Eraserhead and Weirdo Theatre

Friday night in Erie, and I finally found the "artists and the Beatniks" as my grandfather would have called them. I've been spending lots of time with engineers so the crowd at the Erie Art Museum Annex was a change. The movie, Eraserhead, was as deliciously creepy as ever, and the band afterwards, Weirdo Theatre, gave an energetic performance that had me on the edge of my seat. Yes, they were weird. But also, every performer was very talented. The drummer played solos for every song. One of his chosen intruments was a power drill. The violin player's long white beard was a focal point, like the center of he universe, if only for a couple of hours. The performance artist who ranted and sang kept us all laughing and engaged the whole time. The cello player was also the curator who gave us a lunchtime tour of the museum last week. The guitarist was the frameshop guy who said hi on the tour. He used an uncountable number of instruments during the performance. I don't know any names, sorry, but I did find a myspace page for the group: www.myspace.com/josephallenpopp39sweirdotheatre.