Guy Named Josh [Heirloom Arts Center: Danbury, Connecticut]
I took the long road out of Boston with an old Olympus SLR to my small woodland Connecticut town on December 19th. In my month home, despite numerous episodes of extreme boredom, anxiety, and coughing fits, I narrowly managed to get out to some shows and take some pictures.
For a long time there was a very small venue in Danbury, Connecticut with very high ceilings known as the Empress Ballroom. Touring pop-punk and screamo bands made frequent appearances but very very infrequently played to a crowd larger than fifteen or twenty kids. Eventually the Empress Ballroom went under and is in the process of becoming the Heirloom Arts Center. When completed the Arts Center will be home to art shows, concerts, foreign and limited film screenings and a complete bar. At this point though, the place is quite literally under construction. The owner, being friends with a number of people from the Tape Reels For Eyes art collective allowed them to put on an experimental noise show in the midst of rebuilding the space.
I walked into the future space of the Heirloom Arts Center to the smell of stale cigarette smoke and electronic beeps and blips emanating from a pair of speakers sandwiching a man with a microphone and an old suitcase full of wires and audio equipment. It became quickly apparent that the only instrument was the man’s vocals being layered, cut, split, looped and completely abliterated by the dozen or so effect pedals. It was certainly noise by definition, but it was so sharp, coherent and mind-numbing. I quickly snapped a picture [above] of my friend watching the action in front of him in the dark, taking advantage the new flash I had just hooked up… and had neglected to sync. One fucked up photo later we were talking to the man who suddenly had a name: Josh. Josh went to NYU and explained that this was his first time performing his stuff without two drummers. I need to see this. Now.
