Who are you?
Maria Vasco.
Who are you?
I am Portuguese and I live in South Africa, in Cape Town.
You own 68 encounters. Before you tell me about it, is there a story behind the name?
Yes, I wanted letters and numbers in the name, I chose 68 because that is the year I was born. I am telling my age.
Ooooppps. 68 Encounters…
We produce and we manage events that are unique and lifestyle based. One of my favourite clients and fabulous clients is Mercedes Benz Bokeh Fashion Film Festival owned by Adrian Lazarus, one of my favourite people.
What does it mean to love our country, to love South Africa?
I think what it means to love your country is to give back. What are you doing to make a difference in the lives of other South Africans and your community.
Let’s talk about Dusty Rebels and the Bombshells festival.
Yay one of my favourite projects. A few years ago Zigi, my business partner and I, decided to start a festival for our friends. What we stand for is self-expression, uniqueness and creativity. That is what we like to inspire. The rockabillies are the rebels of the 1940ies and 50ies. They were the ones that actually stood for that, they rebelled against society and put their own mark on things.
You have so many crazy awesome bands like Mr Cat and The Jackal, Them Tornadoes, the Dixie Pricks…
Yes, that is what happens at rockabilly.
This is your third year running, what to expect?
Well, this year we have added new things. We have an amazing fun fair. Being the third one we have added lots of new things. Like the funfair, lots of bands, we have the roller derby, a car and bike show. We have the Dusty Rebels and the Bombshells dirt track, that we have had every year, it is amazing. You can pay to go around the track in a custom-made car. We also have Miss Bombshell Betty which is the first pin-up pageant in South Africa. We collaborated with the Blue haired Betty, she came third in Viva Los Vegas which is the biggest Rockabilly festival in the world. We have ten finalists, 5 are from Cape Town, 2 are from Johannesburg (1 Pretoria), 2 from KZN and 1 from Grahamstown. It is very exciting. What a pin-up is, is a girl that is prim and proper with a twist, a true 1950ies girl with the red lipstick, who is styled. I am looking forward to seeing who is going to be the Miss Bombshell Betty 2015. We have amazing judges; Bailey Schneider, DJ Dino Moran, Bianca Coleman, Miss Jen May, Joe Van Zyl from SA Hotrod Magazine, K.C Royal from the Ratrod Cats which are another fabulous rockabilly band. Zigi and I are also judges.
The roller derby girls…
They have been a part of our festival since the beginning. We build a floor for them just so we can have them there because we love them so much. They have definitely grown since the first year, it is exciting to see them grow.
The vendors?
We have plenty of vendors – clothing, jewellery, helmet, surfboard, anything that is custom made you will find there. We also have lots of food vendors like El Burro, Meisies Kitchen, Jack Rabbit. Mac also does your make-up for free so a quick lip and line and Scar is there to do your hair for free and we have barbers. So you get the look!