Bluegum
The new ax shelter from rock critic Kandia Crazy Horse & performance studies scholar Tavia Nyong'oJune 23, 2007
Urb Alt Fest 2007
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After a trip to what organizers swear will not be the last Mermaid Parade in Coney Island , I travelled almost the entire stretch of the MTA to Harlem, USA, to catch the AR Kane tribute (pictured below) organized by the folks at Urb Alt , and hosted by the gregarious George Faison at his marvelous Faison Firehouse Theater, a stone's throw from the 125th stop on the A train. Faison was a dancer with Ailey, and now runs this space, he told those gathered, so that freaky dekes like us will have somewhere to gather. What generation clash?
The night's main attraction was Kyp Malone of TV on the Radio , who played a couple solo songs before jamming with the house band, the MuthaWit Orchestra. My attention was drawn to two less established artists, the introspective Nerdkween who warbled and keened through a startling set in which she also introduced me to the notion of the alarm clock as a valid musical instrument, and the charming Otto Fischer (pictured above), whose mother and sister beamed from the fourth row as he strummed a tiny guitar and sang with both expressiveness and reserve. He tags his sound "Electro/Soul" on MySpace , and is described elsewhere on the interweb as "alternative jazz/folkcore," but labels aside his music is alluring and assured.