 
Photos by Phil Bardi
Some people just weren’t getting it. And Dan Deacon was loving it.
“You suck!†yelled a heckler from the back and Deacon ate it up, incorporating it into his performance and chanting "You suck!" like a mantra as his show drew to a close.
It was definitely not for everyone.
The festivities began with the super happy experimental retro electronica of Winter Park’s Bonz Xylophone, a one-man show of keyboards and Thinkpad-produced rhythms. Video Hippos followed with deafening, multi-media punk rock, “multi†being occasional samples and the low-quality, pre-produced video creations that accompanied their performance. (On a side note, the drummer – who also seemed to be the duo’s leader – played on the most rudimentary drum kit I’ve ever seen while singing unintelligibly with his back to the audience through the entire set, his ass planted firmly atop a makeshift seat that appeared to be some sort of amp head.)
After much soundchecking, Deacon kicked things off by ordering the audience to fill the “coward canal†of open space in front and around his table of sound-altering gadgets, which he’d positioned at the center of New World Brewery’s outdoor performance area. He told us to raise our hands up over our heads and grasp the hands of the persons standing on either side of us. Then he related a long, drawn-out story that had something to do with losing a NetFlix DVD while he fiddled with his board and did whatever he needed to do to get things going. (His makeshift equipment required numerous adjustments and quick-fixes throughout the night.)
By the time he launched into the first song, the energy level of the room had sagged like our tired, upraised arms. Deacon took note, finished the song, and proceeded to discuss the dance culture of different cities, which he followed up with an order for everyone to freeze in a pose that made it look like we’d just been dancing wildly and enthusiastically, the result being that we were unwittingly compelled to dance wildly and enthusiastically when he began his next song with his own trademark thrashing.
This went on through the rest of the show. High energy, psychotic electronic dance numbers were interspersed with his infectious dancing and long-winded, completely bizarre stories or faux anecdotes, my favorite being the one about getting stopped by a cop who took his dick out and sprayed a “Do you know why I pulled you over?†message in the sand with his piss; and my least favorite occurring when, during a break in the music, there was some “Happy Birthday†commotion that caused Deacon to engage the crowd in the slowest possible “Happy Birthday†sing-along I’d ever had the misfortune of witnessing, and which stretched on and on and on for so long that I became anxious and irritated enough to contemplate leaving. But he managed to rein it in just in time and even headed up a dance party contest that was just as fun to watch as it was to participate in.
After pointing out the weird vibe in the room (which probably had something to do with the hecklers who, despite not liking the show, stayed through to the very end), Deacon brought it to a close and encouraged us to sit around him, storytelling-style, while he played a last song that ultimately made people jump up and dance to the very last notes.
Deacon’s hopelessly wacky Tampa debut made my cheeks hurt from smiling. Kudos to aestheticized presents for bringing yet another interesting act to town and for offering a more than appealing summer lineup, which includes:
Dr. Dog @ Crowbar Friday, June 8 (stay tuned for Wade’s feature)
Battles @ Crowbar Tuesday, June 19
People Noise @ New World Brewery Friday, July 6
Ben Kweller @ Crowbar Friday, August 10
This article appears in May 30 – Jun 5, 2007.