The art of noise

Recent court decisions have given telemarketers the go-ahead to cold-call anyone, whether they’re on a “do not call” list or not. Even though recently signed legislation prohibits these cold calls, you know telemarketers will find an end around. You just know it.

Government isn’t going to do anything for you. One judge cited the telemarketers’ First Amendment rights, while some congress-critter from Oklahoma jabbered on NPR about how any new law would be taking food off the tables of his constituents—many of whom happen to make a living by calling and harassing other people at dinnertime.

So, why not take matters into your own hands? The next time some obnoxious twit calls from a boiler room in Tulsa, or Hyderabad, precisely when you’re halfway between the stove and the sink with a boiling pot of pasta, why not give them a sonic representation of how you really feel?

You don’t need to swear like a sailor. All you need is an arsenal of noise. But where to find it?

Fortunately, you’re in the right city—and your timing isn’t bad, either. This weekend marks the Northern California Experimental Music Festival, colloquially known as the NorCal Noise Fest. The three-day celebration of dissonance, antiphony, dentistry-rattling cacophony and other concertos of the doomed will take place on Friday, October 3, at Luna’s Café, 1414 16th Street; and on Saturday, October 4, and Sunday, October 5, at Capitol Garage, 1427 L Street. The Noise Fest has been around since 1994, and it attracts participants from, well, far afield. Admission is $5 per night. Or, for $20, you can attend all three nights and get a T-shirt, CD and button, too. Advance tickets are available at Tone Vendor Records, 1812 J Street.

Friday night’s program at Luna’s begins at 7 p.m. and will include Machiner, Klowd, Pedestrian Deposit, Randy Yau, PCRV, Xome, Stimbox, Sickness, Thomas Dimuzio and Clew of Theseus. Saturday’s program at Capitol Garage begins at 7 p.m. and features the Jihad, Kristal Marimba Lounge, Thomas Helton, Noggin, Products of Conception, Abstractions, C.J. Reaven Borosque, Instagon, Klondike & York, Michelle Webb and Floyd Diebel. And Sunday’s program, also at Capitol Garage, begins at 6 p.m. and includes UFO As Bacteria, Pest, Big City Orchestra, Vertonen, Contact Mic Arts Union, Chachi Jones, Delayed Sleep, Control, Moe! Staiano, Critical Theatre and Uberkunst.

And, in the “too late for a record review, but we’ll take care of our friend the publicist” department, New Jersey band My Chemical Romance, recently signed to Warner/Reprise, will play the Boardwalk (9426 Greenback Lane in Orangevale) on Wednesday, October 8, with A Static Lullaby, Vaux, Christenson and Athena in Hades. The show starts at 8 p.m., and tickets are $10.