Tuesday, September 18, 2007
Music / Crickets STFU
Posted by Monica Kendrick on 09.18.07 at 10:21 AM
I love shows that have a quiet/loud dichotomy. I'm all in favor of subtle droners paired with jackhammer ones, punk bands with acoustic soloists, et cetera. They just engage different parts of the ear/brain interaction, and that's a good thing. But I'm not so into it when the crowd is the loud part and the band is the quiet one. Saturday night's last two sets at the Bottle were a good illustration. Granted, the gnostic street-preacher braying of Daniel A.I.U. Higgs isn't for everyone (and this set wasn't as riveting as the last one I saw, when he had Chiara Giovando contributing vocals and violin and a sirenlike presence). But honestly, when the drunken roar from the bar reaches even past the artist's monitor, well, we're definitely crossing into "no one paid 12 bucks to hear YOU" territory. But who do you yell at? This is a collective problem, not an individual one--everyone gets louder to match everyone else around them who's getting louder. There's a reason why, in crowds witnessing something nasty, the thing to do is designate one particular person to call 911, as otherwise no individual might take the initiative. Some people consider yelling "Shut the fuck up!" at a music venue to be a breach of etiquette in its own right, but I say it isn't. Of course, maybe Higgs could've done a better job of standing up for himself. I wouldn't say I'm superstitious exactly, but he's not someone whose curses I'd like to run up against in a dark alley.
Now, I can't imagine Om, who headlined, will ever have this problem. They were like the "real rain" of Travis Bickle's longing, wiping the sonic backdrop clean. But maybe they could loan their amps to Higgs for a full set of mouth-harp soloing at their volume level next time.
Comments (8)
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I remember seeing a sublime acoustic set by Nick Saloman of the Bevis Frond more or less ruined by yacking scenesters at the Empty Bottle. The artist stopped the show several times to ask people to shut up, but to no avail. It made me realize that all the self-congratulation about Chicago being a great music town was a load of horseshit. Chicago is a terrible music town.
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Same story when Bert Jansch played at the Bottle. I love that venue, but it's not the best place for quiet music. I think that's why they've moved some shows to the Lakeshore Theater, which is much more suited for these types of shows.
The ultimate was at the solo show of Tetuzi Akiyama at the Bottle last year. One of the more interesting musicians in the world right now, he probably won't happen through Chicago for another few years, and I wouldn't blame him for not going out of his way. His first set was extremely quiet acoustic guitar; maybe one note every 15-30 seconds. The bar emptied out, everyone who came to see the other acts fleeing to the front room where they could converse without talking over the music. Then he plugged his electric guitar into a tube amp and played some of the loudest sound I've ever heard from a single performer on any sound system. Minimalist blues riffs carved out of full-spectrum distortion... just massive. By the time he finished there were maybe half a dozen people left. What's with people's volume boundaries? They can gladly sit in a bar that's so loud it's impossible to talk to someone three feet away from them. I don't get it.
Friday night at the Bottle wasn't any different... during Circle's set, the chatter increased to a volume on par with what was coming off of the stage, and it was incredibly disheartening to me to have to block all of it out in order to enjoy the music.
You've got to remember that only 10 to 20 percent of people at the Bottle are there to hear music. The rest are just trying to get laid.
About 15 years ago, I saw Higgs (with Lungfish) absolutely excoriate a drunk frat boy who continually interrupted the show to ask if he could "come up and jam." Higgs went into a lengthy tirade, finishing with "If you want to talk, get your own fucking band!" I don't remember the full script, but it was legendary in my household for a good while. So maybe Higgs was tired the other day, but he certainly knows how to stand up for himself.
