If you don’t hang out much with the punk crowd, going to some basement shows can feel like stumbling upon a long lost tribe. People in cut up jean shorts and sleeveless t-shirts gather to take part in holy rituals at houses like the Alamo as if they were hollowed temples. Every inch of the walls is covered in the sacred images of DIY band posters, makeshift artwork, and oversized reprints of Ziggy cartoons.

Finding a basement show in New Brunswick takes some couth. It’s like the line in Swingers “You tell a chick you’ve been some place, it’s like bragging that you know how to find it.” The speakeasy romanticism of the whole local scene is its exclusivity, the delightful feeling you’re getting away with something the outside world wouldn’t understand.

Again the embrace: a makeshift circle,
guitar wire scratch, the plucking of strings.
Earlier you asked me why I grow so
quiet with the music of friends.

Recently I met the band Big Fat Marker at a basement show in New Brunswick. I was so impressed by the fluidity of their sound and the chemistry between the band members that I felt obliged to say a few words about what I heard.

Collaborative Arts (coLAB Arts) is a non-profit organization located in New Brunswick, NJ, dedicated to the development and presentation of emerging local artists. coLAB Arts’ mission is to cultivate a hip, mindful, and inclusive Hub City community of artists, audiences, and critics, empowered to create inspired and inspiring art.

November 13th, 2010 – “Mike Gyampo’s Open Studio” – Featuring LIVE African music
Drum Ensemble
Saxophone – James Roy
Gyembe – Zanne Morris
Gyembe – Ronald Staley
Bangos – Melvin Patterson
Junju & Talking Drum – Mike Gyampo
Don’t miss an opportunity to meet the artist responsible for the thought-provoking sculptures and paintings currently on display at the gallery and, as a bonus, enjoy quality music, too! Click here for more information on Mike Gyampo’s solo exhibition.
(click here to learn more …

Whatever one may say, it is impossible to deny the power of music to make humans feel emotion. Even if one is personally unable to feel a connection to specific instances of sound, that person, at the same time, would readily admit that others seem connected to it. How does music, these arbitrary arrangements of patterns of sound, elicit these feelings of connectedness from us?

José, I am helplessly hypnotized by the sound of your voice, so soft, inviting, and majestic. Your fingers move ever so swiftly, and with such dexterity across the strings of your guitar. My eyes close, my head weakens, and I fall into my chair. The poetry echoing from your vocal chords is intense, overwhelming, and terribly soothing. My limbs grow numb as the melody escapes through the speakers.
I embrace your ability to blend beauty and sadness in your verses. Your compelling images and rhymes are embodied in your lyrics. …

When I think of “a rock band’s lead singer and his house,” I imagine a big house in the hills surrounded by other towering houses with a Cadillac parked in the driveway. However, as I pull up to the Kenneys’ place, home of the lead singer of A Clear Blurr, I see no mansions and certainly no hills. Tom Kenney’s house is on a dead end of a street with neighbors whose houses hardly resemble mansions and whose cars all look to have been made before I was born.

The Johnsonville Press Daily Edition
Today’s Submission by: Matia Guardabascio
1. Recommendation of the Day:  Check out “The Wanderer Sessions” from Pollifax. If you want to hear some quality, spur of the moment live music from some local musicians, and from musicians passing through New Brunswick, then you want to hear this shit. I am personally very impressed with the quality of the music and the way in which Kevin frames it in the videos. “The Wanderer Sessions” does a great job showcasing the good, young talent in and around Rutgers and …