I’ve been told that using various means, Cortelyou Rd’s liberal cafe Vox Pop has raised enough money to stay afloat; it should now be able to pay its outstanding fines and bills, and resume the sale of edibles and drinkables. Here are some pictures from a benefit show Kensington’s The Loom put together, along with their friends Holler, Wild Rose!, who came all the way from New Jersey, and whose song you should listen to after the jump if you haven’t already.
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Owing to “lack of management” and some harsh health regulation fines, Cortelyou Rd’s liberal cafe, Vox Pop, has been unable to sell any food or beverages, and hence unable to make money for the outstanding bills and fines. From what I hear, there’s about $18,000 more they need to raise, and that if they don’t raise it by the midnight of Sunday, it’ll have to shut down (they’ve hired a proper manager since, though she remains unpaid).
The cafe was co-founded by Sander Hicks, who also started Soft Skull press as a guerrilla operation out of Kinko’s while working there in the early 90’s. If the fact of it being one of its kind in a neighborhood that was previously neglected from a cultural standpoint and the fact of it having luminaries of liberal thought in its logo aren’t enough, think about the coffee? Says Oliver Moné, a fan:
“This is aggravating,” he said. “I like the coffee. I like the place. Dunkin’ Donuts is O.K., but this is prime stuff. I mean, I hate Starbucks. God, I hate Starbucks.”
Money is being raised in two ways: a benefit show tonight featuring The Loom and Holler Wild Rose (tickets are $10 each but you should feel free to pay more); stocks are being sold at $50 each, which will be refundable if the required amount isn’t raised and the cafe is forced to close. To make donations directly, email Debi Ryan, current President & CEO of Vox Pop: debi.ryan101 [at] gmail [dot] com
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Download “Don’t Haunt This Place“ | I went to Pianos camera-less last night with the intention of being “off duty” but here I am, posting a few re-colored cellphone pictures and a summary. It was The Loom’s last residency show at the venue (new material’s sounding great and showing signs of a maturing band); they had invited Rural Alberta Advantage to play with them, which, as it turns out, would make it the first US show for the Canadian band. I’ve never seen Pianos that packed on a Tuesday night. Even when great bands are playing, sometimes it’s just disappointingly empty, but there was no room to move last night. RAA’s frontmant Nils Edenloff looked visibly surprised as his band took stage, saying, “Is this some kind of improv group pulling a prank on us?” He thanked The Loom about a hundred times for asking them to play, and kept repeating how grateful he was for the “warm reception” in the US. Story continues…
Not that anyone’s even awake today, but here’re a few more presents. Dark Dark Dark’s set at Union Pool was much more fun than the relatively stiff one at Cake Shop. The last song they played was “Flood”, which isn’t on their album, but was performed for a forthcoming Daytrotter session, I hear. Nona got off the stage and joined the audience for a massive bout of swaying and singing. The video of this, and “The Benefit of the Doubt”, which features a few heart-gripping cello lines, are after the jump; as is ”True Believers All” by the Loom, whose front man John Fanning was celebrating his 28th birthday that night.
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Barack Obama’s week-old victory has since revealed much else about the country. An astounding 46% voted for John McCain, proving once again the extent to which conservatism continues to rule this nation. Post-ideology appointment of Obama staff seems to have thrown both the decrying Left and the decrying Right into arrant confusion. More importantly, though, the country remains afflicted with tight-ass’d people who won’t let the soon-to-be President make Nancy Reagan seance jokes; while I’m at it, John Stewart’s Bill Ayers joke was funny—come on, what are we going to do with you freaking downers? In short, don’t be mistaken, annoying times lie ahead! But for now, we look back to that joyous night: we asked a few folks from the music world and the literary world, “What were you doing when the election result was announced?”
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Download “Leonard Woolf“ | I’ve been waiting for Princeton to leave California behind and head to New York ever since I heard their Bloomsbury EP. I’ve a column of bands whose personality I find so likable and whose motivations I find so commendable that I’ll always be nothing but forgiving, patient and loving towards them no matter what, and Princeton exemplifies the kind of bands I’m willing to put on this list (another being These United States). The jewel on the crown, for me, is definitely the song, “Leonard Woolf”, with which I have a special attachment because it says so much with so little that it gives me goosebumps. It’s definitely a meeting point of worlds.
When we first talked about doing Secret Garden videos with The Loom, we had planned to perform “Patience for Books” at Retro Fret, a specialty music store in Gowanus that boasts a stunning collection of vintage instruments. At the time, we ended up shooting two videos at singer John Fanning’s apartment and were unable to visit Retro Fret. So we went back later, and below is the result—this is the shorter edit, I might post the longer one later. The Loom is playing several CMJ shows this week, and tonight they share a particularly lovely bill at The Bell House with some of my favorites Princeton, Frances and La Strada.
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Download “Get Yourself Home” and “West Won” | There was only one chain of thought that kept untangling in my head while I was watching These United States at Union Hall last night: I love them, I love them, I love them! When will they play here next, because I want to see them again! As much as I treasure their albums (latest is Crimes, which came out on Sept 23), the band really needs to be seen live. They get grittier, crispier, louder, and Jesse’s “weathered” voice, which easily helps sift the band out as a great amongst the goods, sounds even more magnificent in person.
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Death by Audio: As you’ll see in the picture after the jump, Brooklyn’s City Center makes music with percussion and lots of cables. Says one-man-band Fred, “It sounds like rattle rattle rattle sparrkkkkk wheeeerrrrrr,” which of course sounds kind of fabulous. He’s playing with old friend Hawnay Troof, who he insists is the one of the “party starters of our generation”, and whose record release is the occasion for the party tonight. Joining them are Vivian Girls, Urxed, and special guest(s). Urxed is mainly Robert Barber, who also plays in High Places, which Fred claims is quite possibly his favorite band after The Grateful Dead and Joy Division(!).
Though The Loom hasn’t been around for too long, singer John Fanning says the current line-up feels permanent, and I very much agree. He and drummer Jon Alvarez share a great chemistry from being friends before becoming band mates, and after playing with the band for about 10 months, classically-trained french horn and trumpet player Lis Rubard is happy to focus on it as her main project. Joining them most recently are flutist Bethany Chase (who quit oboe school after literally telling them to “fuck off”) and guitarist Mark Rogers (who seems to treat everything he says and does with a dose of passion). Both musicians are an excellent fit, musically and temperamentally. And though the beloved bassist Dan DeSloover is temporarily away on a biological project that involves stunning fish in order to count them, he was greatly missed as The Loom and friends of The Loom gathered at John’s apartment in Kensington for the shooting of these videos. China, who you will see playing the saw, made an exuberant amount of delicious food for all.
hooves on the turf is a mostly-music blog based out of brooklyn. i can be reached at hoovesontheturf [at] gmail [dot] com - please send me your lovely music as an attached mp3 or an mp3 link. if i like what you send, i'll be sure to ask for more.
Evan Hammer: and now i’m excited too! thanks for the new band.
Jens: Where can I order t-shirts from the Tallest Man On Earth online? Is it possible at all?
nat lyon: three cheers for secret garden! it’s been too long.
jamie: Yo! You should definitely check out this awesome video MPLS.TV just shot of Dark Dark Dark this week for City...
sarahana: they were taken with the new iPhone 4 using the Hipstamatic app
