I decided to check out an event in San Francisco where various musicians got 15 minutes to perform. The venue was called The Lab. I didn’t know what to expect other than it would be “art” music. I was thinking it might be similar to a movie scene depicting modern music in Paris. I had briefly checked out the venue’s website, but I didn’t have any time to click through the links for the artists. I jumped onto the BART, got off at 16th St. Mission and walked a block to The Lab.
When I got to the door, I hesitated. What sounded like a fire alarm was ringing inside and a small group was hanging outside. Hmm. No one seemed overly concerned about it, but for a second I thought that perhaps someone had accidentally set off the alarm and folks were just hanging outside until it got fixed as the noise was very irritating.
I noticed a guy inside who looked like a ticket guy. Let’s do it, I thought. I walked in hesitantly. The guy looked up and nodded, “Come inside.” Okay, so this high pitched alarm sound was related to this event. The tickets were based on a sliding scale between $5 and $10. I noticed that ear plugs were being made available. Folks were gathered around part of the space so I walked on over. An artist (Moe! Staiano) was running back and forth, turning on alarms and bells that created piercing sounds. To end the show, he attempted to run around the crowd with saran wrap, but that didn’t work out as he hoped as he was having a difficult time getting the saran wrap separated from the roll. He defaulted to running around the crowd with yellow warning tape. And when that ran out, he returned to the saran wrap, having better luck that time around. And then he turned off the alarms.
Next up was a trio of young women (Weather White) playing foot pedals. In the middle of their performance the ceiling lights flickered on and off. This signaled that their set had run over the 15 minutes – my assumption. One of the women cried out, “That was only 8 minutes.” There was some brief confusion and awkward moments as the band attempted to find out if they were really supposed to end their 15 minute set. A photographer called out, “This is very awkward.” The woman who had cried out snapped back, “What do you mean awkward?” She was taking her art very seriously. The photographer tried to explain his perspective, “It is awkward for us and you, because your set is being cut short.” Another band member randomly drifted off into the crowd in very slow motion, I was unsure of her intent as she seemed indecisive on rather to stay with her band mates or to disappear into the crowd. One of the show organizers ran up and said, “My mistake. I got the times mixed up.” They closed out the set with one last song.
The next three sets highlighted a guy playing digital music (Wobbly), a gal playing with a mask on (Zeek Sheck) and two musicians with a synth and various strange contraptions (Pigs in the Ground). I started to look around me at the crowd during these three sets. A handful of folks were attempting to move to the beat. I wasn’t exactly sure what the beat was.
Note: I found a video of Pigs in the Ground’s set at The Lab. There was the brief use of a trumpet that I don’t even remember hearing. I have to admit there is this soothing brainwave sound to their music.
The last set of the night for me was a band with two saxophones and a drum set (Ettrick). I was half thinking I would listen to some non-digital inspired music. I was wrong. I’m not sure how they did it, but as they blew through the saxophones the most high pitch digital sounds blasted from the speakers. The drum set was used more for beating out cymbal anger then an attempt to create any rhythm.
I have to admit I was confused by the night, but I also have to say I kind of enjoyed the mess.
A non-music observation on BART before getting to The Lab:
I walked over to a BART station and put my Clipper card over the reader. In front of me, the gates were open. I couldn’t recall if the gates were already open before I swiped my Clipper card or if I had just missed seeing the doors open up. I decided to just walk through. When I got to the 16th Street Mission stop I swiped my Clipper card and a message showed up saying to see the attendant. Great, the gates where I got on had been open before I swiped my card and I just hadn’t noticed. Either I was going to get a steep fine or a harsh warning. I was thinking worse case that I would get a $100 fine and so as I walked to the booth I planned out how to complain big time about that worthless BART gate. Well, I was just asked where I had come from and then he checked my history from the Clipper card. The guy then just said in a bored voice that I owed $3.50.
Brief mention of the LA Music Scene:
As mentioned in my last post on San Francisco, I do get to come home to Los Angeles on the weekends. So the next day after my night at The Lab, I headed off to SFO airport. My original flight was delayed by an hour. When I reached the gate area, I noticed that the flight before mine was also delayed and that it was going to leave in 30 minutes. I walked up to the gate desk and asked if I could jump flights. I got to LAX 30 minutes earlier than anticipated!
Okay, now to the LA music scene. Scanning Facebook on my return to Los Angeles, I noticed a post from Eastern Conference Champions saying that they were playing a set at El Cid. Oh yes, I was there!!! I am so hooked on the LA music scene.
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