Moments after John Kerry conceded the 2004 Presidential election, Joe Harvard started phoning friends. The first call he made got an answering machine, and at the beep he blurted “Tom, Paul,Rachel, I have to cut off all my hair, and I need your help!” Was he calling his barber? A trendy hair salon? Nope. Joe was calling the tenacious threesome at Big Art Show, whose season finale at the Asbury Park Hojos promised to be a barn burner -- and was still short one band.

So it was that Joe – better known as the Saint’s head soundman – stood before a healthy crowd of music fans and art afficionados, amidst the assembled work of some two dozen artists, asking over the PA for a volunteer to play stylist, and reduce his long hair (“I’ve been working this sort of 70’s David Cassidy thing for a while now -- I’m bummed”!) to a pile on the Hojo’s floor. “I made a bet with the Saint’s much-beloved, reactionary conservative doorman Jim, that I’d lop off my hair if Bush won, if he’d wear a T-shirt reading ‘I (heart symbol) affirmative action’ if he lost”, Harvard explained to the crowd, laughing. “It just seemed like this was one of those times when you need to put your money – or your mop – where your mouth is.” So now the mop must go. “Hey is Dan from Bubblegum here … maybe he can do this ”, Joe asks, but his friend -- the guitarist from one of Joe’s favorite local bands -- either doesn’t hear him or is in no hurry to learn barbering in public.

Joe Harvard is no stranger to reinventing himself, aesthetically or otherwise, onstage or off. Co-founder and former owner of Boston’s legendary Fort Apache Recording, a producer and engineer with copious indie and major label credits, co-founder/booking agent of rock shows at Cambridge’s prestigious Middle East Restaurant, gunslinger guitar and lap steel player (on recordings by Dinosaur, Jr., Throwing Muses, the Breeders, the Pernice Brothers, and Mark Prescott among many others), and as of April 2004 author of “The Velvet Underground and Nico”, Harvard likes to change things up. Along the way voted the Boston Phoenix/WFNX Best Local Producer, more recently the winner of the prestigious Moth Storyslam Annual Grandslam in NYC, the smile on his face tonight reveals that none of these mini-careers hold as much fun for him as his first love: leading a live band through it’s paces. Tonight’s A-list rhythm section of bassist Jay Walker and Sarah Tomek (Day’s Awake, and recepient of 2004Asbury Music Award for Best Drummer) belie the single rehearsal they had for this show (an hour before) with a burning romp through a half dozen of Harvard’s originals, and by the final song of the set the audience is with them; everyone seems to be having almost as much fun as Joe.

Harvard asks “Where’s my barber”?, and an attractive young woman named Alysa steps up to the band, accepting both the barber shirt Joe offers her and a pair of borrowed craft scissors (Harvard rolls his eyes as he tells her “Shit! I think these may be pinking sheers”!). He explains she has one song to give him “a crew cut or something like one”, asks her to spare his ears if possible, and after offering sincere gratitude to the Big Art trio, he dedicates this song to organizers Paul Yavarone, Tom Phillips and Rachel Ade, and the group launches into a rollercoaster version of “Pablo Picasso”, a long-time, trademark Harvard cover written by his good friend Jonathan Richman -- and recently covered by David Bowie ( “though mine is way better”, Harvard says, sounding more matter-of-fact than boastful). As the song nears it’s end, a pound or so of brown hair covers the floor, and Alysa has filled a baggie with it as well (“I’m going to glue it on a guitar later so I can play … what else … hair guitar”, Harvard tells a bemused artist standing by later on). Tomek and Walker follow the leader into a manic faster-faster-faster ending, until Harvard lifts his Fender high, calls out “Thirteen!!”, and the three lockstepped players thrash out thirteen slashing, stop-on-a-dime chord-kicks before they hit the final crescendo in unison. They are all smiling now, and I notice that most of the crowd is, too. Tomek holds up her hand to a laughing Jay Walker: her knuckles are bleeding from the workout, and Harvard -- looking ten years younger than when they started the set -- steps between the rhythm aces, grabs her hand and schmeers the blood across the pickguard of his Metalflake Red 1966 Telecaster. Anyone counting his various career reincarnations can now add one more: “performance artist”.

NOTE: Big Art Show is always looking for artists, promising venues, good ideas and donations of time, A-V equipment, or just oplain ducats; their season will begin once again in the Spring, but look for special events at http://www.bigartshow.com/.

-- Rae Doody

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