A while back Roz King told me about Adam Brodsky and the Antihoot (antifolk) open mic over at Fergie’s pub. I finally made it out to one and I’m glad I did. Initially I thought the night was going to suck because it was just me, Adam, and his manager, but some more people showed up and it turned out to be a blast. Adam, Butch, and Margaret all sounded great as well as Adam’s manager, Mary. A song of the antihoot genre comes across as either funny, irreverent, or an egg thrown at folk music itself. I’ve definitely seen artists do this kind of stuff before but it was never organized in one event. Adam hosts the antihoot every 2nd Wednesday of each month at Fergie’s Pub(1214 Sansom @ 10:00PM (9:30 sign up)).
Because there were so few performers I was able to play 5 songs. I started off with “I Hope I Die on the Moon,” “All My Dreams are in Cartoon,” and “The Genius of it All.” During “All My Dreams are in Cartoon” I broke the D on my brand new strings, so Adam kindly let me use his guitar. Strangely, I was playing at half my usual speed when the string broke. After everyone else played we sat in a circle (more of a curved row than a circle) and took turns playing songs. Most of the other performers were improvising on harmonicas or playing along with guitar, but I just sat there and waited patiently because I have little to add on the fly. In the curved row session I played “Why Now Satan” where I broke another f’ing string (this time my G). I decided I was pushing my luck and only played one more song. Anything more and I risked all my broken strings coming alive to strangle me. I ended my night with a song I can play with as little as three strings, Beck’s the “Cut in Half Blues,” and I think it was a good closer. Thanks again to Adam for letting me use his guitar and raising my net string loss to 1 instead of 2.
Comments
6 responses to “Anithoot @ Fergie’s Pub”
Hey Ben,
John again. I like the fact that your blog is mostly about open mike’s. And since you’re welcoming comments, I’ll provide some….
Yeah Fergie’s is great. My band used to play there back in the day, and I think it was my favorite gig. Have you met Fergie? He’s a great guy. Like the old-fashioned Irish, if you meet him just once he’s sure to remember your name. Upstairs it’s a good room , too.
Well I went to the Living Room last night and here’s my report. Surprisingly good crowd, but of course I went on FIRST AGAIN, which is a tough slot. Played "Imagine" and U2’s One, both in honor of September 11. Along those same lines, the guy after me played Springsteen’s "My City in Ruins" from the Tribute to Heroes. With a little help from the audience, mostly me, we gradually sang together "Come on Rise up, come on rise up" and it was rather moving. But I left soon after. There were a few people there who were new to me.
Anyway, that kills the rest of my lunch break so I am out…
J
Hey Ben! Its Margaret. You sounded really good last night, even playing with the broken string(s). "I hope I die on the Moon" is a great song. My friend Jeff is looking to book acts for Buddha-Zen Productions. I told him about you, and you can contact him at his website: http://www.sssounds.com. I have a webpage on his site with my band ANTI EMZ. You can find it by going to http://www.sssounds.com/antiemz.html.
Rock on! See you soon Margaret(mmmckenna@yahoo.com).
Yeah, it’s just me again, Margaret. I forgot to mention that Adam’s manager’s name is Mary Krause. That’s the first time I heard her sing. I was really impressed. I just noticed Ploy on your links list. They rock. Leroy’s the shit too- I know you know him from the Grape. Sex Machine.
Thanks for the Living Room recap. I started writing about the open mic’s mostly so I could go back and see what I played the last time I was at a particular venue. It kind of rolled into talking about who was good and anything interesting that happened.
Last night was my first time at Fergie’s and I thought it was a cool place. The jukebox rocks (plenty of Beck, Johnny Cash, Pixies, Sonic Youth, PJ Harvey, etc. etc.) and the patrons are actually friendly, interesting people.
Thanks for commenting. I really liked your stuff, too. I’m pretty sure I’ve heard of Buddha-Zen Productions and I will definitely get in touch with your friend Jeff.
I’ll post a link to ANTI EMZ, too.
I thought her name was Mary. I’ll edit that. I played at the GSP the same night as Ploy once. I liked the two bass player setup they had. Their poor guitarist was barely heard.
I only saw Leroy for the first time a few weeks ago. That guy is intense. I liked his song about hating everything, including Oranges and math.