Ballas On A Boat – A Juggalo Cruise – 12.16.23
What could be more on brand for me than going to photograph a holiday Insane Clown Posse concert in international waters in the middle of the night? Okay, technically the boat was just circling the Statue of Liberty in the East River, but still, it was a weird time that I had to attend even though I wasn’t working for anyone. Just seemed like it was my journalistic duty. Did I mention it’s not the first time I have gone on an insane clown cruise?
Ballas on a Boat was a Christmas themed juggalo cruise put on by Rocks Off who specialize in doing shows on boats. The original event was scheduled for 7pm, but that one sold out so quickly that they added a second midnight cruise. When I saw the two options, it seemed like a no brainer to attend the late night one. Not only was the homie Ouija Macc playing, but I figured being on a boat with juggalos until 4am seemed like it had the potential for way more weirdness.
When I arrived at the boat, juggalos from the first show were getting off and juggalos were set up selling nitrous balloons on a poorly lit dock which just felt really perfect. Reminded me of home, and by home I mean the Gathering of the Juggalos. I got on board and spent the first hour or so really just catching up with some juggalo friends I have made over the years including Ouija’s manager Kev Buc who I have gone to like a half dozen Gatherings with (who also got me on the boat) last minute.
When we passed the Statue of Liberty so I had to go photograph juggalos photographing Lady Liberty and then Ouija played and the combination of my cold lens mixed with the heat of the show fogged my lens up. I also decided to bring my old camera and started messing around with dragging my shutter a little bit like in my old nightlife days so it made for some blurry but appropriately hectic Ouija photos. The lower level of the boat was so hot that the show felt more like a Bushwick basement show than it did a rock cruise.
Of course I made the same mistake after Ouija because it was so damn hot and I went on the deck again and almost immediately ICP started playing so I had to run downstairs and spend half the set wiping my lens. Fortunately there was a juggalo in front of me in a santa hat which was perfect for wiping my lens off. Eventually I got shoved to the front and was on my knees shooting the band which was a new experience for me shooting ICP. Usually it’s a huge production with a ton of Faygo flying everywhere, but this time I was almost too close to them in the hull of a sweaty boat. They played a short set with a bunch of Christmas songs, but it was fun to get to see them in a more intimate setting.
After we docked I made it to land only to realize that I couldn’t get an Uber, but a juggalette offered to drive me home. I just had her drive me to a subway stop, but it’s the kindness of juggalos that makes me keep wanting to photograph them, even when any rational person would be done after 13 years documenting fans of a middle aged horrorcore rap group in clown makeup.
A little housekeeping update, before we get to photos. I have an update from my recent trip from Miami ready to go, but I wanted develop the film first. I should have it back in a couple days so I will probably get it up towards the end of this week. You can sponsor one of those rolls and get cheap print of one of the photos on that roll (feel free to request the roll I shot on the juggalo boat). And while the sponsor a roll thing takes a while to get delivered, anything else ordered in my store by Wednesday will ship on Wednesday so you can maybe get it by Christmas. Just saying. And while we are here, I should plug my juggalo NFTs (and yes we are still trying to make NFTs happen. And fuck it, let’s plug Girl of DBB too. I will put some sort of NSFW juggalette content up there right now because I love you. Okay, now go look at clown boat photos.
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