If I knew before hand that I was going to be spending an hour waiting in line in the cold at a chinese buffet parking lot in Queens, I probably would have stayed on my side of the river. The Front Bottoms at Maxwell's would have been a better option. I have only myself to blame.
A quick scan of twitter on Saturday confirmed what I thought best described the effort of the Todd P corporation in staging a show at the K & K Super Buffet in Ridgewood, Queens (or K Supe Fett). The word was "Clusterfuck" -- emphasis on fuck. First off, there's nothing super about a buffet. They are disgusting by nature and frequented by people with weight problems. Let's not even think about the sanitary conditions.
The show was advertised as 8pm. Whether it was doors or first band goes on, that wasn't made clear. I wanted to be there in time to see The Babies. I figured 9pm would be safe. I get there, I see the doors aren't even open and the line is about 200 strong already. By 9:30, still no doors and the line had made a complete circle around the parking lot. It was at least a tolerable cold, with no wind. By 10pm, the line was moving, but obviously, not at a rapid pace since there were no tickets issued.
I get inside and there's still food in the buffets. More than anything, it's already crowded and people looked confused. I knew it was only going to get worse. I see people grabbing plates and filling them up. I'm sure they paid for it.
Quickly realizing that there's no good place to stand, I stake a spot out by the kitchen door. My thinking was when a fire breaks out, I can make a quick exit. Or, when the cops come to see what capacity violations are being broken, I can sneak out.
There was just no place to see anything, and I can tell it was going to sound like crap. Call me a music snob, but when I go to a concert, I kind of want to hear music and see the band. The novelty of seeing a band in a chinese restaurant wore off quickly. I know that this is what DIY concert promoting is all about, but come on now. If you want to be wacky, have it at a Chuck-E-Cheese, like the one on Flatbush Ave. At least they have a proper stage and better balloons.
Eventually, all the food was taken away, but those buffet tables were there to stay. The actual stage area at the back of the restuarant wasn't much bigger than a normal sized living room, with booths on both sides. Thus, people crammed into the restaurant. You had a long-ass line to get cans of beer. Another for the bathroom. You just couldn't walk anywhere without having to say "Excuse me" 17 times in a row.
At the top of my list of complaints, the first act, Dogleather, didn't start until around 10:30pm. By 12:30, Black Dice were about two sings in and I was falling asleep. Thus, I never made it to see Real Estate. I had to split. Somebody said between acts, "There's going to be an after-party at such-such until 4am." I said, "I don't think Real Estate will be done by 4am. They might not even go on by then."
I wish I had some things to say about the music, but, like I said, the conditions and settings were not optimal for my music pleasure. What I can say is Dogleather were unbearable. It was some Dan Deacon-type person doing whiteboy raps over distorted sample loops. Once in a while, you come across an act that is awful, but they think they can play as long as they want because they think they are awesome. Dogleather was like that, and the crowd surfing made them look desperate.
On the other, The Babies are my type of music. This is the local band featuring Cassie Ramone of Vivian Girls and Kevin Morby of Woods. They play straight-up 60s garage rock in the Black Lips vein.
Black Dice I can appreciate for about 20 minutes, then I just want them to move on. They've been doing the same experimental noise sound for over a decade now, and I get it. It's random, different and they have a small following. They've put out so much material, that it's hard to follow. Plus, I have only a passing knowledge of them.
It sucks that I didn't last to see Real Estate, because they put out an amazing album last year. Give them time and they'll be THE indie band that everyone and your friends will listen to years to come. They'll be around again I'm sure.
Here's what photos I did take, and you can see it was dopey idea.
