thirteen ways

8bb’s concert at Kennesaw State University was part of the first season in the university’s brand new Bailey Performance Center. Quite an honor.

The hall is a true “multi-function hall,” with lots of movable acoustic curtains and panels and bells and whistles. That sort of choice is more than our fragile and intense artistic minds can deal with, so we just, well, sort of pretended that we didn’t have a choice. “Um, so…the panels are all fixed in place, meaning that we can’t make cripplingly subtle and complex decisions about their placement? Great!!”

Another thing that our prima donna-sized egos had trouble with was the distinct possibility that we would be upstaged by our star pre-concert lecturer, Macarthur “genius grant” recipient Alex Ross. At the end of his fascinating talk, during which he layed out the history and techniques of Steve Reich’s unique brand of minimalism, Ross did a dangerous thing: he incited violent revolution. Referencing an event that took place at the premiere of Reich’s Four Organs in the 70s, he encouraged audience members at our concert to “come up to the front, bang your shoe on the stage and yell, ‘Make it stop!’” 

Below, he may look mild-mannered, but his words have power:

Backstage, during our pre-show callisthenics, Bobby Asher, manager of the hall, was talking to us about the Grateful Dead’s fans:

“They have the ‘Dead-heads’, so why shouldn’t eighth blackbird have a fancy name for their fans. Um, how about the ‘Blackheads’?”

“The…BLACKHEADS!?”

Bobby, we appreciate your creativity, and it is true that the constant bird metaphors do sometimes grate, but naming our fans after a “yellowish or blackish bump or plug on the skin” seems a little odd. 

I’d like to second Matt’s endorsement of Bailey’s crack team of administrators. David, Bobby, Lindsey – you’re awesome, and you did a bang-up, fully professional job of feeding, watering and generally tolerating 8bb and our mannerisms.

Oh, and on behalf of 8bb’s “Beer o’clock” team, I’d like to endorse the amazing list of brews on tap at the oddly named Taco Mac (perhaps their specialty should have been mac ‘n’ cheese wrapped in a taco?). Ratings? Atmosphere: zero. Food: zero. Clientele (drunk frat blokes): zero. Beer: five out of five stars. The Phot: “Um, I just realized that I’ve been here three times in 24 hours.”

Kennesaw itself is an odd place. Feeling more like a suburb of Atlanta than a town with its own personality, it has grown enormously as a result of recent (and significant) urban sprawl. Alex Ross remarked that everything looks like it was built in the past year, and that includes much of the university.

Below, a shot from our surprisingly well-attended (although perhaps not voluntarily – I did see an attendance roll being marked…) masterclass. The Alb offers his wisdom: