[Culture] GATE TO MOONBASE ALPHA at the rotunda

[Benseraglio2]

Monthly ambience night at the Rotunda. First act was Justice on a Budget, a jazzoid trio with drums, synthesizer and string bass which seemed unremarkable until the end of the piece when the keyboardist suddenly started wailing --very impressive and soulful keening which really topped the set off right.   The Great Quentini came out in a white tasselled suit wearing a cornucopia-shaped basket on his head and looking for all the world like a Yakut shaman. He did a piece in a large beer cooler with water, sand and rocks accompanied by a tape of his poetry and a low growling roar, then did a lovely number on a home-made marimba. For a few minutes it was like Zurich 1916 at the birth of Le Mouvement Dada.   The above acts were accompanied by the lousiest light show it has ever been my misfortune to witness. Some dude did "oil projections" on an overhead projector from the balcony, projected all over the front wall where you unfortunately couldn't ignore it. Think about when you were a kid hanging around at Joe's garage and stirring oily water around in a dirty bucket with a stick and you get the idea. I don't know much about art but I sure know what I don't like.   Then came Xeroid Entity, three men playing weird machines in songs named after the moons of Saturn and Mars. It was just getting good, like Voyager nearing Jupiter, when all of a sudden some jerk started projecting one of those kinky Japanese erotico-religious cowboy flicks on the front wall and it spoiled the mood for me completely. Surreal, but inappropriate. Anyhow by then it was past my bedtime.   Chef Jeff provided a festive vegetarian spread with eight hot dishes ranging from macaroni and cheese to buttered noodles, decorating the whole scene with a complicated array of blinking Christmas lights. Think Diggers.   A few weeks ago I was up in New York walking around the Lower East Side and kinda lamenting that I had ever moved away. But shows at the Rotunda make me leave all my qualms behind and make me glad I live in West Philly. Tremendous big Clap for Gina Renzi, Foundation Directrix. University City: A Nice Place to Live.   Ross Bender http://rossbender.org