Business As Usual
Emilyn Brodsky/No One And The Somebodies/Bang!Bang!/The Show Is The Rainbow/Books On Tape//Scenic//9/24/05
After a killer early-morning return and getting up later in the morning for a 6-mile hike, the last thing I wanted to do was go see a few bands. But I did because it was on the LES and I was eager to check out Scenic and the show was supposed to start at 7 and be over at 11 for a late show. From the outside the place kinda reminds me of Southpaw; it's an actual venue and not a bar that happens to have a stage/performance area. There's an upper and lower level and the show was on the downstairs level. That space is like the performance space at Cakeshop but without the sloping floor. And it's bigger. I got in at 7 and the place was deserted save for a bearded, heavy-set guy with a mullet and wearing a Footloose T-shirt, fiddling around on a laptop. There was nobody to give my $6 to so I just sat there and hoped nobody'd hit me up for it.
About 15 minutes later a guy comes in and announces, "The only people here are the 3rd, 4th, and 5th bands. I called Emilyn and she's not answering, the door guy hasn't left his house in Westchester yet, the show was supposed to have started already because the late show is going on in here. So we have to be done by 11 and nobody's here yet--" Uh, hi. I'm here to see the show and write about it. "--So we're gonna have ourselves a great show!"
Business as usual. I continued reading as they continued to fret that the show was supposed to have started already. Seeing me, he asks, "Are you in one of the bands?"
I told him I was there to see the show, thinking that I should've told him I was there to write about it. As they tried to hammer out the revamped set times, I hoped they didn't charge me. This is ridiculous. The door guy should've been there in time.
At around 7:40 a woman comes in and gets onstage. She's trailed by a group of women who line the bench next to me. The girl to my immediate right has a college textbook in her lap, the girl next to her is knitting. Others have long skirts. They really need to bathe. Look, womyn, you can still be against patriarchy and shower. It's not mutually exclusive. Emilyn Brodsky, a painter's cap covering her buzzcut and in a thrift-store sweater, is Ani DiFranco with a ukelele. She checks her cellphone and announces which friends are calling to say they can't make it while reading her lyrics as she strums. And worries aloud that accidentally dousing herself in patchouli makes her smell like a hippie.
The door guy finally arrives after her set and tries to collect money off everyone who NOATS's drummer missed the first time around. Still he misses me. "I'm just lookin' out for you guys," he assures NOATS as they set up. Well, if you really were looking out for them, you'd've been here on time and polling. No One And The Somebodies have a crew that doesn't even look old enough to drink. Hell, their keyboard player doesn't even look like he's old enough to get into shows. Watching them is like watching kids rehearse in a basement. So I wasn't expecting them to be one of the best punk bands I've seen in a while. Some ska, metal, circus music, and the drummer balancing himself on an upturned section of a guardrail and drumming with two screwdrivers. NOATS didn't seem to take themselves seriously and were just there to have fun and in turn we all did. They kept it going past their set time in hopes that Bang! Bang! would show but they were still missing. They were pulling up as I paid for my CD.
Chicago's Bang! Bang! is like the Epoxies but without all the FX and show. Drummer Mike Wednesday's new wavey shades suggests that they're one of those "the past is the future" bands but no. A tight, explosive little pop punk trio, they're what the Trakes wanna be when they grow up. Bang!Bang! apologized profusely for being late due to illness in the band. Bassist Gretta Fine was sick and they needed to hit every rest stop, and then they got stuck in the Holland Tunnel. I gave them the benefit of the doubt and bought a CD.
The bearded guy in the Footloose shirt is The Show Is The Rainbow. He's a shameless Atom & His Package ripoff with video affects. Just listening to him introducing his songs had me ready to sing along to Atom songs. Even his pronunciations were dead-on Atom. Thing is, Atom did it first and better. And Atom's a nice guy. TSITR's videos were funny, I'll give him that. Except for the parts where he's naked in the shower. I couldn't stomach watching this guy pace around and jump up on barstools like he came up with this genre all on his own. And when he took his shirt off. He did mention all the shrooms he did.
Books On Tape is the best DJ I've seen and what techno/electronica should be. He has a table with his gear spread out and plugged in--guitar pedals, synths, and, well, I only really recognized the guitar pedals. Books danced around behind the table, hitting guitar pedals and noodling with the other gear. He looked like a mad scientist running around, adding different amounts of chemicals together just to see what happens. I was utterly amazed that he could get music out of all of this and I was just watching him, gaping in delight. This is why I said he's a DJ; it reminded me of watching DJs scratching, only updated for the 21st century. The only thing missing were the breakdancers. But there was a group of people dancing with abandon to match Books's sonic experimentations. Except he kept complaining about "the 14-yr-old" who grabbed his hat and threw it on the floor--NOATS's keyboard player. Let it go, man. In between every song he had to bring this up. "He left because he has a curfew," his band defended. Someone requested a 10-minute song but Books said no because he didn't want to disrespect the club. TSITR interrupted with a chant of "Disrespect the club! Disrespect the club!" A woman joined in, but Books said he wasn't going to disrespect the club after they let him play.
The other big thing about Scenic: The burgers and fries. Yup, if you've come a distance for an early show and therefore had to eat early on in the evening, they're cooking up burgers and fries even late. $3 gets you a White Castle-sized burger and crispy, golden fries. Mmmm, Scenic. The burgers and fries were another reason I wanted to se the show. Seeing a show @ Scenic and not getting food is like seeing a band at Cakeshop and hitting up the record store on the way out. See, by cutting out the middleman and not charging me admission I was able to support 2 bands and the venue.
After a killer early-morning return and getting up later in the morning for a 6-mile hike, the last thing I wanted to do was go see a few bands. But I did because it was on the LES and I was eager to check out Scenic and the show was supposed to start at 7 and be over at 11 for a late show. From the outside the place kinda reminds me of Southpaw; it's an actual venue and not a bar that happens to have a stage/performance area. There's an upper and lower level and the show was on the downstairs level. That space is like the performance space at Cakeshop but without the sloping floor. And it's bigger. I got in at 7 and the place was deserted save for a bearded, heavy-set guy with a mullet and wearing a Footloose T-shirt, fiddling around on a laptop. There was nobody to give my $6 to so I just sat there and hoped nobody'd hit me up for it.
About 15 minutes later a guy comes in and announces, "The only people here are the 3rd, 4th, and 5th bands. I called Emilyn and she's not answering, the door guy hasn't left his house in Westchester yet, the show was supposed to have started already because the late show is going on in here. So we have to be done by 11 and nobody's here yet--" Uh, hi. I'm here to see the show and write about it. "--So we're gonna have ourselves a great show!"
Business as usual. I continued reading as they continued to fret that the show was supposed to have started already. Seeing me, he asks, "Are you in one of the bands?"
I told him I was there to see the show, thinking that I should've told him I was there to write about it. As they tried to hammer out the revamped set times, I hoped they didn't charge me. This is ridiculous. The door guy should've been there in time.
At around 7:40 a woman comes in and gets onstage. She's trailed by a group of women who line the bench next to me. The girl to my immediate right has a college textbook in her lap, the girl next to her is knitting. Others have long skirts. They really need to bathe. Look, womyn, you can still be against patriarchy and shower. It's not mutually exclusive. Emilyn Brodsky, a painter's cap covering her buzzcut and in a thrift-store sweater, is Ani DiFranco with a ukelele. She checks her cellphone and announces which friends are calling to say they can't make it while reading her lyrics as she strums. And worries aloud that accidentally dousing herself in patchouli makes her smell like a hippie.
The door guy finally arrives after her set and tries to collect money off everyone who NOATS's drummer missed the first time around. Still he misses me. "I'm just lookin' out for you guys," he assures NOATS as they set up. Well, if you really were looking out for them, you'd've been here on time and polling. No One And The Somebodies have a crew that doesn't even look old enough to drink. Hell, their keyboard player doesn't even look like he's old enough to get into shows. Watching them is like watching kids rehearse in a basement. So I wasn't expecting them to be one of the best punk bands I've seen in a while. Some ska, metal, circus music, and the drummer balancing himself on an upturned section of a guardrail and drumming with two screwdrivers. NOATS didn't seem to take themselves seriously and were just there to have fun and in turn we all did. They kept it going past their set time in hopes that Bang! Bang! would show but they were still missing. They were pulling up as I paid for my CD.
Chicago's Bang! Bang! is like the Epoxies but without all the FX and show. Drummer Mike Wednesday's new wavey shades suggests that they're one of those "the past is the future" bands but no. A tight, explosive little pop punk trio, they're what the Trakes wanna be when they grow up. Bang!Bang! apologized profusely for being late due to illness in the band. Bassist Gretta Fine was sick and they needed to hit every rest stop, and then they got stuck in the Holland Tunnel. I gave them the benefit of the doubt and bought a CD.
The bearded guy in the Footloose shirt is The Show Is The Rainbow. He's a shameless Atom & His Package ripoff with video affects. Just listening to him introducing his songs had me ready to sing along to Atom songs. Even his pronunciations were dead-on Atom. Thing is, Atom did it first and better. And Atom's a nice guy. TSITR's videos were funny, I'll give him that. Except for the parts where he's naked in the shower. I couldn't stomach watching this guy pace around and jump up on barstools like he came up with this genre all on his own. And when he took his shirt off. He did mention all the shrooms he did.
Books On Tape is the best DJ I've seen and what techno/electronica should be. He has a table with his gear spread out and plugged in--guitar pedals, synths, and, well, I only really recognized the guitar pedals. Books danced around behind the table, hitting guitar pedals and noodling with the other gear. He looked like a mad scientist running around, adding different amounts of chemicals together just to see what happens. I was utterly amazed that he could get music out of all of this and I was just watching him, gaping in delight. This is why I said he's a DJ; it reminded me of watching DJs scratching, only updated for the 21st century. The only thing missing were the breakdancers. But there was a group of people dancing with abandon to match Books's sonic experimentations. Except he kept complaining about "the 14-yr-old" who grabbed his hat and threw it on the floor--NOATS's keyboard player. Let it go, man. In between every song he had to bring this up. "He left because he has a curfew," his band defended. Someone requested a 10-minute song but Books said no because he didn't want to disrespect the club. TSITR interrupted with a chant of "Disrespect the club! Disrespect the club!" A woman joined in, but Books said he wasn't going to disrespect the club after they let him play.
The other big thing about Scenic: The burgers and fries. Yup, if you've come a distance for an early show and therefore had to eat early on in the evening, they're cooking up burgers and fries even late. $3 gets you a White Castle-sized burger and crispy, golden fries. Mmmm, Scenic. The burgers and fries were another reason I wanted to se the show. Seeing a show @ Scenic and not getting food is like seeing a band at Cakeshop and hitting up the record store on the way out. See, by cutting out the middleman and not charging me admission I was able to support 2 bands and the venue.
posted by heather @ 11:23 PM
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