flight nineteen at tampa’s union station
jasonOn Sunday night last week my wife and I went to the Tampa aftershow of the Miami International Noise Conference. On their way back north, several of the artists were good enough to stop in Tampa for a show. What was really interesting is that they did not play a bar or club. They were kindly hosted by the artists of Experimental Skeleton and the City of Tampa. The show took place at the Flight 19 art gallery, located at the old Baggage Handling building of Tampa’s Union Station. According to a couple of articles, Experimental Skeleton leases the building (which has been for sale for years) from the city for $1 a year.
I had seen this place in passing as it went through its renovations but this was my first excuse to stop in there. The baggage building was not included in the renovation (other than minor repairs to the roof), but remains charmingly basic. The red brick interior has been pressure washed, an old baggage cart is the only decor, and the original Toledo baggage scale sits pleasantly rusted next to the front doorway. It has no bathrooms and they aren’t going to be added.
Refreshments are basic - bottled beer and soda out of a cooler with cups and ice. It has all you need for a good gallery; walls and electricity.
The electricity was the biggest concern for the Noise kids. Noise music has few real “rules” but normally it will involve electronic effects machines of various sorts, usually used in a way their makers likely never intended. Some artists use pedestrian objects like guitars, many more create an indecipherable pile of labeless boxes wired together with a mish mash of cables. Sometimes they have a musical rhythm, sometimes they do not.
It is always unimaginably, earsplittingly, shockingly loud.
Although we had to leave early I thought the highlight of the night was Smut from Michigan. Similar to old NYC punk bands, they were the more “musical” of the acts we saw. They had drums and a guitar. Featuring ten second songs at screaming volume, it almost took them longer to tell you the name of the song than it took to play it.
Awesome.
The gallery appears to be a part time effort of the group, which is understandable. I was not even asked for a donation. An email to get more information on future projects did not receive a reply. The website has some basic information, and you can get a little more info when you call 813-247-2030, but a message I left was not returned, either. I did find a short description of future exhibitions but really, you shouldn’t expect to know what you are going to see before you show up, which is part of the fun.
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