From 9 men to 4Knots – connect the dots from Chinatown to Hell’s Kitchen
July 12th, 2015 by Mr. C
(the NY Mini 9 man volleyball tournament at Seward Park)
(Marissa Paternoster/Screaming Females at the 4Knots music festival on Pier 84/Hudson River Park)
(The Screaming Fuckers)
Last Saturday, Joel NJ Dev and I braved the midday heat and caught a little bit of a 9 man volleyball tournament exclusive to teams/players with Chinese american heritage. The game was stemmed from 80 years of history with this variant form of volleyball made popular in the Southern Chinese city of Toisan which spilled over to Chinatowns throughout the U.S. and Canada. I actually should know more about this 9-man game since my family is from Toishan and my family laid their root’s in NYCs Chinatown in the 1960s. But since we moved to NJ in the early 80s, I didn’t mesh into the community of Chinatown on the everyday. My family continued to work in chinatown but I basically was a weekend warrior to C-town. Come High School and competitive volleyball was a big part in my life playing for my high school varsity team with none other than with my other brothers from another mother at Planet Chocko! We had short stints playing at beach volleyball tournaments at the Jersey shore which is a whole other game in itself. So, yeah, came and went this 9 man volleyball tournament called the NY Mini last Saturday which was held at the track/tennis courts at Seward Park in the lower east side of manhattan. We appreciated & enjoyed the intense nature and athletic ability of these 9 men to a team!
(9 man volleyball tournament at the Seward Park tennis courts on Essex Street)
From the lower east side of Manhattan, NJ devil & I dashed over to 44th Street & West Side Highway at Pier 84 for the 4Knots Music festival! We planned on catching the poppy alternative rock band from London – Happyness at 2:45 and then one of the hardest working DIY bands known to man & ladykind – Screaming Females – with their set at 3:45. With a little bit of parking karma and technical difficulties from the sound, we dipped into the Happyness set with plenty of time remaining to get a nasty farmers tan before the music commenced! I’ve been getting into Happyness with their electro fuzzed out catchy vocals and fiery chords blended in with the whispering vocals and fuzzed out guitars! Screaming Females came out with their no-nonsense form and blasted through a set of fiery, howling vocals from Marissa along with her intense guitar riffs and solos! Marissa has so much energy and passion playing that guitar that it really is intoxicating. Jarrett on drums and King Mike on the bass help orchestrate the Screaming Fuckers madness! I recorded a few songs (Rose Mountain and Sheep) from the Screaming Females set but the bass distorted a lot of the sound. It basically blew up my camera. The visuals & vibe still worth watching because of Marissa’s performance, though! See below! Also, check out Happyness’ performance of Montreal Rock Band Somewhere – good shit!
(Happyness at the 4knots music festival)
(Benji Compston/Happyness: Guitar-Vocals-keyboard)
(Screaming Females
)
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