Ailis here — Olivia couldn’t attend last weekend’s concert so I’ll be flying solo this week.
Last Friday, Cayuga Lodge hosted yet another concert at their basement venue. Four talented acts played that night. The energy proliferated from an apathetic folk opener to a dance-rock closer, keeping the audience awake throughout the rather late-night show. The bands were Modern Hut of Ithaca, Benjaminto of Ithaca, Izzy True of Ithaca, and Giant Peach of NYC.
Modern Hut: At first he seemed aloof. However, the honesty in his lyrics and and tone of voice combined with the vulnerable sound of his acoustic, apathetic arrangements drew the crowd into a respectful quiet. Everyone sat on the ground and hung on to his every word, laughing at his lethargic, relaxed style of performing, both during and between songs. Although the tiny wine bottle drinking, white tee wearing, bloodshot eyed one-man-show screamed too cool for school, he turned out to be a very approachable guy who was also supportive of all the following acts.
Benjaminto: It’s hard to describe this singer-songwriter’s pop-folky style. He writes extremely clever, witty lyrics, has a true knack for poetry and plays with a fun, bouncy guitar style. A bit more lively than Modern Hut, this second act kept the energy snowballing forward into the snowy night. He played songs for the crowd he said he had not yet played for anyone else, a special moment of expression with new songs clearly relevant to the performer’s most recent past. This evident emotion I think is what proved these songs to be successful with their listeners.
Izzy True: Unfortunately I did not get to see much of Izzy True’s performance. However, I did get to catch the tail end of the performance — the crowd was absolutely wild as Izzy shredded her guitar to the ground for their final song. This three Piece band turned up the amps and amped up the crowd for a perfect transition to the final performance.
Giant Peach: They were Captivating. A noisy band with very interesting jumps in rhythm and song structure. The drummer was incredible. I actually got to sit behind the band and communicate with him throughout their set. These are more very approachable musicians. The bass player spent quite a long time speaking and smoking with crowd members before their set as did the rest of the band. Their connection through interaction with the crowd-members allowed their performance to become really intimate. Frances Chang’s vocals were silky smooth and yet rock n roll. A deep, relaxed woman’s voice over noisy, distorted guitars was a unique sound with definite sex appeal. But further, the band’s sound was totally energetic and danceable. I could hardly sit down.
The night quickly crescendoed leaving the crowd sweaty, smiley, and super hyped.
Check the bands out at…
Modern Hut: https://modernhut.bandcamp.com/
Benjaminto: https://m.soundcloud.com/benjaminto
Izzy True: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=BxTVndYaf7Q
Giant Peach: https://giantpeachsongs.bandcamp.com/
Next show we’ll be attending is Monday the 29th at the Chanticleer featuring Potty Mouth, Stove, Shore Acres Drive, and Winston Bongo. Doors open at 7pm.
Dinner Table Knowledge – Good News:
Mealworms are now known to be able to eat Styrofoam with no harmful side effects. This is huge. We had no idea what to do with Styrofoam which takes anywhere from hundreds to hundreds of thousands of years to break down in a landfill. We can feed these mealworms to chickens and problem solved! Read more here: https://news.stanford.edu/pr/2015/pr-worms-digest-plastics-092915.html
Olivia is a junior studying film in the college of Arts and Sciences. She was born and raised in the teeny tiny fishing town of Soldotna, Alaska. When she’s not frolicking around outside, she can be found watching cartoons or drinking tea in her catbug onesie.
Ailis is a junior from New Jersey studying environmental science and sustainability. If you can’t find her at a pub she’s probably playing guitar in her PJs or writing anything and everything down in tiny notebooks.