2009.01.29
Painters and players: The Bridge and VORCAN at The Lantern
MATT GENTRY | The Roanoke Times
After the Darius Rucker show last night at Virginia Tech, I wandered over to The Lantern, to see The Bridge, a really good band from Baltimore. Roanoke Times nrv photog Matt Gentry had told me earlier that day that the band was traveling with a painter's collaborative, VORCAN.
It reminded me of my long-ago daze in Hollywood, Calif., at Musicians Institute. Back then, Tommy Chong of Cheech y Chong fame had a regular gig at a club out there. It was called Painters and Players. Chong, a guitarist, and his band would play, and painters would be onstage painting. I never had time to go check it out, and I always regretted that. So, here was something similar, and I wasn't going to miss it.
Turned out to be fairly interesting -- The Bridge was awesome, by the way. And Matt shot a good pic, which you can see here. Here's his description:
>1.28.09... Vort Man, a member of the art group VORCAN, paints on stage during the live music of the band "The Bridge," at the Lantern, downtown Blacksburg, on Wednesday night. The painters, Vort Man and Chris Cank, painted a collaborative piece during the group's first set. The artists tour mainly along the East Coast and sell completed works to support themselves and their art. Cank and Man started painting together at Pennsylvania State University. After they left the university, they reunited and started to paint together full time.
The opener, The Red House Band, was also really awesome (and I'm not just saying that because I am affiliated with the band). They got the crowd pumped up with their blues, jams and beats before The Bridge came on. I'm sorry you missed them.
I love to hear music that includes horns and keyboard. The Bridge was impressive. I also have to admit that I've never seen someone paint while a band is playing on the same stage.
All around, a great show!
Sorry, Darius.
Comment by Danielle Dunaway — January 30, 2009 @ 12:19 pm
Affiliated? How so?
I didn't see you there, Danielle, but as you know, it was so crowded it was no use trying to get around too much. Fortunately, I found a barstool and stayed with it.
Comment by Tad — January 30, 2009 @ 6:59 pm
I am friends with the band members, girlfriend to the drummer and their photographer. I think I even list being their photographer on my Facebook jobs list.
I knew that this show was going to have a ton of people. The Facebook group for the show said that at least 70+ people confirmed that they were going to show up. Since I wasn't familiar with The Bridge, I didn't stay still for very long. I was all over the place.
I'm glad you got to come by for a little while and check out the scene.
Comment by Danielle Dunaway — January 31, 2009 @ 9:14 am
I guess that's pretty well affiliated, Danielle.
That was actually my first Lantern show. I went there one evening, before the Alejandro Escovedo show at the Lyric, and had a killer 'shroom and swiss burger -- with tater tots!
Comment by Tad — February 2, 2009 @ 12:23 pm