Au Revoir SITE

5:30 p.m.- Lumenhouse

It was the concept that drew me to The Liar Show. Four writers and comedians tell hilarious narratives. Three are completely true. One is a straight-up lie. After the stories are heard, audience members interrogate the performers and the one to expose the fraud wins a prize.



At Lumenhouse on Sunday, the storytellers were Ophira Eisenberg, Jim O'Grady, Daisy Rosario, Carter Edwards, and Andy Christie. Each story was absorbing and absurd in its own way. I listened to descriptions of dinner conversations, awkward sexual encounters and drug experimentations. The interrogation process with the audience was equally amusing, but did little to illuminate who was telling the truth. These performers are skilled in the art of deception.

I wasn’t aware of The Liar Show before they came to SITE fest, but the performance moves around to many other New York venues, with a rotating cast. The next Liar show is March 18th at Comix (http://www.comixny.com/).


7 p.m.-ION Sound

I’m a sucker for many things--Alliterative song titles, chocolate truffles, most things (and people) that are French, and anything that reminds me of Back To The Future. The latter was the reason I got psyched to see Love Like Deloreans (http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=285688076) play at Blue Monday, even though I had yet to hear their music, and had no way of ensuring they were, in fact, referring to the film and not just the car.

The SITE map said they sounded like “a submarine ride on Europa and the best prom night ever.” It was right on point.



Some people can listen to electronic music all the time. I only enjoy it under certain substances. Somehow, I enjoyed the Deloreans set in a state of relative sobriety. I think this means they were pretty good. Not a band I would put on my Ipod but, “Electronic/Country/Club” music is not really my thing.

They should make soundtracks for video games.



My experience at SITE was very refreshing. ION Sound, in particular, confirmed that I am not entirely music-pretentious. I enjoyed almost all of the music I saw at Blue Monday, which is an awesome bar unto itself.



I’m going back on Saturday to relive my love for Ava Luna. It will also help me pretend that SITE fest isn’t over (I don’t want to say goodbye!).

-Hannah Miet

Desperately Seeking SITE

7 p.m. - CROWD Reading Series (http://www.crowdyourself.blogspot.com/)

On the walk over to Café Orwell (http://bushwickbk.com/2008/12/19/cafe-orwell-opens-in-morgantown/), I ran into a couple with SITE map in hand, looking for something to do. When I told them I was going to a poetry reading, they shook their heads firmly in unison.

“I have nothing against poetry, per say,” said the woman. “It’s just that bad poetry is the worst art form imaginable.”
I can’t help but share this sentiment. A bad painting, you can look away from. A bad film, you can laugh at. But the inescapable horror of having to sit through a bad poem will stick in your system.

This is what I discussed with Daniel while we waited for CROWD to begin. “Poetry and music,” he said “are the two art forms where the bad significantly outweighs the good.”

Lucky for us, Bill Rasmovicz read that night, a poet who happens to fit the slim categories of unpretentious and “good.” There was also a lot of free wine, which facilitated our enjoyment of his words.



“I swallowed the black pill of childhood” (http://billrasmovicz.blogspot.com/2007/06/newish-poem.html) was my favorite. His book, The World In Place of Itself (Alice James Books, 2007) has several other poems with equally awesome titles, like “RULES FOR A SEMI-AUSPICIOUS LIFE” and “PORTRAIT OF THE MAN TRYING TO SHED ENOUGH MASS TO FLY.”

10:30 p.m.-The Brooklyn What (http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=98392540) took their shirts off on stage, as they played their first song “I don’t Want to go to Williamsburg.”




I can’t really think of a better introduction to IOSOUND, the music component of SITE, held at Goodbye Blue Monday (www.goodbye-blue-monday.com/).

I will let this video speak for itself :



12 a.m. -The Rhodes (http://www.myspace.com/therhodesmusic) appeared to be your run-of-the-mill band still wearing ties and riding The Strokes’ wave. But appearances can be deceiving.



Their punchy songs like “Call me” and “Shakedown” had a ‘50s spin that wasn’t trying too hard, and convinced me they could actually play their instruments pretty damn well. However, it was their cover of Amy Winehouse’s “You Know I’m No Good” that truly won me over.

12:30 a.m.-Ava Luna (http://www.myspace.com/avalunaband) are my new obsession.



Frontman Carlos Hernandez’s lyrics are backed up by three females with gospel-like voices: Felicia Douglass, Mira Leytes, and the truly soulful Siheun Song. Add Alex Smith on drums and Nathan Thompkins on synthesizer, and you get one of the most unique cross-genre bands I have seen in a long time.

Ava Luna are back at Blue Monday on Saturday the 14th, at 9 p.m., so you should check them out (i.e. fall in love with them).



Bushwick is an obvious location for an art festival. It is the home of factories remodeled into artists lofts, innovative street art, hipster house parties, and arguably the most plentiful number of three piece bands to come out of a single neighborhood (other than Williamsburg). And, oh yeah, there’s also those people that originally lived there.

I approached SITE fest void of expectation, so as not to be disappointed by stodgy sonnets or bands that have mastery over two power chords (and not much else). But from what I saw on Saturday, the festival, unlike music and poetry as a whole, has a favorable good-to-bad ratio.

Bushwick, I’m impressed.

-Hannah Miet