Bird In The Sun
I met Vikesh Kapoor a few months ago when covering an Allston Hootenanny (my first Allston Hoot) for the Boston Phoenix. Four memories in particular have stayed with me from that night:
- The amazement that the attic never collapsed in on itself.
- Recognizing Vince as a folky/cowboyish sort of Tyler Durden of the Hoo
- “Oh, did you let Kyle in?” – Shouted at an obscene volume by headphon-ed Aaron
- Spilling drink on myself, having to change, and missing all but the last minute of Vikesh’s song.
#4 was the biggest bummer for me, because I was told by many people not to Vikesh. I fucked up. I missed out. This was obvious when I walked back into the room for the last minute of his performance.
Though I spoke little more beyond introducing myself, I remember being surprised at Vikesh’s immediate kindness.
“Hey great song, man.”
“Thanks! Thanks a lot, I really appreciate it.”
I think I was expecting to be attacked by the hard-boiled, confrontational artist I presumed him to be… Maybe he didn’t know that I pretend to be a journalist sometimes.
I was really excited when I was later contacted by Vikesh. He asked me if I had his footage from the Hoot. I was even more excited to find that I lost the footage, between the 3 computers and 4 hard drives I’ve gone through in the past 5 months. I offered to reshoot; he accepted.
I caught up with Vikesh in Brookline on a late Thursday afternoon. He just returned from his first national tour. I asked him how it was and he simply replied, “I learned a lot of things.”
His answer was in harmony with his performance.
Vikesh is playing O’Brien’s next Sunday, the 9th in the afternoon, Club Passim on September 5th, and “A Grand Ole Hoot” on September 10th.
