Bash Compactor: Voices Off

On a rainy Thursday night, I slogged out to Dumbo’s powerHouse Arena for the sixth anniversary party of political art magazine Guernica. It was ostensibly a multicultural affair with performances by Ukrainian-born singer-songwriter Alina Simone and DJ Didi Gutman from the band Brazilian Girls (which is composed of only one girl and no one from Brazil). Women in cocktail dresses looped patterned scarves around their necks to ward off the chill, preparing to listen to the fruits of MacArthur fellow Adrian Nicole LeBlanc’s genius.

A literary aficionado, clad in a sweater over a button-up shirt, broadcast his identity through a worn paperback stuffed into his back pocket. As everyone disobeyed the many “no drinks on the table” signs, small puddles condensed on the dust jacket of a $30 hardcover. The crush of intellectuals crowded the bar and tables piled with generic Mediterranean catering, creating a maze of human limbs. Weaving my way through it felt a bit like navigating a clothed version of Marina Abramovic’s “Imponderabilia,” an unintentional homage to an artist who would probably feel at home inside Guernica’s pages.

“People say, ‘Hey!’ People say, ‘Ho!’ People say…” MC Laura Krafft paused to think of a third thing that people should say, then gave up, repeating, “Hey!” She called us to attention to give us “mad props” for braving the rain, and then continued with a long, premeditated and only mildly amusing monologue covering precipitation in Los Angeles, a deeply cherished love of People magazine and her time as an Emmy Award-winning writer on the Colbert Report. She tried to get us to chant “Guernica!” the way frat boys would chant “Chug!” and shouted, “Yay!” after each presentation. After lecherously admiring the attractive and painfully sophisticated crowd, Craft offered, “Why are we writing? I’m sick of grammar: Let’s model!” To segue, Guernica poobahs Michael Archer and Joel Whitney told stories about their staff. Then LeBlanc took the mic to regale us with a wandering speech describing a “kaleidoscopic moment,” before reading a selection from Random Family, her first book. Simone finished her song set with a folksy version of “Oops!... I Did It Again,” because even smart people like Britney Spears. From the balcony, Gutman spun tracks as party guests drank another bottle of Brooklyn Lager and admired the colorful local photographs on display. While the rain still drizzled outside, the silent auction winners were announced. Despite chocolate chip cookies and brick-like baklava, the crowd began to disperse. Among the book displays, a girl in a modest black dress and matching hair bow began to dance the robot with a young professor-type in a brown suit, leather sneakers and Harry Potter glasses. A photographer snapped photos of the pair—intellectualism and alcohol on display.