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In this crazy business I’m in called music sometimes I get thrown smack dab in the middle of things. Every gig is a chance anyway, a new chance to experience something different. Every venue old or new-holds a fresh experience. Things sometimes happen with no precedent. It’s one of the things I love most about making music in public places…anything can happen…and when the FVE hit the road recently something profound happened right around us and we fell, well, smack dab, in the middle. Read on: As I announced on last months posting – the FVE had a micro tour in Upstate New York. It was our first and what a good time! The first hit on Thursday, April 24 was the BopSHop in Rochester, NY. We played in the atrium right outside of this wonderful record shop owned by Tom Kohn, who’s been featuring/hosting progressive and new music for many years and he hasn’t booked a vocalist in over 10 years until he heard Cartwheels. Anyway, we drove up from Brooklyn the same day and played a real power set, outside of the opener – the set was full throttle – washing out the pent-up energy from the ride up. A warm receptive crowd dealt with it just fine… Our next and final stop was Sanctuary for Independent Media, located in Troy, NY and our concert was on Saturday, April 26 but we head down on Friday since our host could put us up for 2 nights and it was a mansion in the countryside of Troy - one of my favorite things. To top it off this mansion was used to house fugitive slaves on their way to Canada on the Underground Railroad. As it turns out Troy was pivotal city on that journey for many. Our hosts were an amazing couple - a professor of Anthropology at RPI and her husband, a prolific writer on social injustice issues and prison reform. We also happened to be the group that would re-open the venue. Re-open the venue??? WHAT!! At the beginning of April, when I tried to get in touch with the promoter, Steve Pierce, I had a rough time getting through. When we finally did speak, he told me that the Sanctuary was closed down for code violations and that he and his crew were incredibly busy dealing with all that and that was why it was difficult to catch him. But the REAL reason they were closed down is because they sponsored and housed an exhibition by an Iraqi artist Wafaa Bilal . Mr. Bilal had a an exhibition entitled “virtual Jihadi” that was closed down 1 day after it opened at RPI by Campus Republicans - SEE video.The Day after it was shut down, Sanctuary for Independent Media offered to house the exhibition. Two days after that, Sanctuary for Independent Media was shut down by the city of Troy for code violations, forced to comply with the city before re-opening. Support for Sanctuary poured in from all over the country. They raised the funds to pay for the new doors and other materials. . In the meantime, Sanctuary scrambled to house all events in neighboring churches in the community. The promoter told me that our concert would go on and the worst would be we’d have it at another venue. The city commissioner was set to come back to re-inspect the venue on April 23rd, just three days before our gig. Steve was optimistic and said” we’ll re-open and your concert will be our grand re-opening event. They’ll be an exhibition in the evening and then your concert will welcome back into the space.” Wow! Driving to Troy on the Friday (4/25), Steve called to say the inspection was fine and they could re-open on Saturday. It was a great event. A full house of enthusiastic supporters and with our politically tinged music, we preached to the choir; co-joined in fate and similar understandings…we received a standing ovation and I was moved to tears. Smack dab in the middle… |
