Review:  Fowl Play @ The Loft Downtown//09.26.09

NYC celebrated its beloved pigeon this past Saturday at Fowl Play.   The party held at the Loft Downtown included art inspired by everyone’s favorite urban bird, including a human size coop on the rooftop, graffiti-style renderings, paintings and even interactive origami.  Not only were there visual arts, but hip hop acts Holy Smokes & Nightwalker, the Brown Bag All Stars and Stalley performed energetic sets and contributed some live art to the event.

Though the crowd grew restless once the free booze ran out, Soul Khan, one quarter (or one sixth, depending on who you ask) of the Brown Bag crew, held it down and entertained the crowd.  Holy Smokes & Nightwalker were the first act on the bill and though their impassioned set clearly showed skill, their marble mouthed grisliness and serious tone missed the mark with the Saturday night crowd.  Thankfully, Brown Bag All Stars, an MC/DJ/Producer crew composed of J57, Audible Doctor, Koncept and the aforementioned Soul Khan, brought the party back to life with their old school antics and high energy set.

The final act of the evening was Stalley, an emerging MC from Ohio who performed with a well-rehearsed band that included bass, guitar, drums and keys.  Stalley’s crowd-pleasing set included a flawless cover of Jay-Z’s “Thank You” as well as highlights from his recent mixtape, MadStalley: The Autobiography.  The crowd present throughout the performances enjoyed the vibe, but hopefully next time the bar will stay open a little longer.  The organizers of Fowl Play should have known that if there’s nothing to feed on, it’s a pigeon’s nature to flee the coop.

-review and photos by writer and beatmaker dRes for deadlymelody.com

Stalley covers Jay-Z’s “Thank You”
Stalley performs “Slim’s Return” off MadStalley: The Autobiography

See more photos from Fowl Play inside…