellman with music direction by Brandon Magid. There was enormous talent on a small stage and "Assassins" was performed at a higher level than the size of the venue belied.

Poets And Advocates

The Gayle Karch Cook Center on the IU Campus welcomed authors, journalists, and speakers for readings and panel discussions. On Wednesday, June 5, journalist, broadcaster and educator Pat LaMarche shared her experiences as an advocate for the homeless population across the country.

On Thursday, June 6, Nanette Vonnegut, the youngest of Kurt Vonnegut's six children, discussing her exhibition "Bad Math," comprised of 38 paintings in varying styles. Of her approach to visual artmaking, she said, "trauma, grief and rage are all best dealt with using soft pencil on thick paper that can take a lot of erasing."

The IU Writers' Conference also took place at the Gayle Karch Cook Center, with poet and playwright Angela Jackson-Brown and poet Jos Charles on Friday; author Sequoia Nagamatsu and essayist and memoirist T Kira Madden on Saturday; and memoirist Grace Talusan and poet torrin a. greathouse on Sunday. Often scheduled between or during other events, The IU Writers' Conference inspired some festivalgoers to take the short walk (or eclectic scooter ride) from downtown to campus.

Scheduled between The Linda Lindas and Sleater-Kinney performances on Saturday, June 8, writers Sequoia Nagamatsu and T Kira Madden read at The Gayle Karch Cook Center. Nagamatsu's debut novel "How High We Go in the Dark" is a climate crisis-informed near future science fiction story that is as meticulously detailed as it is emotionally resonant. He read a chapter that exemplifies his balance of elegant prose with harrowing themes. On his experience at Granfalloon, Nagamatsu tweeted: "I'm 'there's a free rock concert two feet outside of my hotel, but I'm taking a nap' years old."

T Kira Madden is a writer, photographer, and amateur magician. Her memoir "Long Live the Tribe of Fatherless Girls" was informed by her mixed Chinese-Hawaiian-Jewish heritage as well as her queerness, and she read an excerpt from her forthcoming book, which is yet to be titled and scheduled for publication in "2025 (-ish)."

Journalism And Cinema

On Thursday, June 6, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and perennially bestselling author Carl Bernstein was in conversation with David Tolchinsky, filmmaker and dean of The Media School at IU. Bernstein is most known for having uncovered the Watergate scandal with fellow journalist Bob Woodward in 1972 that eventually led to the resignation of President Richard Nixon. Bernstein’s career spans more than half a century writing about national and international political affairs, much of which has revealed the hidden workings of governments.

Now 80 years old, Bernstein has a gentle demeanor and fierce wit. He stunned the audience into silence at the Buskirk-Chumley Theater when he quoted Nixon saying: "Never forget, the press is the enemy, the press is the enemy…write that on the blackboard 100 times." He presented an honest discussion of journalistic integrity in an increasingly consumerist, profit-driven media landscape, and there were too many audience questions for him to answer them all in time for his book signing.

Another highlight of the festival were the free film screenings. Films with themes of corrupt governments ("All the President's Men"), carceral states ("Holes"), and living life on one's own terms ("Brazil") were screened in venues as diverse as the Buskirk-Chumley Theater and the Backspace Gallery. An especially memorable screening took place after the Carl Bernstein event. The volunteer-run pop-up theater Cicada Cinema presented the new Wim Wenders film, "Perfect Days," at Butler Park.

"Perfect Days" follows the daily rituals of a middle aged man (Kōji Yakusho) who lives alone in Tokyo and cleans toilets as a profession. It is an intimate exploration of being a single person who enjoys simple things in a world full of coupling, families, and career aspirations. Its themes of disentanglement from socio-economic expectations in pursuit of a mindful life evoke the spirit of Vonnegut's fiction. Viewing it on a grassy hillside under a night sky full of stars was a transcendent experience.

Handmade Objects And Sonic Textures

Saturday began with the Bloomington Handmade Market on and around the Courthouse Square in downtown Bloomington. This indie craft show featured makers from across the Midwest, whose textile arts, printmaking, and home goods were available for sale. The vibe was Cottage Core, crafty, and entrepreneurial.

The Linda Lindas, who as of 2024 range in age from 13 to 19 years old, took the Kirkwood Avenue stage like four bolts of lightning. Guitarist Bela Salazar (Linda Linda No. 1), bassist Eloise Wong (Linda Linda No. 2), guitarist Lucia de la Garza (Linda Linda No. 3), and drummer Mila de la Garza (Linda Linda No. 4) each takes turns as vocalist, and each is a star in her own right.

Sleater-Kinney ignited the stage at twilight. Playfully acknowledging their status as a band who have been active for 30 years, Carrie Brownstein introduced their song "Start Together" by saying: "We wrote this song 25 years ago. So, we wrote it when we were five years old." The shredding was as well styled and flawlessly executed as ever as their setlist included songs not only from the recent releases "The Center Won't Hold" and "Little Rope," but also from the unequivocal classics of their three-piece era "Dig Me Out," "The Woods," and "No Cities to Love."

Looking Forward To Granfalloon 2025

In the essay "Knowing What's Nice," Vonnegut wrote: "I urge you to please notice when you are happy, and exclaim or murmur or think at some point, 'If this isn't nice, I don't know what is.'"

There were many moments during the Granfalloon Festival that encouraged visitors to remember Vonnegut's entreaty to notice their happiness, and exclaim — sometimes silently, as when listening to journalists speak their truth and authors read their fiction, sometimes loudly, as when The Linda Lindas blared "Never Say Never." If those moments weren't nice, we here at LEO don't know what is. We're already looking forward to Granfalloon in 2025.