A few days ago, Ralph "Major Taylor" Darden flew in from Chicago to do some holiday weekend shows with his band, the Jai-Alai Savant. He was extra-souped to be featured in the new issue of the mag, we were extra-souped to see his band play for the first time in months, so it all made for a damn fine Sunday evening.
The whole thing was going down at the basement of the Delancey as part of the Afro Punk Liberation Fest - which also included screenings at BAM and performances throughout the weekend. People traveled from all over the country for the festival (an onstage shout out to the AP messageboard got as much cheers as any of the bands) and a chance to see performances by FADER alumns Stiffed, Apollo Heights and many more.
Despite a broken string mere seconds into the first track, the Savant blew through an hour or so of their dubby take on punk rawk, and it was awesome. Almost as awesome as when Ralph took a moment to grab the copy of The FADER he brought on stage, and talk about his scheme to leave the mag in as many bars as possible - so that in the middle of pick-up talk, he could casually mention "being in magazines all the time and...oh heeeeeeeey, there's one I'm in now!"
A wise plan if ever there was one.