live reviews
May 16, 2007
by Jonathan
Worried about missing it entirely, we approached Europa’s quiet doorway a little before midnight to learn that the Legendary Stardust Cowboy hadn’t yet arrived at the venue. From outside the Polish disco seemed aweful sleepy - a little too sleepy. We took a walk to the store and, coming back to find that the doormen had vanished, proceeded to make our way upstairs to find that there was still no one to hand our money to. We found a somber scene - roughly a dozen folks at most scattered across corners of the big dark room with no music whatsoever playing. You could’ve heard a feather drop. My deaf ears could detect the sound of people quietly walking up and down the staircase from fifteen feet away… forchristsakes… MORE…
live reviews
May 13, 2007
by Jonathan
Wet from the rain and bloated from DJ-ing a mac’n’cheese cook-off at Live With Animals, I opened the door at Glasslands Gallery to find the massive mirrored sheets from the Yeah Yeah Yeahs video shoot still hanging, reflecting a comfortably dense audience. I was a few minutes too late for Standing Nudes but just in time for Artanker Convoy’s setup. MORE…
what goes on?
May 8, 2007
by Jonathan
Some folks, some of ‘em Yeah Yeah Yeah friends, tried to dissuade me: “it’ll be a madhouse of screaming kids all the way down the block,” “…uncomfortably crowded,” “…not a concert but some kind of tedious video shoot”… We’re getting so old, and their logic is totally understandable, but this was one of the rare occasions when my impracticality and intuition was triumphant. MORE…
live reviews
May 3, 2007
by Jonathan
Falling in from the rain about an hour late to find that I was still too early for the S-S-S-Spectres, it was immediately apparent that the spectacle was worth the wait when the band emerged from the dark bowels of the Cake Shop backstage sporting white garlands perched atop their skulls. While I initially imagined that they chose to don this exotic choice of head apparel because they had prevailed in some sort of athletic competition, perhaps a relay race, as they continued to play, it became obvious that, because they were aware that they would perform a winning set in advance, they intended to be the embodiment of victory itself. While they had the heads bobbin’ to their tightended up multi-voiced art punk compositions throughout their brief nitrous balloon of a set, the highlight came during the break of “Possession Confession,” when their bassist sang, “I went to live with my parents,” and motioning towards his right, continued, “who are immediately to your left.” And, as sure as the JMZ Train doesn’t come around all that often late at night, a handsome middle-aged couple, the masculine half of which bore a striking resemblance to the said bassist, were indeed immediately to our left, looking on with expressions landing somewhere between parental pride and puzzlement… and “let’s be good sports for now and tomorrow get this boy the heck out of New York and put him somewhere where he can find the proper care and attention.” MORE…
