Hosiery: Not Too Hipster For Love
Friends and colleagues have lamented that the Hosiery–the little warehouse/artspace north of Chinatown–is the ultimate hipster venue. In other words, go there and be prepared to feel uncool because you can’t grow a beard properly, ain’t rocking the right references, or kickin’ the right thrift-store gear.
Last Saturday’s show at the Hosiery proved the haters wrong.
The show–featuring L.A.’s No Age (pictured), Baltimore’s Ponytail and D.C.’s own Sentai–was not only fucking transcendent in a riffs-plus-fist pumping way, it proved that D.C. kids can rock out if adequately provoked.
Whether the kids in attendance were wearing the right clothes, I can’t be sure. But what I do know is that they actually came for the bands. The same can’t be said of Black Cat regulars every time out.
I had my doubts. When I first arrived around 10 p.m., the place was empty. Put it this way: if the room was given a case of beer, the room would have had trouble finishing it off. But soon enough, people started showing up and the room’s numbers reached respectability. I’m proud to say the numbers included four current and former CP staffers (we represent!).
And the crowd actually reacted to Ponytail’s mix of ’70s virtuosity, animal cooing, and an extensive knowledge of grrrl goofiness. Super-tiny frontwoman Molly Sigel bounded around the space clearly amped to just be there. The dudes in the audience did not hunch over and hug their torsos. No one did much talking. People kinda danced and rallied around Sigel’s infectious hardcore-meets-chimp dance moves.
No Age proved the bigger surprise. It’s best-of compilation-as-album debut, Weirdo Rippers, cuts and pastes stoner jams, hazy atmospherics, and quickie pop melodies not unlike Deerhoof. It’s not easy dance music. But when the Hosiery people found the grooves, they bounced and flung beer. (I got hit in the eye!) Not to sound like an old fart–which I am– but it was just cool to see an audience appreciate a band.
No Age noticed, too. During the last song, the guitarist rushed up to a kid in the front row and just dropped his Gibson over the kid’s shoulders. The kid didn’t flinch or try to give the guitar back. He just strummed the thing as hard as he could and let the distorted notes fly. After the song ended, No Age’s guitarist retrieved his Gibson. And then he gave the guy a hug, telling him: “I love you.”
Photo credit: Mike Abrams
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Blogs Linking to this Article
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Linked From: December 17th, 2007Washington City Paper: Music: Blogs
5:31 pm[...] Show: No Age at the [...]
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Linked From: February 13th, 2008Washington City Paper: Music: Blogs
10:41 am[...] missed their quasi-legendary show at the Hosiery, but I can see why people would go apeshit for their drums-guitar-samples racket: On [...]
1:10 pm
i stand by my original assessment until personally proven wrong…
2:40 pm
Change maybe a dozen words in that post and it could be about Philly, down to the number of weekly writers one can find at a given show.
3:15 pm
ha! how does that play into the whole dc/philly debate?
4:28 pm
sarah:
– Many of the DC hipsters are from the Midwest, and they shuffle papers for nonprofit associations during the day.
– The remaining native DC hipsters are resentful.
– A good portion of the Philly hipsters are transplants from Brooklyn or DC, and they don’t have day jobs.
– The remaining native Philly hipsters are also resentful.
12:45 am
more band pictures up at flickr.com under 44eye hope you enjoy
Mike abrams
12:47 am
443eye for the pictures at flickr.com
11:33 am
Here’s the full link, people, in case you don’t know how to navigate Flickr:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/m_abrams_studio/
3:18 pm
Jason, you’ve been writing these pieces about feeling inadequate in the d.c. scene for about 10 million years now. It’s getting really boring. Why not focus more on the music you’re reviewing and not the crowd? No one cares that you still feel like the nerd trying to sit at the popular kid’s table.
7:38 pm
Re comment below:
“– The remaining native DC hipsters are resentful.”
Resentful of what? you are very wrong and judgmental. It’s DC natives who put together this alternate show space, play the venue regularly in various bands, attend the Hosiery at at every opportunity and love it. You mean jaded? ahh that would be about people constantly labeling the crowd or DC scene, its enjoyed by all and is simply fun. and eat my shorts.
7:39 pm
whoops comment up above
7:51 pm
This writer is such a douchebag.
12:40 pm
KB: I guess I should’ve tagged my comment as “blatant hyperbole intended as gentle joshing.” I kid because I care.
12:41 pm
Side note: I might be judgmental, but I’m rarely wrong.