Well, even the big city’s got this special brand of blues, as evidenced by the petition to have the St. Mark Bookshop’s rent lowered from its previously agreed to price they signed off on in a lease agreement with their landlord. More from Choire Sicha (who is seriously one of my favorite people that I don’t know personally) of The Awl:

“I encourage you petition-signers to go to your own landlords—during the first quarter of the lease that you just signed—and ask for a rent reduction. See how that goes. Yeah. If the bookstore wants to become a non-profit bookstore, let’s file that paperwork and do this thing. (I’ll help!) But this odd public-private partnership “public good” conception of a commercial business is giving me the willies a little.”

Agreed. It’s nice and sweet to get all wistful about stuff like books, but business is still business.

Though I will say that all this is not nearly as frustrating and unintentionally hilarious as all the pining for Border’s, the big corporate chain that shuttered more local businesses than it opened and then became a victim of its own mismanagement.

RELATED: AOA recently had an interesting interview with Susan Novotny, owner of The Book House of Stuyvesant Plaza and Market Block Books in downtown Troy, about what local indie book stores could, should, and/or aren’t doing to survive.

Rest Fest 2011 is where I saw the best concert I can ever recall seeing.

Lost in the coverage of the hurricane and subsequent flooding that eviscerated small towns and big-city cynicism over media hype this past weekend, this year’s Restoration Festival at St. Joseph’s Church on Ten Broeck (behind the Palace) included a first day that saw a bigger and more enthusiastic crowd than I anticipated and a second day that saw cancellations of its two national headliners overshadowed by local acts rising to the occasion and one of them putting on the performance of their career.

Of course, the fact that it became free on the second day because of Irene likely helped. With the storm preventing scheduled second day headliners A Hawk and a Hacksaw and The Music Tapes from making it to Albany, the tough call was made to make the event “pay what you will” for those who hadn’t already purchased tickets. This announcement initially brought in a few more people, and even more once the weather started being a bit more cooperative and before news had hit us that immense flooding was putting local municipalities into states of emergency. Even with the cancellations, though, it felt like nothing was lost on that second day and that the trials and travails only made the show better.

But I’m getting ahead of myself.

DAY ONE

Titus Andronicus. Taken with my damn Blackberry.

Starting with the headliners, because why not? First we were treated with a life-affirming, fist-pumping performance by Titus Andronicus that, perhaps owing to my enthusiasm for their work, was my favorite concert that I can ever recall attending. It was audio literature in frenetic motion provided with a perfect balance of serious craftsmanship and unhinged mania. The band went full bore for a full hour with an insane pace and a complete lack of bulls*** wannabe rock star pretension or self-consciousness. They left it all on the stage and were dripping sweat for the duration of their set, but they didn’t seem to notice. Or if they did, they didn’t care. In fact, they probably wanted us to drink it.

They were followed by Deer Tick who, in short, I still can’t quite get into despite their best efforts. They had the unfortunate task of following Titus Andronicus, who simply brought it with an energy level that simply isn’t sustainable for Deer Tick’s alt-country-rock sensibilities. I urge you to check them out for yourselves. You’ll probably love them, because I seemed to be the only person who instead of cheering and hooting was staring at the ceiling of St. Joseph’s and admiring the architecture. Which, in my defense, is quite gorgeous, especially in that lighting.

Scientific Maps friggin' brought it. Taken with my damn Blackberry.

The local stars of day one were undoubtedly The Scientific Maps. They were playing when I walked in and man, they owned the stage. Everything sounded tight and better than I’ve ever heard them. Whereas before I heard promise in a band that I liked, this weekend I heard yet another local musical act that I’m genuinely enthusiastic about and borderline obsessed with. Railbird also put out an absolutely fantastic and enthralling set. It made the company I was with remark that he couldn’t understand why more of these acts aren’t nationally renowned, as they’re truly accomplishing something fascinating and listenable that seems to jive, if not rise above, the sort of indie rock fare that gets so much praise from the likes of Pitchfork and others.

Conversation then turned to lament over the fact that people complain about not having anything to do in Albany when all of these fantastic acts are popping up and performing regularly as part of a woefully underrated music scene.

“Anytime people tell me there’s nothing to do in Albany,” he said, “I’m going to tell them ‘you have no right to say anything, because I didn’t see you at Rest Fest’.”

DAY TWO

The Ramblin' Jug Stompers. Picture taken with my damn Blackberry.

After cancellations, announcements, revisions, and efforts by the staff to save the church after it flooded due to the inundation of water left by the beast formerly known as Irene, the day started two hours later with a crowd that was small but enthusiastic, then gradually grew to a level that wasn’t as large as the previous day but still deserves recognition given the circumstances.

Slender Shoulders and Swamp Baby played, providing the perfect soundtrack for the dreary uncertainty of a rainy day. Katie Hammon sings like she’s haunted by a beautiful ghost, and Swamp Baby’s ethereal folk soared in St. Joseph’s, which rewards bands with sparse production and mellow tones. They were followed by the Ramblin’ Jug Stompers, whose love of old music and musicianship carried through in their presentation and performance, unlike so many other bands who seem to fetishize their influences and as a result come across as wholly inorganic, if not hacky. The Stompers are fun, adventurous, and respectful of their influences while not putting them at such a distance as to provide a disconnect. This was real, good, earnest old-time music, and after a performance that included a typewriter solo that made me worry because I hadn’t brought a change of pants with me, they have a new fan in Kevin Marshall.

We Are Jeneric put on the performance of their lives. This was very early in their set, and by the fourth song the area had been overtaken by enthusiastic fans. Taken with my damn Blackberry.

Then came We Are Jeneric, who put on the best performance of their lives. Buzz had filled the room about seeing them all day. More than one attendee I spoke to commented that they weren’t too disappointed in the cancellation of the headlining acts, because they were there to see Jeneric. One even went so far as to suggest the only reason people might have shown up for The Music Tapes and A Hawk and a Hacksaw was in the misguided hope that reclusive Neutral Milk Hotel frontman (and former bandmate of both bands) Jeff Magnum would make a surprise appearance. That wasn’t going to happen, ever, but I also don’t doubt for a second that no small amount of attendees thought this was a possibility before the cancellation.

Either way, Jeneric rose to the occasion. I’d always thought well of them, but on Sunday they were breathtaking. They got an incredible sound out of a purposefully limited arrangement, sort of like the Polyphonic Spree but without the cheesy gimmick or creepy cult factor. They were a welcome respite to all the uncertainty surrounding the day, and a white people dance party broke out to give them their propers. Well deserved.

I unfortunately had to leave at this point. I had received several texts that prompted me to use my phone’s (limited) internet capabilities to ascertain the situation, and it wasn’t good. There were already floods and fear of worse, with dams overtaken and concerns that others could fail. Not wanting to be stranded in Albany since I had to work the next day come Hell or high water (which couldn’t reach us at the apex of the hill that my employer rests upon), I took my leave.

Thankfully, Bryan Thomas took a video of The Matthew Carefully Undone Ensemble performance, so I can live vicariously through that:

The Matthew Carefully Undone Ensemble – ‘Poughkeepsie’ from Bryan Thomas on Vimeo.

And having seen Sgt. Dunbar and the Hobo Banned do their thing so many times and do it consistently well, I can imagine what a fun time I would have had.

And, of course, this was all to help increase awareness and raise money to restore the historic St. Joseph’s Church on Ten Broeck. Completed in 1856, St. Joe’s is as breathtaking for its prominence in the skyline as it is its interior architecture and natural beauty. Even in a dilapidated state, the gothic carvings, stained glass windows, and cavernous buttresses fill one with a sense of awe that brings understanding to those who always wondered why physically being in a structure like this could make one think they’ve been imbued with the strength of a holy spirit. Sadly, it’s become a victim to the inevitabilities of time and a contracting Catholic Church, but there’s still hope in the people invested in bringing it back to its former glory and folks like us who need to continue to spread the word.  Restoration of this structure is an aesthetic, historical, civic, and cultural obligation.  More info is here.

I’m not going to simply end this by stating that you should attend next year’s Restoration Festival and participate in the celebration. Instead, I’m going to urge you to seek these people out, because they live and breathe and work and perform here all year round. In fact, some of them are included in this year’s refreshing LarkFest lineup, providing a much-needed respite from tired arena rock covers and boozehound hackery. You can see the full list over at Nippertown. Maybe I’ll see you there.

Just look for this guy:

I included this because it was drawn onto a sticker by a caricaturist, Elena Cruzallen, who was walking around the Festival on day two in a cardboard contraption labeled “Sticker-Making Machine.” I asked her if she was a robot. She answered in a robot voice that she was, indeed, a robot. As she continued drawing, I wondered aloud why these scientists would program a robot to have an old 1950s robot voice. It’s best not to think too long on these things, though, for they’ll drive you mad.

Anyway, Elena’s pretty talented, and I thank her for her depiction. Check out her Flickr here, which has more of her work. It’s legitimately interesting stuff. She also wants to be your friend on Facebook.

—–

Equal parts outrageous and sad.

Desperate for some footage to accompany a story about a shooting, CBS Chicago interviewed nearby neighborhood children to get sound bites and reaction. The video first shows the segment as it aired, then the full footage. Note that the first child interviewed is only four years old.

In the footage that airs, the clip ends with the four-year-old saying “I’m gonna have me a gun!” After another child reacts to the violence, the anchor does a head-shaking, pseudo-remorseful “that is very scary indeed” that would put Jack Aerneke to shame.

As the upload on YouTube shows and is apparent by the fact that in the aired clip you can hear the beginning of the reporter’s follow-up question (nice editing, folks), the child wants to be a police officer.

Child: “I’m gonna have me a gun!”
Reporter: “Why do you want to do that?”
Child: “I’m gonna be the police!”
Reporter: “Oh, that’s okay then!”

So what could have been a moment of brief respite, with the idea that this violence is possibly laying the foundation for this child to pursue a dream in law enforcement or somehow fight back against the criminal element in his community, is twisted and distorted to make it look like this innocent four-year-old is a little gangbanger in training.

I wish I was surprised that any news organization would stoop to this level, but the mantra has become that ratings are ratings and sales are sales. This is the sort of thing that happens when you compromise things like journalistic ethics and higher standards for the sake of numbers. Many newsrooms of various media would give no shortage of excuses (“the state of the industry made me do it!”) or cry “logical fallacy” at the inference of a slippery slope. But it’s not a slope, it’s a dam. Putting entertainment and narrative ahead of truth and journalism in any way puts a crack in that dam, and eventually that leak becomes a flood.

And we’re the ones left drowning in misinformation and an almost cartoonish disregard for standards and decency. This was inexcusable, but it was not isolated, and any outfit presenting itself as a news organization – regardless of the form it takes or its presentation – needs to be held to a much higher standard.

—-

Local readers will note that in the beginning there’s mention of “South Albany” – there’s a lot of fun connections between New York’s capitol and the pride of Illinois. There’s also an Albany Park neighborhood which has a street named…Troy.

Image via Wikipedia

There was quite a bit of broo-ha-ha over the Tulip Fest announcements yesterday, none of which was due to headliner the Cold War Kids. Rather, it’s the announcement that open container laws will be enforced during the Festival and that drinking will be restricted to a tent near the main stage.

In previous years, attendees were allowed to bring coolers and walk the streets with open containers of alcohol. While coolers will still be allowed, they’ll be subject to search.

Perhaps not surprisingly, the reaction I’ve seen online has ranged from terse to angry. Some are upset and disappointed, while others have vowed to never again set foot in Albany during the festival. Many more decried the move as punishing everyone for the actions of a few, even going so far as to blame the new policy on last month’s Kegs and Eggs riots in the Pine Hills neighborhood. An article by Jordan Carleo-Evangelist of the Times Union even cites the proximity of the two, though it then quotes Jennings as saying the city had been looking at making the move towards enforcement and restriction for the last couple years.

It’s not just idle talk. I heard rumblings about the restrictions coming down ever since similar rules were instituted for the free “Alive at 5″ summer concert series. If the Kegs and Eggs Riots did anything at all, it was only to confirm to Albany officials that what had been previously discussed as a strong possibility was now a no-brainer. It’s only natural when a festival gets large enough – particularly one that’s free and open to the public – for these sort of restrictions to be implemented. Attendance and rowdiness has exploded in the last five to ten years, creating concern for the surrounding neighborhoods left with the mess and victimized by some of the more violent and disruptive behavior exhibited at the Festival, not allof which is reported. For every Albany cop hit by a beer bottle, there are many more that barring injury simply rush to get away from the scene.

Image via Wikipedia

I met a female friend of mine one year near Lark Street. When she approached me, she was visibly shaken and relayed a story of having been cornered by a group of inebriated men who refused to allow her to pass. After they insisted on trying to talk to and touch her, she had to physically shove one of them in order to get away. Physically, she was unharmed; emotionally, the scars were visible. She’d been traumatized by the incident, which hadn’t happened in previous years, and spoke then and well after of how it had broken the level of trust she had in the city, particularly during events such as the Tulip Festival.

Was her experience an anomaly? Perhaps, given those specific circumstances. However, it’s fairly representative of an overall shift in tone over the last decade from a family friendly festival to a rowdy adult party. This is due in part to the emphasis put on the free concert portion of the event and a growing population at area Festivals of twenty-somethings with little to do and even less responsibilities.

There are two truths that need to be acknowledged if we’re going to discuss this like adults: this festival always and will continue to strive to be a family-friendly event, and this isn’t a big issue for you unless you had planned on being disruptively drunk during the proceedings. Inconveniences may be encountered if you want to drink, since tents tend to be crowded, hot, and uncomfortable, particularly with impatient drunks herded in like so much cattle. There are simple solutions, though: go to a bar (it’s right on Lark Street after all), or pre-game at a nearby apartment or your own home. It is unfortunate that restrictions are needed to protect the many responsible citizens from a few reckless ne’er do wells. However, if it allows people to enjoy the event with their children and ensure their safety without having to avoid a large portion of the city, then I’m all for it. Some have been able to do so in recent years, but for every family that has there are many more that have avoided the festival entirely because of the general atmosphere and reputation it had garnered. Despite what some have tried to turn Tulip Fest into, that’s not its stated aim and objective.

There are so many opportunities in this area for people to drink in excess (Troy in particular needs another bar like it needs a bullet in the head) that I think we, as adults, can stand having to curb our drinking for one weekend in May…on Mother’s Day no less. It’s not all that out of the ordinary that changes occur when a festival gets too big for its own good and especially for the city’s resources, and it’s not unreasonable for the city to enforce pre-existing laws.

Reaction to the decision may say more about not only the climate of the region after last month’s situation in the Pine Hills neighborhood, but also those who are reacting so loudly and negatively to something that is, in the context of the Festival and its stated aims and objectives, a no-brainer.

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