Scenes from Bald Fest’s rowdy return to Rubulad in Bushwick 

By Scott Lynch

Bald Fest, which threw its second annual party at Bushwick’s invaluable underground venue Rubulad earlier this week, is pretty much exactly what it sounds like.

“This is a gathering of the balds,” Rami Even-Esh, a.k.a. Kosha Dillz, told Brooklyn Magazine. “A celebration of men who have less, but now we are giving ourselves more. We’re a growing community, with new members every day. Because once we lost our growth, we grew together.”

Bald Fest organizer and bald Jewish rapper Rami Even-Esh, aka Kosha Dillz (Scott Lynch)

Comics and other performers took their turns on stage; there was a DJ and there was a “Bald Mitzvah,” all in the spirit of celebration of the follicly challenged.

Hairless comedian Dylan Palladino did a set mostly about, yup, being bald. Another comedian, Chani Lisbon, who is not currently bald but has lost all of her hair on four separate occasions in her life due to alopecia, also joked about baldness, and about not having sex for a long time. Yet another comedian, Kareem Rahma, who has tons of hair, spoke in solidarity with his bald brethren.

Hairy comedian Kareem Rahma seeks to suck the power from a Bald Fest attendee (Scott Lynch)

Bald rapper and yo-yo enthusiast Richard Pigkaso, who goes by Richie Luvs Yo-Yos on social media, showed off his skills in both areas. Performance artist Matthew Silver, who is not bald (yet!) but got his crown shorn for the occasion, got on stage for his usual schtick of shouty, vaguely discomfiting haranguing. And bald twin street acrobats Tic and Tac wowed the crowd with their signature move, one twin spinning like the rotor of a helicopter atop the hairless head of the other.

Rapper and yo-yo enthusiast Richard Pigkaso (Scott Lynch)

On a more earnest note, Sami Steigmann, an educator, motivational speaker, and Holocaust survivor, spoke about his experience, strength, and hope (and lack of hair), and then got his already-mostly-bald head completely shaved. This was followed by a less-earnest “Bald Mitzvah,” during which Steigmann was hoisted high in his chair and the place erupted in a hora.

Motivational speaker and Holocaust survivor Sami Steigman gets a Bald Mitzvah (Scott Lynch)

In addition to his hosting duties, Kosha Dillz rocked the mic, freestyling his way through beats laid down by (chrome domed) DJ J-Ronin, and unveiled a new song about how much billionaire shoe designer and noted anti-Semite Kanye West sucks.

As always with performances and parties at Rubulad, which first opened 28 years ago in Williamsburg, the space itself almost steals the show, with its insane array of art and ephemera, secret hideouts, and raunchy spirit. As Rubulad co-founder Sari Rubenstein told us, “we are committed to the idea that people should be allowed to have fun.” Mission accomplished, for the 10 thousandth time, at Rubulad — but just the second at Bald Fest.

Bald ring toss, because … bald ring toss (Scott Lynch)