atp pt 1 pt 2 - corrections, additions, edits...

so i made a bunch of errors and omissions in the first post about atp. so i will fix them this way instead of just going in and editing.

1. The biggest being that, for some reason, at least on the two main days (so not the "don't look back" day) the had this weird notion of kicking EVERYONE out of the room where the bands were playing, ostensibly for setup and soundcheck, though there was some speculation that it was also so everyone could get a chance to get up front... they mostly gave this up by the time dinosaur jr went on on the MBV curated day, but still.

should have been clearer. for some reason, between bands, they (the organizers? kutchers?) decided it would be good to have the security folks - who were in their own way kind of awesome, and as alan sparhawk said during low's performance, probably didn't know what to make of all the white people (seriously, the looks on their faces during MBV's 25 minutes of feedback was one of utter bewilderment) - make everyone leave the room and stand outside. when we first had to do this before low, it was sort of like, oh, well... ok... but then after low it just got more crazy. it kind of reached a header on day 2 when, after mercury rev went on and everyone was pushed out to the waiting area, there was a lot of mutinous talk and riotous behavior, ultimately surrendering shortly after and letting the majority of people stay in (though, if you left you had to wait, and there was something about no professional cameras, which also seemed to get mostly ignored). honestly, i have never been to a concert of any sort where they have done this - i'm sure they had reasons, and yes, on stage 2 due to the intimacy of the space and the fact that the audience was two feet from the stage, i can see how maybe letting the bands soundcheck to an empty room made sense. they still did it on stage 2 (we had to wait outside the room for gemma hayes on day 2) so i don't know... seems to be something they could have handled a lot better.

2. also, they really should have had a bigger, more open (ie not a sealed off little room, that smelled of BO, and also... well... actually open during the operating hours of the show).

so the merch area didn't open at all the first day. they had a wooden dividing wall closing off one corner of the main floor of Kutcher's, and a locked door. this befuddled many, including a few bands (thurston moore seemed slightly confused, built to spill seemed practically offended they couldn't get in). it eventually seemed to open, where we each got ATP t shirts, MBV shirts and a neat print. but it was just too small a space for the amount of people going through. the second day, we tried in vain to get some more stuff - we wanted to look at the mogwai shirts and a few other things - but it was too cramped and smelly to really bother.

3. a little about the venue.

i can't believe i forgot to mention the venue, which while certainly not in its heyday (as a lot of artists made reference to, it was once a pretty swinging place, where comedians like jackie mason made the crowds go wild. the village voice seemed to say it best:

Let's start with the Kutsher's Country Club lobby. The walls are the color of salmon. The carpet: salmon catfood. Around one corner, there's an air hockey table. Around another, a department-store-style glass-display counter promises Mary Kay-style make-up demonstrations twice a day. This afternoon, a woman who looked like Delta Burke’s great aunt was seated behind the case, though she had no customers—the art-rock sojourners here are far more interested in stocking up on Budweiser cases for tonight's post-rock summer-camp festivities than discovering the perfect grandmotherly blush. They're also interested in Steve Albini, who last night ran a poker game in the "Executive Card Room" and just now walked by with a small digi-camera crew in tow.

Kutscher's isn't just ATP's lodging—the main stage is just past the make-up counter. ATP founder Barry Hogan wasn't kidding when he described Kutsher's Country ClubThe Shining meets Cocoon. “I keep expecting to walk into one of these rooms and seeing a dude in a bear suit blowing a guy in the bed,” Patton Oswalt joked last night on Stage 2. The hallways seem to go on forever, the adjacent “lake” cries out for Jason Voorhees, and I think I can hear Edith from Grey Gardens voice in the bathroom. “Every room smells like a fart gave up,” said Patton last night. That time, he wasn't kidding. as

some pictures of the "lake"



i'm pretty sure that green blob in the middle is either jason vorhees waiting to strike, or lily pads

or swamp thing. definitely swamp thing.

4. a dissappointing visit to the food court (the food there was another minor complaint. from the undercooked and underseasoned vegetarian on a pita, to the sort of boring ratattoullie... meh... the sweet potato fries were decent enough, but we ended up eating more at the liberty diner, near our hotel, which had a weird coen brothers movie feel to it...

or, as the village voice also stated:

Most deceptive line in the ATP FAQ: "There will be food vendors on-site with several options covering carnivores, vegetarians and vegans." "Vegan options" in this case means "we won't put meat in this gyro."

5. more about the year punk broke.

Dave Mackey, the director, was a really humble, nice guy who generally cared that he was showing his film, plus 40 minutes of extra footage, to a crowd. the moron who acted as if he hadn't directed other things (he has - many music videos, and other short films) in his question was annoying. i had sort of hoped that thurston moore would pop in to ask some odd, funny question, but it didn't happen (though there were artists everywhere at the venue, so it wasn't impossible). i think - much like the crowd at stage 2 - the packed room was just too quiet, which may have seemed like disinterest, but was more likely awe. "1991" is a pretty amazing little film. i sincerely hope that he talked to the criterion folks there, and that we'll soon be hearing of a criterion collection edition (with the bonus "blues scale" footage as a feature). the only pointed remark mackey made was how he had given a bunch of the nirvana footage to the band for free (in particular, in response to a dumb question about courtney love and whether she's possibly what's holding up a DVD release). he didn't seem to be upset by it - he personally stated that it wasn't that courtney was blocking anything, it was that nobody had asked her (he also pointedly remarked how it was he that gave kim gordon Hole's demo tape, so i guess there may have been some bitterness there after all...).
day two review still to come, with more pictures!