The exclusionary speakeasy vibe combined with the visual and aural art on display and the fab crowd to make for a very cool event Saturday night, when Arboretum and The Expotentials played the Granfalloon.  More details follow after the jump.

This cooperative venue was decorated for the evening with art — lithographs, photographs, and ambient light boxes crafted from wood and textile fabric — by three local artists.  The artists and crowd were generally young, but not too young, so that what with the kegs of beer provided for a moderate fee to guests who were also welcome to bring their own whatever they might bring, the atmosphere was of the hippest fraternity party ever.

Arboretum came on at some point after midnight to cover The Velvet Underground’s “Sister Ray” without vocals.  This was a punk jam for those who hate jam bands, winding four bars tight and refusing to let them go.  Did they make it last for fifteen, twenty minutes, or more?  I cannot be sure.  Like Aldous Huxley said during the mescaline trip that became “The Doors of Perception,” there seemed to be plenty of time.  It just became an irrelevant concept, beyond a certain point when it became clear that, yes, they were actually doing what they were doing.

Next The Expotentials came on and played one of their predictably solid sets, but with a new element.  I have written on here about them several times.  Probably too many times, so I will not review this show in detail.  However, I have to tell you that this minimalist two-piece has added a third member, who on Saturday only played organ, filling out the bass.  The Expotentials experiment last summer with Big In Japan showed that, as amazing as their drums-and-guitar alchemy can be, their songs do benefit from more lush treatment.  The new member’s contributions will expand in the future, to include bass guitar and vocals.  Presumably forthcoming compositions will evolve with this new dynamic.

Sorry to be such a tease, but although this a great location I want you to know about, I just can’t tell you where it is.  It exists by and for a large group of friends in Baltimore, many of whom create art and all of whom live artistic lives.  They welcome new friends.  May you join them if you wish.

Schedule

Thursday

8-9pm, The Free Your Mind Experience, hosted by Nat Burnz

Friday

10pm-12am, In The Studio, hosted by DeWayne Alston

Saturday

7-9pm, The DJ Mr. E Show, hosted by Eric Whitehead
10pm-12am, Soul Sessions, hosted by DeWayne Alston

Sunday

10am-12pm, Coffee w/ Catalina, hosted by Catalina Byrd
8-10pm, On The Soapboxx w/ Mina Holladay

Nina Diaz is perhaps the most compelling front I’ve ever seen.  She is effortlessly sensual.  Flirting with and teasing the audience between songs is beneath her.  She lets her singing and playing take care of that, and bassist Jenn takes care of most of the between-song banter.  Others have already compared Nina’s voice to Morrissey’s, and they do so validly, but one hears elements of many singers in her style, including Nina’s boss, Joan Jett — Girl In A Coma are the flagship band of Blackheart Records.

Praising Nina’s singing too much obscures the fact hat she is a damn good guitarist.  Unlike the frontmen of many “punk” bands (I’m looking at you, Billy Joe Armstrong) who only play rhythm, Nina probably leads with her guitar more than her voice.  Nina’s deftness on her instrument is part of why I feel that calling this band a punk act sells them short, and I love punk.

Anyone who has read a few of my reviews knows that I am a sucker for a good cover.  Excellent musicians playing a faithful cover is always nice, but I prefer a creative cover that provides a band to demonstrate its unique set of skills with familiar material.  As such, Girl In A Coma’s cover of The Velvet Underground’s “Femme Fatale” was a revelation.  One one level it was almost too obvious:  a dangerously alluring young woman singing about a dangerously alluring young woman.  But “Femme Fatale” is a sweeping, lyrical piece and VU was a proto-punk outfit.  The song is kind of a contradiction, since no punk band following the Velvets could ever really cover it.  So how do you make it a punk song:  of course, you just play “Waiting For the Man” but sing “Femme Fatale.”  I don’t have an ear for purcussion to say what Phanie was doing back there on her kit, but Nina and Jenn were playing “Waiting For the Man” while Nina also authoritatively belted out “Femme Fatale.”  May they please lay down a recording soon, because I need to hear it over and over again.

First, since this was my first trip to the fairly new Windup Space, I need to tell you about the venue.  The Windup Space is located on North Avenue near Charles Street in what is known as the Station North Arts District, where city and state governments have encouraged artsy development to counter decades of blight to what was clearly once a lovely bourgeois neighborhood.  Now businesses such as the Windup Space and Joe Squared have become favored hipster gathering places.

The Windup Space has jumped to near the top of my list of favorite places to catch a show.  It is one single, fairly large, warm and inviting room.  The club advertises itself as an arts space and bar, and its primary decor consists of an art exhibit.  The work currently on display is a series (or multiple series) of abstract paintings by Allyn and Ed Harris.  A vast and fantastic landscape over the bar held my attention as I sipped a few very reasonably-priced ($3-$5) cocktails pre-show.

First Matt and Chuck, the Expotentials, took the stage for a set.  I wrote a fawning review of them a few months back, so there is no need to describe them in detail here, except to say that they are amazing.  They included a couple of new songs that display Matt’s voice better, but I still like them best when they thrash.

Then Big In Japan played a set.  Based on the samples on their MySpace I was expecting an experience as if Ornette Coleman formed a punk band.  Instead I felt like I was seeing Coldplay in a small club.  That may be the backhanded compliment it sounds like, but I mean that Big In Japan sounds like Coldplay when they remind me of Radiohead, not U2.  In the tradition of prog, glam, and Brit punk, Big In Japan is as much an art project as a band.  Their music as an ethereal quality, complemented by Mike’s drums and James’ bass, but carried primarily by Matt Pierce’s keyboards, flute, heavily digitally affected vocals, and MacBook Pro.  They moved from graceful ambient numbers to more rocking stuff, and back.

For the next stretch of the evening, Matt Naas of the Expotentials returned to the stage and the new assemblage alternated between Big In Japan compositions and Expotentials songs.  While I lack the perspective to adequately express what Matt N. added to Matt P.’s songs, it was really interesting to hear Expotentials songs in this way.  Their aesthetic is normally so bare, but here the songs were rendered lush.  I could not tell if Mike was really dialing back the percussive intensity or if there was just less space for him to fill with bombast, and I felt the same about Matt N.’s vocals.  Matt P.’s keys shared lead with Matt N.’s guitars and gave the imression that they belonged there.  As much as I love blues/punk minimalism, James reminded me that the bass guitar exists for a reason.  As Matt N. noted between songs, the members of Big in Japan really made his songs sound good.

This collaborative project concluded the evening with covers of The Who’s “Magic Bus,” ELO’s “Don’t Bring Me Down,” and the Beatles’ “Helter Skelter.”  An additional guitarist took the stage, while Chuck declined an invitation to come up and find something to hit, content to enjoy the show with the rest of the crowd.  Considering what I perceive as the headiness of this show, the gang delightfully built their version of “Magic Bus” around a Bo Diddley beat.  As they extended it into a jam, I felt compelled to add the chorus of Mr. Diddley’s eponymous tune.  The final two tunes were simultaneously as intense, beautiful, and fun as intelligent rock should be.  “Helter Skelter” featured all the organized chaos of the version on the White Album.

The entire program felt less like a rock show and more like a dissertation on the subject of what rock can be, and the Windup Space was the perfect venue for it.

Will we sing “Unhappy Birthday” to Morrissey?  Yeah, probably.

Oh, and The Baltimore Sun finally decided that this story is worthy of their attention.

I think it is possible that the Planning Commission will decide to just scrap the bill, since its scope has been scaled back so significantly.  As I understand, this is essentially the same thing that happened in Seattle, a city that the Council was holding up as an example just last month, apparently unaware that Seattle decided that requiring venues to apply for licenses was not in its city’s best interest.  However, I won’t speculate any further, at least until the council publishes the next revision of the bill, which they promise by Wednesday; I expect to declare this a bill under which every venue I care about can operate.

The transparent process has been amazing to witness, but frustrating for everyone.  The council’s staff had copies of two different revisions of of the bill layed out on the reception table, until a staffer took the older one away.  Many of the people who testified had come to ask specifically about clauses of the bill that have been theoretically removed, but which were in the most recently-printed version of the bill, which was available at the hearing and is still on the Council’s website as I type this.

Brian Shupe, owner of the 8×10 in Federal Hill, nearby the site of tonight’s meeting, was the last to testify, which he did in an almost Pentacostal sense of the word.  He declared himself a convert, a man who so recently felt persecuted by the City Council but who now pledges his support to help the council finish perfecting the legislation.  He was schocked that Mme. President Rawlings-Blake pledges to grandfather venues such as his into the new order, calling it “a huge concesion for her” when I spoke to him after the hearing.  At the first Community Work Session, Rawlings-Blake insisted that current venues would have to apply for licenses, reapply annually, and pay fees each time, although she insisted that a good track record should alleviate any threat of having the board restrict the operation of any existing club.  When she asked Michael Bowen of the Ottobar at the second Community Work Session how long he felt existing clubs should be grandfathered licenses, he said they should get one in perpetuity.  Then at the third session she announced an amendment that would give existing venues a special 3-year license.  When BLABA club owners testified at that meeting that such an olive branch was nice but insufficient, she responded Thursday by exempting them entirely.