Thunderbolt Pagoda at xxxusa - photo by Sharyn Morrow

We had our second House Show as School House on Friday and it was a mind ripper!

This one was curated by local record mogul and a veteran of new American weirdness – James Lindbloom. As a favor to us, James put together his first house show since a 1999 gig he did for No Neck Blues Band, and boy is it good he came out of retirement. James started things off with the space/time collapsing heavy psych of Thunderbolt Pagoda. They were followed in relatively short order by the circus skronk and hard swing of local “supergroup” Synchrocyclotron. Finally after a bit of a stretch The Bottom Jobs with special guest George Cartwright played it cool with a warped and heavy hard-bop set of tribal drumming and barry sax that went from Miles to Evan Parker, iced off with some serious rant.

Holly chatting with George Cartwright - photo by Sharyn Morrow

The event took place at a local DIY institution that shall as a courtesy go nameless. A large warehouse in a surprisingly accessible part of town, it fits the mold of American art-punk style industrial space mix-use, from the paradigmatic example of Providence’s Fort Thunder to Oakland’s 379 4oth Street to L.A.’s The Smell to Baltimore’s the Bank. A bit more raw and un-fluffed than my last visit a year ago, it still had that nice combination of anything goes and keeping it cool. Not the first show this particular cement box has seen and not the last.

Special thanks to Sharyn Morrow (aka Massdistraction) for letting us use her awesome photos above.

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