Last Saturday, 7/7/07, was a fun day in the park. I went to go see a band I enjoy very much called The Boredoms. As everyone knows by now they did a one time performance of a piece called 77 Boa Drums, which I have been looking forward to for months.I know there has been one hell of a debate on how the event was handled, and it was indeed amateur hour, but they did send emails the night before saying your RSVP was worthless and you needed to get down there at 2:30 if you wanted a shot at admission. As most people who know me are aware, I balk at the slightest hint of aggravation. But I was determined to make it into the show, so I got there early, around 2:15, watched some sound check, got on line and had no issue getting in.
What did it sound like? Sometimes it sounded AMAZING. Beautiful bursts of energy and noise and electronics and cymbals resonating into the East River. Cascades of sound would move through the drum circle and slowly envelop you. This was about 40% of the show.
The rest was watching 77 drummers play rudiments. It is not that I dislike ambient music. If anything the show could have been MORE ambient. But this was a weird game of drumming telephone that had happy accidents, rather than a beautiful movement and flow. Also to prove all of those psychoacoustic experts right, 77 drummers are not necessarily louder than 3 or 4.
I don't mean to sound cynical or hard to please. I came in with a completely open head ready to witness something unique and beautiful. Maybe I was too sober. I don't know. It was good, it was fun. It was not......well it was not Rush.
About that show............stay tuned.
