electro shock therapy

...wound up being a boss little gathering. the penthouse of the electric building is a cool little space (three floors, with a vertigo-inducing ladder to the roof that rod dove's crew thankfully cordoned off). the bands were set up in a converted water tank, with wizard o' sound andre edmonson mixing sound from outside on the patio, where brandon jones was spinning records. sherry star's video installation was running on the bottom floor, below the landing where jem rodriguez and his nephews from austin set up the bar. jem's 49th birthday is coming up 12.13 and i told him i'd come see him at embargo on the 11th (his last workday before then). jerral sustaita's big canvases of jfk/oswald images dominated the hallways. ray liberio was selling pussyhouse propaganda coloring books while calvin abucejo was a.w.o.l. camping. their new piece, the oil-on-panel "i think i've seen too much", featured allusions to hitchcock's psycho and north by northwest. best in show imo were phil hemsley's mcdubya and especially "ever see a hot shot hit, kid?", but it wasn't really an art-buying crowd. shuttle, a new band including matt skates, scott ivey, james norris, and a dude i don't know on tables, played a rhythmically complex trip-hop. john shook said he'd turned down a money gig with dirty pool (who apparently have a hookup to play baker street pubs an' like that, as well as a new cd) to perform with top secret. shook's still jammin' with lee allen at fonky fred's and lola's (which i'll keep calling 6th street live until brian changes the sign), even playing a show at the blue grotto -- you know, the place next door to sardines that used to be saloui's -- on a bill with rivercrest yacht club). i got to sit in with top secret, as did justin pate. i hope i didn't mess up their groove too much. turan, the band formerly known as sleeplab (before they booted out leader/founder jeff arsenault) was supposed to play after that and fern palomo was in the house, but my sweetie and i headed for la casa to let our new kitten out of "house arrest." hopefully the folks who put this evening together did well enough to wanna do another event.