Hooves on the Turf

Photos by Sarahana and Sahara

A few interesting things happened at our first show in Crown Heights, which took place at the backyard of Homage Burger & Bar. After Darla Farmer were done playing, it started to get dark, and we realized very quickly that Homage doesn’t really have any lighting in their backyard. So we ran to my apartment a few blocks away to grab my desk lamp, which ended up working really well when turned upwards from the floor.

That also meant I missed a little bit of the Bird Names set, though I did get to listen to it from the street. The backyard space is surrounded by residential buildings on three sides, and a small one-room real estate office on the street side, so it’s enclosed as if it were a courtyard. Out on the street, it seemed as if the awesome sound (thanks BKPA) was reeking from the walls of the building themselves. It was surreal and gorgeous.

We were back with a lamp in time to catch a good chunk of their set (they were fantastic). When they’d just finished their last song, it was getting close to 9pm. Right at the very last note, an anonymous and mischievous neighbor decided to power-hose against one of the walls so that a whole bunch of us got wet. Though it was quite refreshing to get wet without knowing what the hell was going on, boxes of Quiet Hooves merchandise got wet as well, which wasn’t cool at all, especially since this was a free show and none of the bands were getting paid. I suppose this is what happens when a neighborhood’s still figuring itself out. There were some residents clapping along from their apartments though.

Quiet Hooves went on after this mishap, without any further incidents. I can’t believe how much fun these guys are live. They are insane in all the right ways. Before the show I’d said to Mercer West, their drummer, “I hope playing here will be worthwhile for you guys”. He’d replied, “You know how we are. We don’t give a shit”. It’s true, that much I’d already learned from following them around in their adventures at SXSW; these guys are as pure as it gets, and we were incredibly lucky that they’d brought along their equally awesome friends, Bird Names. Considering that brass and backyard is an ideal way to spend a Memorial Day evening, we were also fortunate that Nashville’s Darla Farmer was staying in the neighbhorhood on their only day off, and agreed to play on a short notice.

Big thanks also goes out to Anna Barie of These Are Powers. As a Crown Heights resident herself, she got quite a few of her friends to come. Now we just gotta figure out which space in this neighborhood is ballsy enough for These Are Powers to play in.

Quiet Hooves

Bird Names

Darla Farmer