John Mannion/Filth/Orgullo Primitivo/Mindhunter (Rubber Gloves): Tonight’s headliner John Mannion has also performed in Cathode Terror Secretion, a power electronics group from Far Rockaway, New York that–in live performance especially–were every bit as intimidating and wonderfully off putting as their name implies. What that duo accomplished with laptops and effects was in itself remarkable. But what is perhaps even more remarkable is that his solo project features little more than Mr. Mannion manipulating a box fan (!), and the results are more stirring and somehow even more accessible than the fierce and impenetrable wall of sonics he built with CTS.

See if you can take your eyes and ears off of this enveloping fourteen minute clip of Mannion as he carefully manipulates his chosen instrument by disrupting its spin, running NY metro cards over the hub, and causing all manner of focused and subtle percussive chaos while he whispers over the sounds. It’s startlingly effective. Also present are the vocals of opera singer Caitlin Haughney, which adds an air of of peculiarity. The more this music sounds like it was made by conventional means, the stranger it becomes. I especially recommend this show if you never find yourself at noise events. Plus, it’s only a dollar.

Cool Out with Schwa/Adam P/Sober (Bar Céline): As you may have heard, Cool Out has been at Bar Céline for over a month now, and I’ve been a couple of times myself to try to get a feel for the new environment. I’ve also talked to Tony Schwa, Adam Pickrell and Will Rhoten (DJ Sober) to get an idea of their new approach to the locally loved weekly. So for the next few weeks, I’m going to try to give each individual DJ’s take on the changed locale.

Naturally the first figure of focus will be Tony Schwa, since he started the event back in 2007 (a lifetime in DJ weekly years, really) along with Jason Abbott aka Big J, who is still DJing all over the area at various weeklies. Schwa says he was collecting vinyl “for about 6 years prior to moving to DFW from Orlando.” After a couple of years in Dallas, he started the now-defunct Hot Flash. Though it included the respective forays into funk and disco, the rotating cast of DJ’s made it very of its time; new rave, grime and even dubstep were also represented.

It was then that Schwa was approached about narrowing his focus down to a few of his truest loves, genre-wise. But he would do his best to avoid the pitfalls of many a cartoonish “funk night.” Says Schwa, “J approached me about doing a weekly focusing mainly on Funk/Soul.  I agreed only on the grounds that I would have total freedom to play what I wanted to. Basically, I just didn’t want it to be a generic funk night (i.e. “Ring My Bell,” Brick House” etc). Don’t get me wrong, I love that music too, but we all know it. I wanted to expose people to songs I love that they might not ever find or hear on their own.”

And that he does. Since Disco is included in Cool Out’s advertising, that even includes Italo Disco on occasion. On one recent visit, I was thrilled to hear Charlie’s “Spacer Woman.” Not exactly what I’m used to hearing when I venture into any venue off Henderson Ave. But he says tries not to even repeat his own obscure selections too often, not to mention the hits. “I’m always looking for ‘new’ (old) music to keep my selection fresh,” Schwa said. “I feel that falling back on the same tunes can have a negative effect on the night. It basically gets boring for everybody involved.  I’m really not trying to wear out the classics.”

As for the traditionally dead night, Schwa says he chose Monday for that very reason. But things picked up around him. “It’s funny, ’cause we chose Monday’s for C.O. because there wasn’t anything else going on at the time,” he said. “Once we got some steam behind the night we started noticing nights popping up all over Greenville.  It’s flattering, but at the same time I really enjoyed when cool out was the destination spot on Monday nights. Now it seems like people are more concerned with bar hopping.”

No word yet on whether or not Henderson has had any uptick in Monday night activity since Cool Out appeared on the socially active street, but it seems that bar hopping is a way of life on Henderson anyway.

As for being a vinyl purist, Schwa is decidedly not one. He apparently learned the hard way, and it helps to keep in mind that the old Cool Out was originally upstairs. “I brought crates of records for about the first year or so of doing Cool Out, but eventually made the switch to Serato. You’ll find that most DJ’s nowadays are making the switch simply for convenience. It gets hard lugging a 60lb crate of records around.”

As for how Schwa decided on the venue, it wasn’t just the look of the place, it was also a matter of sovereignty and the fact that he admired what Celine had going all of the other days of the week.

“There were a few spots in the running but Bar Celine won in the end,” he said. “They’re just really open to what we want to do with the night going forward and already have an awesome line-up throughout the week.” (Psychic Soundsystem on Tuesday, JT Donaldson and Luke Sardello on Friday etc.)

Then I asked about the Cavern’s current state of affairs, since it’s transformation into English/Irish hybrid bar The Crown and Harp:

“Yeah…no comment,” he says.

Fair enough. I am pretty apprehensive myself, though I do want to give the place a fair chance.

When I asked what Bar Celine’s potential impact will be on Cool Out and its crowd, Schwa is pretty optimistic:

“I think Bar Celine is gonna expose Cool Out to a whole new group of people that never made it over to Greenville,” he said. “Along with the Cool Out family that have supported us for the past few years.”

Judging from what I’ve seen so far, that second part seems to be already taken care of.

As for Schwa’s feelings on next week’s subject, Adam Pickrell:

“Adam is just an amazing asset to Cool Out. Besides his great ear for music,” Schwa said. “He’s a phenomenal keyboard player [some may remember him from his band White Lotus Society]. We have a lot in common, but also expose each other to new music constantly.  He schools me on World music and jazz, and I like to think I’ve taught him a thing or two about Boogie & Disco.”

Image: Still from video of a John Mannion’s performance.