Pinche Gringo and more rock out at 340 Tate Street

In the late 90s the address 340 Tate Street was called "Second Time Around Clothesline Express" until the owner died of lung cancer. Later the property was rented out as an Art Gallery called "The Space" that occasionally had performances. Presently it goes under the name Maya Art Gallery, the figure which stands like an enigma between the coffee house and the t-shirt company. The windows crowded with advertisements for everything from the Twilight movie to this week's buy 2-get-1-movie free sale catch a few people's attention. Katherine, who runs the bookstore/ performance space with her boyfriend says, "Since last January we've been having mostly experimental and acoustic acts. There is the occasional hardcore show."

Like a bookworm or kid with no social tact, Maya is often overlooked. This past Wednesday night featured performances by two touring bands and Josh Johnson's minimalist-blues act Pinche Gringo. Lindsy Smith, a local student who has dragged her friend to the show says "I like the proximity effect. You get something here that you can't find in most parts of Greensboro. Unless something is going on with WUAG it's hard to find anything worthwhile." That proximity she's referring to is the intimacy of the performances. Her friend jokes that it's close to their apartment.

There is also the inevitable cramping of bodies together on a crowded night like this one and Wednesday night is freezing so the warmth of all the people serves as a coat- not a pleasant smelling coat- but relief none-the-less. Kyle Smith who put the show together is standing outside where the street becomes a loading dock for band equipment and casual griping. "I tried a few places trying to put this show together. First there was CFBG and the WUAG crowd", he says.

"This is our first tour", Chris of the band "Harvard" says. "We've all been friends since grade school. We've played in bands together but this is the first time that we've all been in a position where it's allowed to be real. It's a lot of fun. We are just simple guys playing simple music" He sites the pop-punk bands Against Me and At The Drive In as their main influences. Ironically, what Chris fails to tell me is that all the people in the band have despondent girlfriends or want despondent girlfriends who they can scream about. The singer sounds uncannily like Julian Casablancas from the Strokes. The band has a lot of their friends in attendance who go into fits of rhythmic clapping when the drummer stops playing. This is undeniably cool. The songs are all about broken love, but in a way that seeks no resolution. Although the two guitarists have a plethora of effects pedals the singer defines the music as "just plain Rock-n-roll".

The Junior Astronomers are more or less about the same theme of going back in forth between being happy and sad. They are well-rehearsed and comfortable with the crowd of thirty-two. Some lyrics in the style of Radiohead hint that this might be something deep, but is instead the narrative lapse into a meditation on water, "Water is not for lungs, water is not for anyone." After ten minutes the monster screaming choruses erect, and the room becomes rock city. This boils down to trying to impress girls and being melodramatic about relationships. More girls are into it; the ones that abstain from drinking water? Pinche Gringo's act (Josh Johnson) is the only worthwhile thing walking around in a t-shirt on this chilly night. He plays a snare and kick drum with his feet and uses vintage Vox amplifiers. The friends of the other bands are across the street eating pizza. When he sings "I don't want to go to rehab, I just want to be happy", it comes out with honesty and anger. There isn't a guise or an elaborate technical set-up to layer Johnson's voice. He hasn't combed his hair or prepped his shirt for viewing but he is honest. He says he just wants to move to the woods.