When I'm Wrong, I'm Wrong (Hey, it could happen)
MJ & the Heretics & Box Of Crayons @ Manitoba’s//8/28/06
So when The Mother was handing out flyers for her son’s gig at the Blackout Shoppers gig the week prior, I immediately turned my nose up at it. Box Of Crayons? What, do they play at the fucking Lion’s Den, also? Ace of Clubs? How can you name a band Box Of Crayons? It sounds like the type of name that a tribute band would go for, if there were a band that had a box of crayons someplace in their lyrics. That’s exactly the type of band name that a kid in an acid washed Ramones shirt whose mother passes out flyers for her son’s gigs would name their band.
And, because we all know me: Box Of Crayons, eh? Hmm. Sounds interesting. Could be pretty cool. You never know. And MJ & The Heretics? Also could be cool. I’m digging the creepy/dripping blood lettering in their logo. Free? Hmm. Maybe I should look into this.
There was some drama about a broken rail and of course I’d left late, so even hopping the Q at 7th Ave didn’t help and I still got there in the middle of MJ’s set which didn’t really matter because I really wanted to see Box Of Crayons, anyway, and I figured they were going on 2nd. Sylvia, The Mother, immediately handed me pins and lyrics to one of their songs with audience participation. MJ & the Heretics are straight-up alternative, but Mike is only 18 so there’s room to grow. I overheard Sylvia telling someone that he started playing at 16 and she’s been dragging him around to gigs ever since. Sylvia kinda reminds me of my former coworker—even looks like her a little—who asked me if I ever heard of emo and spa music because her teenage sons were into that. Sylvia made the flyers and she’s on Myspace. I am convinced that if my mom were named Sylvia, I would’ve had an entirely different life. Both Mike and Sylvia are sweet. After their set, Sylvia handed out Hershey bars wrapped with a flyer for their Myspace site and email address. This is such a great idea. (Dear bands: I’d also take Twix, Nestle Crunch, and Mr. Goodbar. Oh, and those M-Azing bars; y’know—the chocolate bars with the M&M minis in it.) Mike remembered me from the Shoppers’ gig and he gave me a T-shirt. Considering how many shows I go to, you’d think more bands would give me their shirts to wear to other gigs. (The one with the logo painted on doesn’t count because it got ruined in the wash.) Or pay me to wear their shirts at appropriate shows. Just a thought.
Box Of Crayons is a Brooklyn-based band influenced by “the Sex Pistols, PiL, alcohol—especially Guinness—New York and Brooklyn, the Mets, James Joyce, the Pogues. . . .” to name just a few, and their sound is “the true sound of Brooklyn on Guild acoustic guitars . . . a little Irish, a little melancholy . . . a true cross-genre nightmare.” Though lead Crayon (?) Fran Powers also plays tin whistle, he didn’t at that gig. So. Y’know. If yer into that sorta thing.
Waiting for the light at Sidewalk Café, a guy on his cell: What streets is it between? Second and Third? I thought it was between Seventh and Eighth.
All down Sixth St. buildings were struggling to make themselves heard. A flyer on a mailbox: Acupuncture Happy Hour $45. Up Second Ave. to St. Marks, I couldn’t help but look up at all those apartments above the storefronts and I couldn’t help but wonder about who lives in them; maybe elderly people, those who moved in ages ago and just happen to be living there, or someone who had the apartment in the family and just happened to luck into living there at some rent-controlled price. I wonder if they know how lucky they are.
Down on St. Marks, there’s a bit of a hubbub outside a store. I cross the street and it’s that new automat place that’s about to open up. I thought it was elsewhere. I can’t remember what I heard about it or where, just that it’s supposed to be 24-hrs and cater to the NYU/party crowd. Then again, that part of St. Marks is the perfect place for it. Ian’s Religious Sex is now going by Ian’s, a sign in the window: Special, navels with jewelry $25.
Maybe you had to be there. I thought it was pretty funny.
So when The Mother was handing out flyers for her son’s gig at the Blackout Shoppers gig the week prior, I immediately turned my nose up at it. Box Of Crayons? What, do they play at the fucking Lion’s Den, also? Ace of Clubs? How can you name a band Box Of Crayons? It sounds like the type of name that a tribute band would go for, if there were a band that had a box of crayons someplace in their lyrics. That’s exactly the type of band name that a kid in an acid washed Ramones shirt whose mother passes out flyers for her son’s gigs would name their band.
And, because we all know me: Box Of Crayons, eh? Hmm. Sounds interesting. Could be pretty cool. You never know. And MJ & The Heretics? Also could be cool. I’m digging the creepy/dripping blood lettering in their logo. Free? Hmm. Maybe I should look into this.
There was some drama about a broken rail and of course I’d left late, so even hopping the Q at 7th Ave didn’t help and I still got there in the middle of MJ’s set which didn’t really matter because I really wanted to see Box Of Crayons, anyway, and I figured they were going on 2nd. Sylvia, The Mother, immediately handed me pins and lyrics to one of their songs with audience participation. MJ & the Heretics are straight-up alternative, but Mike is only 18 so there’s room to grow. I overheard Sylvia telling someone that he started playing at 16 and she’s been dragging him around to gigs ever since. Sylvia kinda reminds me of my former coworker—even looks like her a little—who asked me if I ever heard of emo and spa music because her teenage sons were into that. Sylvia made the flyers and she’s on Myspace. I am convinced that if my mom were named Sylvia, I would’ve had an entirely different life. Both Mike and Sylvia are sweet. After their set, Sylvia handed out Hershey bars wrapped with a flyer for their Myspace site and email address. This is such a great idea. (Dear bands: I’d also take Twix, Nestle Crunch, and Mr. Goodbar. Oh, and those M-Azing bars; y’know—the chocolate bars with the M&M minis in it.) Mike remembered me from the Shoppers’ gig and he gave me a T-shirt. Considering how many shows I go to, you’d think more bands would give me their shirts to wear to other gigs. (The one with the logo painted on doesn’t count because it got ruined in the wash.) Or pay me to wear their shirts at appropriate shows. Just a thought.
Box Of Crayons is a Brooklyn-based band influenced by “the Sex Pistols, PiL, alcohol—especially Guinness—New York and Brooklyn, the Mets, James Joyce, the Pogues. . . .” to name just a few, and their sound is “the true sound of Brooklyn on Guild acoustic guitars . . . a little Irish, a little melancholy . . . a true cross-genre nightmare.” Though lead Crayon (?) Fran Powers also plays tin whistle, he didn’t at that gig. So. Y’know. If yer into that sorta thing.
Waiting for the light at Sidewalk Café, a guy on his cell: What streets is it between? Second and Third? I thought it was between Seventh and Eighth.
All down Sixth St. buildings were struggling to make themselves heard. A flyer on a mailbox: Acupuncture Happy Hour $45. Up Second Ave. to St. Marks, I couldn’t help but look up at all those apartments above the storefronts and I couldn’t help but wonder about who lives in them; maybe elderly people, those who moved in ages ago and just happen to be living there, or someone who had the apartment in the family and just happened to luck into living there at some rent-controlled price. I wonder if they know how lucky they are.
Down on St. Marks, there’s a bit of a hubbub outside a store. I cross the street and it’s that new automat place that’s about to open up. I thought it was elsewhere. I can’t remember what I heard about it or where, just that it’s supposed to be 24-hrs and cater to the NYU/party crowd. Then again, that part of St. Marks is the perfect place for it. Ian’s Religious Sex is now going by Ian’s, a sign in the window: Special, navels with jewelry $25.
Maybe you had to be there. I thought it was pretty funny.
posted by heather @ 11:14 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home