Mecca Normal’s tour diary, Toronto to
Atlanta during
September of 2001:
“September 17, 2001: This is not a good time to present new songs.
Audiences want to talk. I understand, but it’s hard to perform in this
situation. My songs overwhelm me—introspection weighed down by
irrelevance. I would like to be useful. Maybe we are some kind of
rallying point.”
This diary entry is part of The Art of Touring, a book of
essays, photos, drawings, and other items created by various musicians
while on the road (edited by Sara Jaffe of Erase Errata and Mia Clarke
of Electrelane). In support of the book, Fontanelle Gallery is showing
an exhibit of tour photos from the collection’s contributors.
While many of the photos are records of tour life, others show the
musicians’ memories of the places they pass through. Hannah Mae Blair’s
“Deer Processing, Crystal Springs, MS” is funny but dark, a photo of a
mural on a slaughterhouse wall, displaying a smiling cartoon deer,
cleaver in hand and a bullet flying toward it from behind. Another one
of Blair’s photos, titled “Margaret’s Grocery, Vicksburg, MS,” captures
a dilapidated storefront with a series of hand-painted signs directing
the reader to “Go. To. Church.”
On Saturday, August 22, at 6 pm, Fontanelle will host readings and
performances by Jaffe, Rebecca Gates, Tara Jane O’Neil, and Julianna
Bright.