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My night started in a swanky lower SOHO loft with prosciutto and steak and Margaret Cho behind the turntables. The food and drinks were great but the 3G service sucked. After a good convo (shout out to Bob Boilen!), I headed for the more comfortable and well traversed (for me at least) land of Brooklyn. It was amazingly still happy hour at the Music Hall and after a couple quickies I drifted into what can only be called a dream.

That dream went down at MonkeyTown, just three short blocks but many millions of metaphorical miles away from the Brooklyn Vegan showcase.

MonkeyTown is the urban hippies safe haven. Everything about this place whispers, “get comfortable, stay awhile.” The music happens in the back room, which is a rather small black box with 30 foot high ceilings. The room is lined in couches and giant projection screens are on each wall. No matter where you sit you can see. The performers play in the round. It’s a great set up and was especially fitting for last night’s stoner jams, Mountain Man three-part harmonies and the aural assault (albeit gentle) of Africa Africa Africa Germany (or, Africa Germany Germany Mexico…). By the way, Chocolate Bobka himself sat in on this session– oh yeah, it was a jam.

First up was Fluffy Lumbers, (pictured above), whom i’ve introduced before. His music is dreamlike and yet punk at the same time. He did a cover of The Stooges’ “Now I Wanna Be Your Dog,” and it managed to sound both aggressive and cute. Adding to the dichotomy was the screening of the film “The Plague Dogs,” about animal testing. It looked cute because it’s animated, but the subject matter couldn’t be darker.

Ray Concepcion was there filming crazy like. It was cool to see him in action. He shakes that camera like its nobodies business. Looking forward to the footage…

Julian Lynch did a song via the Internets. He played clarinet- it was psyched out, surely.

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The highlight of the evening for me was, of course, the vocal stylings and blissed out nature sounds of Mountain Man, pictured. The three women in the group hold each others hands and sing three-part harmonies that ring true and loud. Sometimes one of them will play guitar, sometimes they just sing a cappella. It’s some of the most devastating stuff i’ve heard. Definitely catch them on Saturday at the Cameo Gallery.

Also, in keeping with the vibe of the evening– which to remind you, was that with beauty comes darkness, another very scary film was projected: “The Night of the Hunter” with Robert Mitchum. I’m getting shivers remembering….

Forgot I shot this video, too.

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