Keepin it real in Ulster and Westchester Counties
»
Ghost Mall. Photo by Katie Chirichillo.
As Brooklyn genre-fies with every passing seasonal trend, we sometimes forget that Westchester may be where your Jewish grandma lives in assisted living, and Ulster County may be where you keep your cows, but both remain places where the kid's music stays rough and tumble rock-based.
After all, Westchester's where the kids in Fiasco first played in various punk bands, and remains a hotbed for SUNY campuses and house shows that may be best known for breeding Wham City but as of late might best be noted for housing a new DIY spot, Paul Shaffer's House, in Hawthorne, Mount Pleasant, (or does it sit just on the Bronx side of the border?), called that because of as-yet unsubstantiated claims that it was once inhabited by the perennial Letterman sideman. It's the residence of members of No One and the Somebodies, and they've thrown a couple shows so far without losing the party to local noise complaints.
Up in Ulster, one SUNY branch is most recently responsible for Ghost Mall, who claim the outer boroughs and New Paltz as band birth places, and can hammer away at some catchy hot rocks as indebted to early-era emo-core as the cult of the organ and playful tinkering with vocal effects.
Someday we will be able to say "Ghost Mall interned for Impose back in the day." Until then, thank the great Pierce Lydon for uploading those photo essays so effortlessly, and keep the just-north-of-NYC counties in mind next time you're in the area and hungry for some raucous basement party but don't wanna go to New Brunswick.
Posted on April 06, 2010. More on: ghost mall, westchester, ulster county, no one and the somebodies
hokay. i dont know where u learned to be a journalist. firstly the fiasco kids aint never played with no 914z except maybe orphans for like 2 monthz! 2. paul shaers house is located on grand and metropolitan in williamsburg
— pasty narx on April 13, 2010
For the record, Paul Shaffer's House is in the Morris Park section of the bronx. No One and the Somebodies is originally from Hawthorne which is in fact in Westchester county, the birth place of many noteworthy bands. 3 of the 4 NOATS members live in the Bronx, including 2 who live among 5 other Westchesterites in Paul Shaffer's House (in the Bronx), including musicians G I Dave of the Genuine Imitations, Will Table of Old Table and Turbosleaze, and Darb Modnoc. However, music is still happening in Westchester, notably at Wespac in White Plains, an all ages venue hosting a few shows a month and well worth checking out.
— Darb Modnoc on April 13, 2010