Mesh Magazine

Went up to Point Arena (population 400) on the Coast in Mendocino County on Saturday to see Two Gallants, Vetiver, Michael Hurley & Morning Benders at the Point Arena Theatre. Unfortunately, I got to the theatre too late see Morning Benders, but I did catch Michael Hurley, Vetiver & Two Gallants. The whole thing took a crazy dirt-twirlin’ turn during Vetiver’s set. Wish I had some photos of that.

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31 Knots frontman Joe Haege looks like a preacher out of Flannery O’Connor’s twisted south when performing. He seems slightly possessed throughout the the set: when he takes the stage in a marching band outfit, stumbles around, swings his guitar wildly (almost decapitating some audience members) and deliverslyrics to “Chain Reaction”, screaming “And results/Results/Speak louder than words.” His vocal abilities go far beyond his room-commanding shouts; Haege sounds like a crooning standards singer during most of his songs, over music that can be dissonant, melodic, technical, prog-ish, and dub-influenced, yet somehow manages to maintain cohesiveness, while being challenging and accessible at the same time. 31 Knots stole the show. I picked up the band’s new album, The Days and Nights of Everything Anywhere and holy shit it’s good.

Headliners Two Ton Boa blasted away at their songs off their debut full-length Parasiticide and their previous, self-titled EP. Frontwoman Sherry Fraser’s voice is always something to behold, full of tremendous power and range. Unfortunately it was swallowed up by terrible levels, with one of two bass guitars being about five times louder than anything else. Scott Seckington played keyboards on some songs, which were completely inaudible. The band’s good performance was overshadowed by these audio problems. The band did go out on an impressive cover version of Jefferson Airplane’s “White Rabbit.”

Totimoshi kicked things off (well, The Cassettes did, but I got there too late for their set) with a somewhat more melodic set than the last time I caught them, but still pounded away with metal riffs from frontman Tony Aguilar and massive rhythm sounds from bassist Meg Castellano and drummer Chris Irizarry.
31 Knots


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These phones were hooked up to an MP3 player that played people’s hacked into conversations and voicemails. Apparently, there is a number you can call to break into people’s cell phones, and the folks down at 20 Goto 10 know what it is. The charts on the wall (below) show people calling other people through the hacked number.

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From the people that brought you Titty City, comes a new local headquarters for all things DIY photography, the Hamburger Eyes Photo Epicenter at 26 Lilac Street (off 24th Street & Mission). The center, a collaboration between Hamburger Eyes & Colorarts features color & black & white darkrooms, a studio/gallery, a processor for color prints, a digi lab, classes and workshops, all available to you, the public, at incredibly low rates. Not sure if these rates will change, but Colorarts rates were only $14 hour for darkroom use, including paper, and even cheaper rates for students. The grand opening celebration is on Valentines Day.

The Rockout @ The Knockout went off on Saturday night, with epic sets from three bands: openers Sholi, who I’d never seen before, and completely blew me away with their melodic, angular sounds, MOGGS, who came in from the North Bay, and rocked the joint with Sir Plus’ crunchy guitars and Miss Minor’s syncopated rhythms, and headliners Tartufi, who with the aid of a large line of pedals, recreated the swirling, noisy sounds of their latest release, Us Upon Buildings Upon Us, and those with closed eyes could easily forget that the group is just a duo. Thanks to all the bands, The Knockout, and especially Ben & Christian from The Bay Bridged for putting it all together.
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They weren’t joking. This ship is really, really big. Pier 27 to the Marina is a long walk. There is an In ‘N’ Out Burger at Fisherman’s Wharf that is open until 1AM. The F Market is very slow. People like to ask me questions about the Queen Mary. Mainly, “Has it left yet?” and “What time is it set to depart?” But also, “Someone told us that it goes 10 miles per hour, is that true?” Seriously, about 15 random strangers came up to me with questions about the ship.

Receiver Gallery hosted Sacha Eckes‘ & Porous Walker’s “Your Face Looks Like an Island” opening on Saturday. Sacha’s art was a lot different than her earlier work, featuring more color and abstract forms, and was very impressive. Porous’ contribution to the night was massive. Taking over an entire wall of the gallery, he utilized every space, hanging drawings of his, found photos, toys, posters, signs, even a ten dollar bill. The work also featured a lot of correspondence he received from other people, showing the ultra-social aspects of his work. I arrived too late to catch the smashing of a piñata filled with $200 in quarters, but there was still change scattered all over the floor of the gallery, and out on the sidewalk. A lot of people headed home with laundry money and MUNI fare. Oh, and, the price of Porous’s art? All free. He told me in an e-mail that this would be his last San Francisco show ever, which I can only hope is not true.

Wall o’ Porous

Sacha Eckes

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