Audio By Carbonatix
On Saturday night, while Ian Bangs was working at Rubber Gloves Rehearsal Studios during The Boom Boom Box, Sarah Jaffe and Astronautalis show, someone broke into the local MC/DJ‘s apartment and stole his MacBook–a laptop, by the way, that Bangs is still making payments on.
By Sunday afternoon, about a half dozen MySpace bulletins had been
posted about this Thursday night’s Spring Break ’94 party at Rubber
Gloves being turned into a benefit show for Bangs (Bangs was already scheduled
to play the party, along with Yeah Def and Swedish Teens.)
“Originally, I booked the party just for fun,” says James ‘Shep’
Shepard, the venue’s general manager. “But, after the break-in, I
decided to turn it into a benefit, because, for a DJ like him, losing
his laptop directly affects his ability to work.”
Shephard says all proceeds from the party will go toward helping Bangs
get a new MacBook (and, one hopes, bring in enough to finish paying off
one that was stolen).
Rightly upset by the theft, over the phone late last night, Bangs said,
“All my stuff is on there–all of it! It’s like loosing a best friend.
Seriously, it’s my life.”
Not sure what Bangs plans to do tomorrow night for “Empty Pockets”, his regular DJ gig at
Hailey’s–but he did say that he’ll probably use Joey
Liechty’s (aka Yeah Def) equipment.
“Honestly, Shep’s too good to me,” Bangs said about the benefit show.
“I mean, I know he’s my boss and we’re friends, but this is above and
beyond. And it’s so rad that people here do things like this for each
other. It’s a shitty situation, but when you have people who will help
you out like this, well, it turns out to be pretty bas ass.”
At Spring Break ’94, there will be free beer from 9 to 10 p.m. and
both a limbo and a swimsuit contest. The $5 cover will be waived for
those wearing their trunks, but, then again, if you show up in your
bikini, you won’t be helping Bangs out. So be sure to throw in a couple
bucks if you head out for the show. —Daniel Rodrigue
