Fighting Fire with Fabulous

In response to the Westboro Baptist Church’s infamous protests and hate towards cultural diversity, two Dambacher brothers wanted to celebrate this diversity in their project, “The Freaka in Topeka.”  They thought of no better place to hold this festival than in the home of the Westboro Baptist Church.  The interview titled Fighting Fire with Fabulous discusses the music they will perform, as well as their musical influences.  Dave Dambacher states that the Westboro Baptist Church’s front runner, Fred Phelps, is rumored to be passing on the leadership to his daughter, who is reportedly “wackier” than her father.

Another article assigned this week, Sound & Fury: Fred Phelps and Life Inside Westboro, detailed the timeline of events surrounding Fred Phelps.  His insanity, his abuse towards his family and others, and his involvement with the Westboro Baptist Church were the main focal points of the article.  To summarize, Phelps would repeatedly beat and abuse his children throughout their childhood.  After becoming dependent on and abusing amphetamines, he tortured his family by making them run up to 10 miles every day.  He then forced his children to go door-to-door selling candy as the family’s main source of income.  After enduring abuse from his father his whole life, Nate Phelps left the WBC, and his father, permanently.  All of the information in the article was revealed through Nate.  

The WBC is said to protest “pretty much everything,” so when asked what he thinks would happen when they perform in Topeka, Dave said “it would be a plus if they protested the show.”  There is a possibility that the event will be free to the audience, and all costs to produce the show will be covered by fundraising.  The brothers go as far to say that if they do not raise enough, they will fund the show out of pocket.  The goal of the show is to educate people on the hate being spread by the WBC.  The tagline of the show, “fight fire with fabulous,” speaks to the fight against the intolerance.  The brothers completely disagree with thee hate that the WBC spreads and to protest the hate, they will be celebrating the freedom and expression that everyone has.  They want to effectively spread their anti-hate message through art, primarily in the form of “The Freaka in Topeka” event.