Captain Ahab in Hot Springs National PArk

On Tuesday, April 17, 2011, Los Angeles' "Captain Ahab" visited The Exchange in Hot Springs National Park, Arkansas. This rather eccentric performance outfit is perhaps best known for their track "Snakes on the Brain," which was featured in the 2006 film, "Snakes on a Plane." They also gained popularity with a host of other pop dancehall tracks such as "Girls Gone Wild" and "Malibu Beach Party."

Known for catchy beats and a scantily-clad energetic hype-man, Wikipedia aptly describes, "While their lyrics are satirically misogynistic, their live performance is thoroughly homoerotic." At least one unassuming young patron received a facefull of sweaty chest hair by inching a bit too close to the stage.

On this electric Tuesday night, tornado sirens could be heard howling in the background as a stoic cast of locals waited in the dark halls of their DIY underground performance space. At first, they were treated to a much more intellectual and experimental version of the band than what appeared in 2006, as the show kicked off with a stately puppet show that invoked a true sense of historic honor for the occasion:



Continued, CINEPLOSION projections began to morph with the band's own montage images, creating a swirling atmosphere of disoriented mind-expansion:



At some point in the performance, all controls on our CINEPLOSION panels began to malfunction as if out of a 1980s SciFi thriller. Like Ahab himself, our technicians struggled to maintain afloat, yet the kinetic energy of the storm seized control. The following images were incomprehensibly generated, possessed, as a severe thunder storm plummeted the venue overhead:



Beware, Ladies and Gentlemen. We nearly slipped into a portal beyond our very own conscious, out-of-control and out-of-mind, an electric pulse through the spine, skull and Heavens. Dorothy, watch your back. Dorothy, see you at Radio Shack.