Luis G. Luna’s photos hanging in the backroom in Three Sheets.
The back room at Three Sheets buzzed as people played pool, drank craft beer and $3 Narragansetts, and looked at two series of newly-hung photographs. One one wall, there was a series of framed portraits, mostly black and white: a man in a pea coat crossing the street, a bearded older man in Egypt. On the other were smaller snapshots, mostly of landscapes, urban and rural — but only slices of them, framed by a dashboard or the top of a table.
It was “Art in the Back, Music in the Front” night, which Three Sheets hosts on the second Friday of every month. The name says it all: in the backroom, there’s visual art, and in the front, live music.
Three Sheets started hosting these events last September. Since then, they haven’t missed a month, and have featured a broad mix of artists and musicians. Last month, they featured pin-striping by Ray Benson and artwork by Phred Rawles, paired with a performance by surf band 9th Wave. In past months they’ve showcased painting, blacksmithing, flyer art, and bands of all musical stripes — and work hard to try to create cohesive, casual shows.
“We want to bring together art and music, and mix them in a space that isn’t a gallery,” said Sarah Scranton, who curates the events for Three Sheets. Scranton is also a fine artist, illustrator, photographer, and graphic designer whose artist name is Lipgloss Crisis. “The best ones we’ve had are when the art and music mesh really well.”
Last Friday’s event meshed photography and solo acoustic music — a recipe for a pleasant, warm, gently melancholy evening. The photographs, which will hang in the back room until next month’s event, are by local photographers Luis G. Luna and Seth Miller. Byl Cote and Alex Burnet (of Laundry Day) each performed a set, singing and playing acoustic guitar.
People filtered in and out of the back room, some to shoot pool and others to just admire the photographs.
Luna’s are the series portraits, mostly black and white, taken in Ecuador, Egypt, and Philadelphia. Some are direct, head-on shots: viewers confront the gaze of an older Ecuadorian woman. Others are more sidelong. “Woman in a Suzuki, 2016” catches the eye of a young woman in the back of a car.
“Woman in a Suzuki, 2016” by Luis G. Luna.
On the opposite wall, Miller’s smaller prints are all unframed and hang in a pattern that looks almost accidental. They read more like glimpses: dry scenery with the hint of a side mirror, a highway seen over a dashboard, a piece of machinery cutting across the sky. Collectively, they give the viewer sense of movement through different spaces.
One of Seth Miller’s photographs.
On Friday the music began at around 9:00 p.m. People drifted from the bar and the back room into the stage area as Cote began to sing. The small crowd gathered at the tables. He opened with a song from his new EP called “Have You Ever Been to Heaven?” He tapped a foot in a black Converse along with the beat.
Byl Cote performing solo at Three Sheets.
Cote sang all original songs, with the exception of a requested cover of “Five Years” by David Bowie. After that, he sang a song called “Dreaming Without You” that was inspired by a dream he had about Bowie singing a song. “I woke up with part of the song in my head and wrote the rest of it,” Cote said, later.
His deep voice approached gravelly at it carried in the small room (though he did chastise a large group for talking too much during his performance). His songs were often sad, and lyrical, but with a slight bite — sometimes approaching anger. The emotional notes he hit seemed just about right for guy at a bar with a guitar.
“I’m Alex Burnet,” Burnet said as he took the stage. “I have a fear that we’ve met but that I don’t know your name.” People laughed. He moved through slow solo versions of several Laundry Day songs, holding the crowd captive with his his voice. In between songs, he cracked natural, self-deprecating jokes. His performance of the band’s “Hey How’s Heaven” was a crowd pleaser.
Caitlin Lee Photo
Alex Burnet of Laundry Day performing at Three Sheets on Friday.
“The fun thing about solo shows is how it feels like people are watching you in your living room,” Burnet said later. “You can mess up, you can talk and just be honest.” That was roughly how it felt to watch him sing and strum.
As it got later, the crowd grew and the volume rose. Burnet noted that it was hard to hear his own guitar. It didn’t show, though. He ended on a unique, rock‑y version of “When the Saints Go Marching In” that had people clapping along.
Danny Ravizza Photo
Alex Burnet outside Three Sheets after the performance.
Afterward, Burnet said, “I like playing here. It feels like hanging out.” At the end of his performance, people filtered towards the bar, or to tables outside, or into the back room — maybe to look at the photos, or maybe just to play pool.
This mix of laughing, hanging out, drinking, watching, and listening aligns with Scranton’s vision of an ideal “Art in the Back, Music in the Front” night.
“We want it to be a casual thing that’s more than going to an art show,” Scranton said. “It’s also having a night out.”
