TheSlip The Iron Horse, Northampton MA October 27, 2000 (these are all a little dark due to the low lighting and my not wanting to use a flash)
(me trying to be artsy)
	(trying to be artsy, part 2)
This was a great show; BAM have been really on lately. They played one long set and, as usual, built themselves and the crowd into a frenzy by its end. Plus, the small, packed room added a lot of energy & intimacy. My hat goes off to the band- they never cease to amaze. But... I need to bitch about the crowd for a minute. Don't get me wrong, the vast majority of the Slip crowd is outstanding: mellow, friendly, and really into the music. But as BAM's popularity grows, so does the size of their "fringe" element. In particular, I'm talking about one drunk, belligerent asshole who took it upon himself to shout obscenities for 20 minutes while we were waiting in line on the sidewalk. FYI, it mostly consisted of something along the line of, "Can I get someone to suck this nigger's cock?" (and, for the record, he was neither black and from the look of him had very little cock for someone to oblige his request.) He shouted this over and over, while everyone else stood there, embarrasingly enduring it. I eventually turned around not so nicely told him to shut up, at which point he looked at me like I'd done something wrong. Whatever. Look, I know it was Halloween weekend and many people, including me, were in a pretty partied-up state of mind. But acting that way is inexcusable- it's rude, mean-sprited, and absolutely counter to what The Slip is all about. I'm afraid we're going to see nothing but more of it, but hopefully we can band together and try to control its growth as much as possible. Ok, enough whining. I don't mean to bring things down, but I'm kinda protective of the scene and don't want to see what happened to other bands also happen to this one. They're too amazing to not care this much. This was a GREAT show; the problem was tiny in comparison to the huge joy they never fail to bring. peace (or at least trying!), mike Please feel free to use these photos in any non-commercial manner you'd like. All I ask is that you drop me an email. Also, i have these (and many more) photos their raw, unretouched format. Email me & I'll make them available to you.