Friday, September 25, 2009
Music news Dangerous Moves: Mayor of Ponce crowds surfs @ Zach Wolfe's studio
Posted by J. Winter on Fri, Sep 25, 2009 at 10:09 PM
CHAOS BY DESIGN
Sweaty strangers in flannel are grabbing my ass in a warehouse off Dekalb Avenue. Half a pint of Wild Turkey convinced me it'd be a good idea to free fall from the rafters into a sea of hipsters. Maybe I just couldn't hear him correctly over the blaring amps of the Black Lips, but a wild turkey has never steered me wrong before. Fuck it. It's chaos by design, and it's a beautiful thing.
It's a Saturday night and we're in superstar hip-hop photographer Zach Wolfe's studio. He's quite possibly the coolest person, other than Chad Radford, to hail from the home of Captain James Tiberion Kirk. A pasty white boy from Iowa and he has the Dirty South in the palm of his hand. The guy has his adopted city railed out on a table and it's yelling, Snort This.
Problem: Zach's grandiose studio has an equally substantial August power bill.
Solution: Let's party.
A couple hours of preparation, a couple of runs to Green's, and a couple hundred kids turn up for a guerilla-style Black Lips show. A benefit fit for scoundrels.
The Barreracudas open the muggy night with gasoline inspired cheap tricks. By the time the Lips plug in, the dripping crowd has overflowed into the parking lot. Team Dangerous' own Jon Slay is posted at the door taking money. The door to the studio is about 30 feet down from a wide-open garage door where people are freely spilling in and out. But kids are still choosing to come through Slay's door and paying the silly three bucks.
"Why are you even asking for I.D.'s?" I ask.
"Im not," he says, laughing. "They're just showin' em to me."
At this point, an average looking weirdo asks Slay very politely, "Do you mind if we eat fire in your parking lot?"
"Uhh," Slay smiling. "I don't mind."
These crazy kids today and their manners!
Through locked doors and down hallways into the back offices of the Snort This headquarters, me and Team Dangerous associate Gino Marino take things in. Gino is a Cadillac-driving, Long Island-bred, Emory grad who is bewildered by the indie culture. He's intoxicated with delight over how this brand of people function. Eyes all wide, he wonders aloud, "What do these people do during the day?!"
Not that he even assumes there's an answer, but it's difficult to explain. Especially being that I'm not so sure myself. School is the fall back answer, and there are only so many record stores and coffee shops.
To the closest cute breezy, we inquire, "So what do you do during the day?"
"I work at Starbucks."
We laugh. And to the little tomato across the room, "What do you do during the day, duggy?"
"I work at Starbucks."
We shake our heads. Some things are better left mysteries.
The Black Lips are doing what they do. Playing their hearts out because it's all they know. Two hundred kids are sweating their sins out one two-and-a-half minute song at a time. It's all cliché. You've read this story before, but it really is magic. These four boys in Atlanta cast a spell over every bar, festival, bedroom, or impromptu warehouse they play.
I've been somewhat reminiscent lately. I loved the ’90s. And I've strangely noticed some charming coincidences. Not ironic Bart Simpson or Beavis and Butthead t-shirts, but things like Pearl Jam actually having a terrific new single that's all over the radio. Or having a Democrat in office rooting for the underdogs. And silly enough, Third Eye Blind actually has the No. 3 album on Billboard. Not that these things amount to anything, but it does make a boy nostalgic.
There's nothing left to do other than climb to the rafters, lean back, and fall into a pit of long hair and flannel. I’m crowd surfing through a sea of sweat, Point Break-style, with the ghost of Patrick Swayze in my ear yelling, "You're surfin' now, maaaan!"
Snort that, 2000s. Fire eaters, courteous hipster youth, Starbucks employees, Georgia Power, and wild turkeys with questionable advice — it's all chaos by design, and it's a beautiful thing.
(More photos courtesy Mayor of Ponce @ Dangerous Moves on Facebook)
like
dislike
Latest in Crib Notes
-
Free from Fleet Foxes, Father John Misty finds his wild, fearless self
See his sexy dance moves at the Masquerade tonight
-
Tijuana Hercules careened through the Star Bar, but never crashed
Former Dirt frontman returned from Chicago for another round of junkyard rock 'n' roll
-
Tracklist: Nas saw Kelis as Courtney Love
- More »
