Drumming Our Temples

O sweet scenesters, why sit you so perilously on the Brooklyn Bridge?

To watch 77 drummers at 77 drum kits rock out simultaneously, of course!

During this past pristine weekend, on 07/07/07 at 7:07 (p.m.) to be exact, the Boredoms and 77 of their favorite (or at least hand-picked) drummers created some racket on the East River as the sun set between the uprights of the Brooklyn Bridge. The drum kits were arranged in a spiral pattern with the four Boredoms in the center on risers. Lead by the truly insane Yamataka Eye, who yowled out inaudible lyrics and commands and banged on big stuff with big sticks, rhythms would emanate from the center three Boredoms, then would be sent down into the rest of the spiral, the end of the spiral playing that same rhythm while the center figures had already moved on to something else.

Sounds kinda heady, dun'it? Try only to imagine what the sound of 77 kick drums pounding at once sounds like. Seventy-seven rolling cymbals (better yet, 154 cymbals)? Opera voices psychedelically layering over 77 drummers improvising fast beats? It's practically indescribable.

And it was practically insufferable getting in. Like all Vice events, the "show" was over-promoted, though the park was strangely uncrowded from what we could tell from the Brooklyn Bridge looking down at the scene (don't worry Vice, we still love-hate you... or is it Do/Don't you?). Some friends we know got in; however, they arrived at 2 p.m. (start time is 7 p.m., remember). Telling the gate folks at 4 p.m. that we were "press" was zero help (unlike some other people we know). Thousands in line were unable to get in and thus the stragglers made their way to other local parks or to the Manhattan or aforementioned Brooklyn Bridges. Sadly, we missed the nuances of the performance -- but from what we could tell, the concept and sound was anything but subtle. It was a Zen-like loudness, and we're the better for it.

Now the Boredoms-shaped deficit in our heart has been filled. Did we mention Brian Chippendale was one of the Crazy 77? Because he was.