MikeSpace

I had the distinct pleasure recently of doing some work for Chris at Public Address (a public relations firm), on behalf of L-Acoustics’(sound reinforcement pioneers), photographing the public address system installation at Ani Difranco’s church on Delaware Avenue (I really hate to call it Babeville – that’s so not an elegant name). I was involved in that installation, doing electrical work etc., and it was a real pleasure to have a reason to go back! I owe thanks to Craig, at Rpm Productions, for referring Chris to my website — apparently mojofunk.org exists for a reason! Thank you Sarah and Scott, also. We got some really swanky shots of the interior and all the fancy electronic gizmos, and I must say that the more time I spend there the more I become enamored of that place. I feel almost proprietary about it at this point, and I can’t wait until there’s a good show there to go see (I missed Pat Metheny). I did talk to a couple about photographing their wedding there next spring, that’ll be cool, but not as cool as this gig was for Chris — it’s likely that one of the shots will be used for the cover of Pro Audio Review, with credit given to both me and the website. Wow. If you ever have relations that you need to make public, I highly recommend Chris – the man knows his anagrams! I hope to someday be able to buy him a cool frosty Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster.

So let me tell you a cute little story of late-night action and adventure. I was convinced recently to go out rather later than usual, and had a great deal of difficulty getting to my destination, having forgotten my bank card and needing to return home to retrieve it, but finally made it to Nietzsche’s to see Beamer(who I missed!). Ramforinkus was awesome, however, and I was totally entertained by their combination of improv funk and trombone. All the people I came to see left rather early that night, but since I had already woken up and had had a few beers at this point, I thought I might chill back and do some people watching. So I hit up all the usual suspects — Staples, The Bend, and of coarse Mulligans Brick Bar where I ended up staying for quite a while, but as usual it left me feeling amused but lonely. Well lo and behold, suddenly it’s closing time. The lights come up, but I don’t really much feel like arguing so I wander outside and eventually next door to the Pink Flamingo. I don’t usually go to The Pink, I never seem to actually have fun there, and the people rarely smile. The one super friendly girl I ever met there lost interest in me after she realized I didn’t have any cocaine. Well that night, the place is totally packed – wall-to-wall people, loud, elbows everywhere, sweaty, stinky, and as I saunter up to the bar I noticed Gabrielle, who I don’t actually know personally, but I do know of as a poetry slam star here in Buffalo, and she seems like a fairly interesting person so I gravitate towards her as I walk over. Right away I notice these two dudes who are shoving each other behind her, but I just assumed that it was all in fun, and, well, guess again — me and Gabrielle immediately get hit from behind by the one guy, who’s going down after getting a punch right in the face from the other guy. The other dude lurches out of there into the crowd, totally swallowed by the zillion people that were there at the time, and Gabrielle and I look down at this guy who’s lying on the floor in the dark — we can’t even see the dude, he’s laying in a dark pit at everybody’s feet, and meanwhile time is passing . . . It ended up being about 45 seconds that this guy was lying unconscious on the floor! I finally flicked my lighter to shed some light on this guy, and noticed that he’s bleeding profusely all over the floor, but is just now coming to. By this time, the bouncer comes over and shines his flashlight on the situation and the guy stands up — he’s ready to leave, unsteadily, but the bouncer grabs him by the shoulders and guides him away. Perhaps 20 seconds after this, the crowd mills back, and within 30 seconds there’s a mass of bodies dancing — completely oblivious, dancing in a puddle of blood some poor bastard left behind. Dancing in a Puddle of Blood. I just know there’s a song in there somewhere, although I don’t think I’m the guy to write it. Talk about blood-borne pathogens! The whole thing had a feeling of hyper reality, of suddenness, and of gravity, much like the sound of a real car crash versus the sound of a Hollywood car crash — it’s not all amped up for the benefit of our voyeuristic nature, but it has the swiftness, totality and potency to reflect the gravity of our consequences. Real life has a tendency to be more blunt than we expect at times, and it can take on a very noir quality when it’s at its most desperate. And when it’s at its most stupid, like a bunch of drunk jerks in a dank pub at 4:30 in the morning. They don’t do live music at the Pink – maybe that’s why I don’t like it much.

photos by Jeff Halas:

Bands I’ve seen recently; let’s see, there was SNMNMNMNM – who if you’ve never seen them before is quite a cool experience. They do a really neat straight Beatles rock thing a’la The Get up Kids, but with horns and most notably a tuba for the bass (!). Really tight, and really entertaining. I also saw Warren Haynes at the UB Center for the Performing Arts, and while it was really quite what I expected — fairly slammin’ blues rock with a swampy southern feel and plenty of slide guitar — it was mostly ruined by a sadistic soundman who had the kick drum eq-ed so freaking low and so freaking loud that it completely obliterated the bass guitar. I like loud, but that was just stupid. Now, Dinosaur Jr. was also loud, but in a good way! That night was made better by all the cool mofu’s who were at the show. 5-1 played at CPG recently, and sounded wonderful as always. Zox was a really cool band that I saw at Mohawk, thanks to Meg. They’re from Rhode Island, but they seem to travel here often. It was a Sunday night and they were totally psyched on the Buffalo crowd, and they played a lot of new songs that sound very slick, a bit less ska than their older stuff, but still intricate and full of great harmonies. After the show I told them that I thought they had found the sweet spot between The Clash and Yes, and the guy seemed to dig that. I saw the Doug Yeomans bluegrass gig at hardware, minus Doug Yeomans! They do have a name, but I always forget what it is. They totally smoke though, now with Charlie, who I believe is from the Steam Donkeys filling in for Doug. And I know I’m forgetting somebody on this list, but frankly it’s hard for me to keep up! Of course the most enjoyable music I’ve experienced lately is me and Nick Vega– every Thursday at Staples at about 8 p.m.. You should be there! We’re playing all acoustic, which I totally love — I play probably 98% acoustic at home — but I feel a little bit ridiculous, because I’m bringing out this enormous amplifier, which seems incongruous with the whole concept of playing acoustic. The thing is a monster: 75 pounds, 350 watts, three speakers, it’s a beast! But it makes that sweet Gretsch six string sound fantastic, and now having been so spoiled I suppose I’ll just have to resolve myself to having to lug that stupid box around, boo hiss. People have been pretty helpful with carrying it, though. Nick’s music is pretty neat — almost like soul, almost like country, almost like pop. He gives me a lot of space to rip up and down the guitar neck, though, and it would seem that my habit of breaking strings is not exclusive to the electric guitar. I’m going to have to stop buying those fancy coated strings, I can’t afford to go through a set of those every week. They cost three times the price of the regular ones! They do prevent your guitars at home from rotting on the shelves, the string stay fresh, and that is totally worth the price. This message brought to you by the Elixir Corporation, 201 Airport Rd, Oakland Maryland. Amazingly, the Gretsch has yet to sustain any battle scars, not even spilled beer. I am grinding a lot of finger cheese into the rosewood, and that’s always a healthy thing. Mmmmm, finger cheese. Check out some tunes by us here (new tab/window).

Nick Vega & moi (don’t worry – despite these pics, I’m still blonde!)

photos above by Jeff Halas.