the red hook
Brian & George's Ukrainian Odyssey #3, page 10
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Mecha Sonic Sessions 2 - music, industrial noise, and fire
H
by Michael Cobb
ave you ever seen a man play an umbrella under an iron horse? Neither had I, until I attended Mecha Sonic Sessions 2 at an undisclosed location in deep Gowanus.
On Saturday, May 21 I went beyond Smith and 9th streets. Across from Bayside Fuel and a metal scrap yard stands an innocuous looking cinderblock building near Hamilton Parkway. A bohemian crowd hung around outside chatting, smoking, and waiting for the show to begin. Passing through an iron door I entered an underworld full of music, industrial noise, and fire.
With 40 performers and 20 acts, it’s challenging to summarize, but in essence Mecha Sonic is a melding of jazz, powertools, and pyrotechnics in a carefully crafted series of avante garde works orchestrated with classical precision and stunning theatricality. The show pushes the boundaries of multiple art forms and results in an experience that is exciting, surprising, thrilling, and at times even a bit dangerous. During one act alone, I witnessed Dalius Naujo conduct an orchestra of three baritone saxophones (Dave Sewelson, Lathan Hardy, and Stefan Zeniuk), trumpet, and tuba backed by a Tom Waitsian junkyard band clanging
off kilter rhythms on pots, pans, and an oil drum while a 500,000 volt Tesla coil crackled lightning blue bolts of electricity over the whirring of circular saws and the alarming whistle of a huge acetylene tank that shot 15 foot flames inside the massive industrial space. Fire and the fear of being blown to bits generated enough heat to make me break a sweat.
Other highlights included sultry singer Sage Sovereign descending stairs with a fiery crown backed by the snaking, swinging sounds of early 20th century New Orleanian jazz. An expert fire eater, Sovereign later extinguished flaming wands down her throat. It should be noted that the producers took precaution by having a fire crew and EMTs on site. The aforementioned “umbrellist” Ken Butler played a mind boggling array of homemade instruments including two hockey sticks and a tennis racket, a broom, a fishing pole and badminton racket, a balloon, a sword, a knife, and finally the umbrella, proving that while almost anything can be strung, it takes a genius to conceive and realize these mad, surrealistic visions.
(continued on page 16)
Calabrese's court goes back live
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by Brian Abate
ed Hook’s Community Justice Center has been an important part of the neighborhood since opening on Visitation Place in 2000. I had the opportunity to get a tour of the Center and speak to Judge Alex Calabrese, attorney Edna McGoldrick, and Director of Housing and Civil Justice, Ross Joy. I got to witness some of the housing court cases that took place at the Justice Center, including one involving a woman from the Red Hook Houses, who has had a broken shower for more than six months. Another case involved a woman whose stove that has not worked for more than three months. “I want to make sure that everyone knows they should come to us if they’re having a problem like this,” Calabrese said. “I know a lot of people worry about coming to court but they’re entitled to the repairs. Unfortunately, it tends to be a long drawn out process but we’ll make sure the repairs get done.” Calabrese has even visited some apartments that aren’t getting needed repairs in a timely fashion in order to try to speed up the process. One of the biggest obstacles for the Justice Center during the last couple of years has been adjusting to virtual court and dealing with the many challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. “To call it a challenge for us, is an understatement,” McGoldrick said. “We had been doing things in person for so long and it’s a huge change and adjustment. Today, one person was holding their camera while walking and he couldn’t hear us well and the moving camera was making me dizzy. I’m a bit old-fash-
(continued on page 5)
Industrial noise and fire in Gowanus. Photo by David Siffert
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