Deleted Scenes - Ithaca, on the streets of the Atlas District

This is my first in hopefully a series of videos. I've found a lot to love in the local music scene recently. I've discovered and met many cool bands in the likes of the Black Cat Club, Rock n' Roll Hotel, and The Red and the Black. Some of them deserve a lot more exposure than they get, and I've always had a desire to help out by way of video projects. I saw the Takeaway Shows at Lo Blogotheque, and thought, hey, I have a camera, and a city, and some bands; why don't I do that?

Then finally I noticed a show coming up with Deleted Scenes, cool dudes and great musicians I'd met through mutual acquaintances in DC experimental band Bellflur. Dan of Deleted Scenes once described his band to me as "B-Side Rock," which almost fits if we're talking a B-sides to a band with many A-sides. I shot Dan a message... hey! let's make a video! tomorrow night! And to my pleasant surprise, he was totally down.

I watched through a great set from Deleted Scenes at The Red & The Black, and then stuck around through headliners The Oranges Band. Afterward, I found Dan and Deleted Scenes bassist Fatty, and we gathared shakers and an acoustic guitar. Downstairs we met up with drummer Brian and guitarist Sheffey. We went outside, and after finding a light spot and deciding on banging shoes together for a bass drum, created a video of the song Ithaca. It's definitely very different from how it's normally played: no tight-as-anything tom tom drum beat, no smooth vibraphone sounds from the keyboard, no subtle delay on the guitar, no driving bassline reprises. Instead, hands banging on a guitar case, a shaker taking center stage, and the entire band singing doo-doo-doos to replace a missing bass.

The result is a cool little video, aside from the random drunken stranger interrupting to ask if the band is from a place he associates with shoe clapping, and a solo ruined by cold, cold hands. Random crowds and photographers, an on-duty police officer, and the lights of the city on a saturday night combine to make it a performance that is spontaneous and fun. I hope you enjoy it:


Deleted Scenes - Ithaca from Ben Rowny on Vimeo.