Opening soon

The tail end of September also saw my first visit to Cinqhole, the venue formally known as General Assembly. It's being managed by some of the folks from Black Squirrel Books and Ottawa Showbox, and has gained a new coat of white paint. To exploit said coat of paint the members of Stoby donned white environment suits and had members of the audience write on them. Here's Maryse and Kevin!



Percussive action with Jesse!



Bass action with Rick!



Gripping action!



Artistic action!



Guitar action with Kevin!



Rick sings!



Rick's body is a canvas.



Singalong action!



Bonus Kevin!



There were, of course, other acts: West Coasters Necking and Woolworm were also on hand to put on a pair of killer sets. Here's some singalong action with Woolworm's Heather and Giles!



Guitar action with Alex!



Nick hits!



Extra Giles!



Bonus Alex!



Wooly action!



Necking put on a super-energetic set. Here's Hannah on the mic!



Melissa hits!



Guitar action with Nada!



Extra Hannah (and a blurry Sonya on bass).



More Nada!



Bendy action!



Necking action!



Singalong action!



Non-blurry action!



More Melissa!



Extra Necking!



Hair-tossing action!



A really great night.

Evening improvisation

Last year I went to General Assembly for a great show by Horseman Pass By, where they opened for Vampire Belt, the duo of Bill Nace and Chris Corsano. HPB had their excellent new record All Curses Are Mirrors there, but it wasn't quite an album release show. The honest-to-goodness record release show happened May 24, again at General Assembly, with excellent opening sets from Kee Avil and Elms, who started things off. Here's Alex of Elms, a man with an admitted fondness for Scott Walker (he covered Farmer In The City).



Alex sings!



And so on!



On to Kee Avil, who does things with a guitar and voice and unconventional song structure.



Kee sings!



There's a pedal down there.



Horseman, Pass By played another super set. Here's Bennett on drums!



Mark prepares to adjust.



Fisheye action!



Mallet action!



Bowed action!



Passing action!



Cymbal action!



Fine sets from everyone!

Twisting and winding

I hit the road to Hintonburg last week for a show at General Assembly; the garage turned art space was hosting a show on the experimental side, with Bill Nace and Chris Corsano, a.k.a. Vampire Belt, and Horseman, Pass By. HPB is the work of local avant-gardists Mark Molnar and Bennett Bedoukian. Here's Mark on cello!



Bennett adjusts!



More Mark!



Extra Bennett!



On to Vampire Belt; last time I saw Chris Corsano, he was accompanying Bill Orcutt at Raw Sugar (Mark Molnar was on that bill, too). This time his accomplice is Bill Nace, who like Corsano has worked with a slew of other artists in the improv-experimental-avant-garde sphere. Hes probably best known for his recent work with Kim Gordon of Sonic Youth in Body/Heat. Here's Chris!



And here's Bill.



The whole lot!



More Chris!



Extra Bill!



Guitar shaking action!



A really extraordinary show from both acts.