My Bad Pimp

So I’ve made one post and already started to neglect this blog. Whoops. Hopefully the girl on Jaffo street who started asking me questions about Fuji color science is still checking my blog. If that’s you, yo what’s up?

I wanted to go through my camera roll chronologically so that I get all the shitty photos out of the way first and it suddenly looks like I became a much better photographer (which I guess has happened…) But with me already procrastinating writing about Southern ghost towns I drove through 4 months ago, I might as well write about something I did like. So house show in someone’s basement in Bloomington.

Connor’s Basement

Many people know I was (and probably still am) an emo kid. However, I am and have always been pretentious; that “real emo consists only of the DC Emotional Hardcore scene etc” is something I un-ironically said before I knew it was a meme. Well, being that type of person in Indiana, naturally I was a massive fan of Midwest Pen Pals, Merchant Ships, William Bonney, and that whole scene. So clearly, Jack Senff (the singer of all those bands for all the plebs) was a big deal. Well, it’s 2026 and it seems that we all aren’t 16 anymore. I’m probably more mature and less emotional, and Jack Senff is making some of the greatest alt-country of this generation. Anyone who knows me well knows how much of a Senff fan I am. So while in my in-between state of yeshiva (and places to stay), I found out he was playing a show in Bloomington in someone named Connor’s basement, and you already know I had to be there.

$10 at the door, strictly a sober space.

So yeah, I was there. I brought with me a 50mm f/2 I bought the day before if I recall correctly. It was the wrong choice to be entirely honest. The lens is way too zoomed in for such a tight space, and the already poor Fuji autofocus is especially bad with this lens. Maybe that’s user error (I’m not exactly an expert or even smart for that matter) but it was a real struggle to get anything in focus. But you can’t blame a guy for trying I guess.

The First Impact

When I climbed the stairs down, I was greeted with a flag of course for Indiana University (as it is a university town); however, right next to it was a flag of BTS. At least I think it was BTS, you know how old people call every video game console “the Nintendo?” Every Kpop group is BTS to me; I’m that old and uninformed. The room was very dimly lit and we were all packed in like sardines.

Playing was a group of kids, two on guitar and one on the violin. They were playing a cover of Mayonnaise by the Smashing Pumpkins, a song I have many fond memories associated with watching Ben Kadow’s part in the Supreme Blessed video. I used to listen to it and pretend I was as good as Ben Kadow. These guys really killed it. I’d go into more detail, but it’s been like 3 months, give me a break. However, immediately after the song ended, the violin kid’s dad said “Alright I need it back now”, took the violin, and everyone but the blonde singer left.

Speaking of the blonde singer, I thought he was a guy I went to high school and skated with, so I asked him. Turned out not only was he not, he was still in high school. Listen, if there is anything I’ve learned in my adult life, it’s never too early to feel old. I wonder what happened to that guy though; rumor has it he fled to California.

Linkletter

So maybe it’s a good thing I waited to write this. While microphones and a speaker were positioned in the “stage” section of the room, they remained unused; it was a strictly acoustic show. Linkletter opened up their set by saying they’re a screamo band and none of them have touched an acoustic guitar. What this means is their vocals, which at a normal show of theirs would ascend into bouts of screaming, were completely drowned out by the guitar riffs, which weren’t written to be played through a telecaster in the middle position. What I mean to say is I could barely hear them. However, I knew I was in for something real good when I saw a scrawny guy in a Xiu Xiu shirt sit down. That being said, what I did hear was really really good. The guitar work was intricate and let’s say not in 4/4. I really really enjoyed what I heard and went to look them up, only to find no music. Disappointed, I forgot they existed until today. While sitting down to write this, I decided to check them out and they released a split with another band from Chicago, so now that they have recorded music I hope I won’t forget them again and I hope to come across them again sometime.

Someone in the band also sent me the address, so I appreciate whoever did that.

The Third Impact

You know that meme of the millennial theater kid turned singer belting out “You’ll be married in a year in the suburbs?” This guy was the emo version of that, and it sucked. The high falsetto, shaky voice, and over-exaggerated movement; it was fun for a minute and then quickly became grating. It was maybe the most performative shit I’ve seen in my life. For whatever reason, he wrote his set list on a Gatorade bottle he’d drink from between songs. Every inch of his guitar was covered in stickers: “Fuck Ice,” “Keep abortion legal,” and that emo Spongebob. I knew shortly into his set that this was going to be the guy to start randomly saying political positions to try and look cool. Sure enough, midway through a song about day drinking and how much he hates himself and will die alone, he shouted “trans rights, free Palestine” with the same energy as a guy with baggy jorts that go past the knee pulling out a copy of Infinite Jest or Kafka On the Shore on the subway between Brooklyn and Manhattan hoping to get some girl’s attention. I don’t want to say the guy doesn’t believe what he was saying, I’m sure he does, but it was literally the meme of the guy wearing a “future is female” shirt with the matcha. He was wearing a shirt that read “Emo and butt rock” and if my memory serves me well, his merch had a drawing of Peter Griffin in the style of Milo Goes To College that said “Fake emo” or something equally as irony-coded. Listen, I understand the guy is trying to do a Mom Jeans thing where he is ironic and whatever, but Mom Jeans had one good album and then fell off. In my humble opinion, this guy saw that and said “I can do that but even better.” However, personally I’m not sure I’d want to copy their whole shtick. Also, this guy was in his mid to late 30s; he’s too old to be up to this shit. I’m not a fan.

Jack M. Senff

The GOAT, what else is necessary to say? After the last guy’s set, everyone left the basement leaving Jack and myself, and we started chatting. He expressed that he felt weird being one of the older guys in the room and thought because of my beard I was around his age. He was a really chill guy and I had a really nice conversation with him. When he started playing, he asked everyone to sit down while he played standing up, which (especially with my slow autofocus) meant that taking photos was next to impossible (at least for my uncreative ass). Sooo… Anyway, his set was great, his music is great. I can’t glaze this guy enough. Later that night, I was chatting with him about my time in Eretz Yisroel during the war. I had many moments of laying down in the room of my dorm or the park building and listening to his music while I watched missiles zoom over me, sirens and screams in the background. It made me feel like I was back home in Indiana and not trapped in a country I couldn’t leave in a yeshiva pressuring me to quit. He was really affected by it and asked permission if he could write a song about it. So hopefully that becomes a thing. I got a copy of his album Feeling and Devotion which again I HIGHLY recommend.

It Ain’t Over Till the Skinny Nerd Sings

I left after this guy’s first song. I know he played last because he was a friend of Connor, the house owner. So no thoughts…

The Message

I feel out of place as some chassidic guy at a show like this and the Israeli brain washing has convinced me that everyone is constantly judging me for being Jewish, even if I think they aren’t. That being said, it was a great time and something I kinda want to do more. But what I really think is you should go to a show like this in your local community.