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Note to ESP: Please hold many, many more shows in your creepy prison
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Note to ESP: Please hold many, many more shows in your creepy prison
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| Mundie Art |
Other than some Bastille Days here and a few Meet-the-Prisoner events there, the Eastern State Penitentiary is like that aunt of yours — you see her on one holiday (in ESP's case, Halloween; in your aunt's case, Christmas, Passover or another somesuch thing), and then she's gone for the rest of the year. Which is a real damn shame. Cause, when I saw Philly-area composers perform at ESP this Friday as part of the Chamber Music Now! series, it ruled.
The acoustics were great. The exhibits that decorated the space — including one that featured cat sculptures and another that held tiny installations revealing lesser-known facts about ESP — were a nice touch, and entertaining to look at during the intermission. Surrounded by cement and brick, it was freezing (on Friday, when it was bloody hot outside), meaning that AC costs would be nil during the summer. And, best of all, it was creepy as hell. As I was listening to a super-high pitched soprano sing about going mad in solitary confinement (many of the works were inspired by past ESP residents), I sat next to a completely dark cell, which meant I had an adrenaline-filled panic attack every five seconds. So, I'm asking you ESP: Can you hold more performances here? Like book Bjork or Portishead maybe? I feel they'd fit the space well. Or hold a dance party? Don't let those Making Time kids come, though. God knows what terrible things they'll do in the empty cells.
Oh yeah, and FYI: There are two more CMN! events taking place at ESP on May 1 & 3, at 8 p.m.
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