project 365 #160: surreal films and cool music at the new french bar 5

project 365 #160: surreal films and cool music at the new french bar 5
Originally uploaded by mygothlaundry

So yesterday my friend A who used to live in Baltimore but now lives in Portland called me up to tell me that her boyfriend's band, Madagascar, was playing here in Asheville at the New French Bar. I gathered up my friends S & J and we went down there to see them, knowing nothing whatsoever about them except that T is in the band and they were from Baltimore. I told S & J that it could be anything from hardcore to classical; I had no idea and fortunately this did not scare them off. We got there to discover that it was one of those strange artsy evenings like we all had in art school whereby there were a whole bunch of 20 somethings projecting strange 1940s surreal films by a woman named Maya Deren onto a screen covered with glitter while bands played the soundtrack. It was all very serious and artsy and people glared at us when we talked and at first I was cranky because I get that way when forcibly exposed to culture since I am determinedly lowbrow and really only like movies that have either giant monsters or swords or explosions or magic in them and preferably all four.

But then I started getting into it, partly because the whole evening took a delightfully surreal turn, since the Rebelles were performing at the Diana Wortham Theatre in Pack Place which is directly behind the New French Bar. The Rebelles are Asheville's own homegrown burlesque troop and they have this huge following and the theatre and the bar share a courtyard. So the Rebelles audience began spilling out into the film/music audience and it was totally awesome with Rebelles wearing glitter hot pants and garter belts and stuff and inexplicable mimes and a guy in a sheikh robe and so on amongst the crusty serious art students watching the films in devoted silence and the bemused New French Bar patrons who had just stopped in for a drink with their dogs.

Then T's friend J played some of his songs which were quite wonderful and then he played with Madagascar and then they just played - saws and accordions and drums (T has a totally clear drum kit which is very sweet and I wish I'd gotten a picture but by that point I'd put the camera away) and guitars played with bows and so on. It was great and then they all came back over here and we stayed up until around 3 or 4 or so drinking beer on the deck. They are all really nice and it was fun and made me nostalgic for the days in my life when this sort of thing was fairly commonplace. I think I need to get out more and do different stuff besides just sitting behind the Westville or at Broadways smoking too much. Not that there's anything wrong with that but the change was good.

Anyway Madagascar is on to play in Athens tonight and then a whole bunch of other places and you should go and see them because they are not only great musicians but very cool people as well.