Piracy – Karaoke – Conviviality
Saturday, February 4
10pm until late
Free

Been a long time, shouldnt’uh left you, without a dope beat to step to.

What Is It?

Swap Meet is an aperiodic celebration of the cultural commons organized by The Royal Academy of Nuts + Bolts and Superbunker. We have a poorly-organized music exchange, enthusiastically amateur karaoke, and an overall Betalevel open house with snacks and drinks for all.

What to Bring?

• bring: your singin’ voice and dancin’ shoes (optional)
• bring: some storage media and/or some music filez and/or your personal music device of choice (optional)
• bring: drinks, snacks, or a kindly donation (optional)
• bring: a defiant sense of joy in the face of our eroding cultural freedoms (required)

What to Sing?

Here’s the house karaoke list

Piracy – Karaoke – Conviviality
Friday, August 26
10pm until late
Free

We were going to say something about how it wasn’t enough that those Washington socialists are always trying to redistribute our wealth, now they’re redistributing our seismic events… We were, but then we kind of got sleepy in the middle of even thinking about that and decided instead to write about panda bears. Then we realized that panda bears are cute and all, what with their penchant for doubled names and their reproductive difficulties, but that we actually don’t know anything about panda bears except for their penchant for doubled names and their reproductive difficulties. And we also, of course, had to admit that neither panda bears nor even Washington socialists have much, if anything, to do with singing karaoke in a basement.

So we thought about it some more and realized that there were all sorts of things we could say about this week’s Swap Meet, reasons why this one will be special: First, we are once again graced with the presence of our friend Mr. Ben Miller of the fine state of New York. He was actually the person that originally got us interested in karaoke. Second, it is Betalevel member Heather Parlato‘s birthday this week. We’ll raise a glass to that. Third, another ‘Leveler, Colin Dickey, is imminently leaving town for a while, so we shall send him off in song. Fourth, yet another member of thee sacred order of Beta, Dave Eng, managed not to die this past week. And we are super psyched about that.

So come on down to our basement of karaokeosity, and celebrate all those things with us — and, heck, celebrate panda bears and Washington socialists too! Why not?

Swap Meet is an aperiodic celebration of the cultural commons organized by The Royal Academy of Nuts + Bolts and Superbunker. We have a poorly-organized music exchange, enthusiastically amateur karaoke, and an overall Betalevel open house with snacks and drinks for all.

What to Bring?

• bring: your singin’ voice and dancin’ shoes (optional)
• bring: some storage media and/or some music filez and/or your personal music device of choice (optional)
• bring: drinks, snacks, or a kindly donation (optional)
• bring: a defiant sense of joy in the face of our eroding cultural freedoms (required)

What to Sing?

Here’s the house karaoke list

Piracy – Karaoke – Conviviality
Saturday, July 2, 2011
10pm until late
Free

You know how we’re always joking about how one day we’ll get a door for our bathroom? Well, folks, we are happy to report: what once was a joke is now a fact. Our bathroom, it has a door. We’re not saying this is any more reason to come down to Betalevel for Swap Meet (your bathroom at home, we wager, has a door as well), but we are saying that Betalevel is that much more classy of a place now. We have always been classy, true, but now we’re “bathroom with door” classy. Ooh la la. So, you know, maybe this Swap Meet you want to don your top hat or some pearls? Some spats or a monocle would not be totally uncalled for. You bring the fancy; we provide the classy; and we’ll all scream along together to Puttin’ on the Ritz.

Edit: we just checked our karaoke list and there is actually a shocking (shocking!) absence of Taco songs (we assume he had more than just that one). Instead, we’ll simply have to sing Rasputin. We know we have that one.

Swap Meet is an aperiodic celebration of the cultural commons organized by The Royal Academy of Nuts + Bolts and Superbunker. We have a poorly-organized music exchange, enthusiastically amateur karaoke, and an overall Betalevel open house with snacks and drinks for all.

What to Bring?

• bring: your singin’ voice and dancin’ shoes (optional)
• bring: some storage media and/or some music filez and/or your personal music device of choice (optional)
• bring: drinks, snacks, or a kindly donation (optional)
• bring: a defiant sense of joy in the face of our eroding cultural freedoms (required)

What to Sing?

Here’s the house karaoke list

Piracy – Karaoke – Conviviality – End Times
Friday, May 20, 2011
10pm until late
Free

We of the Hermetic Order of Beta were merrily planning our next meeting when suddenly we remembered: THE END IS NIGH! What use scheduling future events? What use discussing supply needs for the space? What use making sidelong glances at our bathroom, wistfully imagining how nice it would be to actually have a proper door? NO USE AT ALL! Because, come Saturday, Debbie Harry, Fab 5 Freddy, and the other four MCs of the apocalypse are going to ride their flying saucers down to Earth and take us all to live in eternal bliss with the Big Baby Jesus on Mars. But not before they eat some cars.

Right.

So, a party. A PARTY! Like it’s nineteen ninety-nine! Except Y2K was a bust, a fake, hokum, and this impending doom is 100% TOTALLY REAL! The Sacred Ring of Betalevel Curatoritosity may still meet beforehand (for olde times’ sake — we have been doing this for six years, after all — oh, yeah, did we mention this is also an impromptu anniversary party?), but you better believe we will be focusing our mental and physical and metaphysical energies on making this one heck of a send-off for humanity (speaking of send-offs, this is also Dave’s retirement party — triforce party power in effect).

We’ve always said there was no better place to be during the zombie apocalypse than down in our basement bunker. Now is the time to put that theory to the test!

Swap Meet is an aperiodic celebration of the cultural commons organized by The Royal Academy of Nuts + Bolts and Superbunker. We have a poorly-organized music exchange, enthusiastically amateur karaoke, and an overall Betalevel open house with snacks and drinks for all.

What to Bring?

• bring: your singin’ voice and dancin’ shoes (optional)
• bring: some storage media and/or some music filez and/or your personal music device of choice (optional)
• bring: drinks, snacks, or a kindly donation (optional)
• bring: a defiant sense of joy in the face of our eroding cultural freedoms (required)

What to Sing?

Here’s the house karaoke list

Piracy – Karaoke – Conviviality
Saturday, April 16, 2011
10pm until late
Free

Ah, spring. At long last we have been granted reprieve from our season of rain and cold and sullen indoorsitude. And as the Earth’s axis tilts in relation to the sun, so too our apprehension of the world: everything seems brighter and friendlier and happier and like it might just be, finally, in the end, okay. The flowers, they are in bloom. The birds, they are a’singing.

Oh, how the birds do love a good song. That is why we almost — almost — decided to make this a birds-only Swap Meet. But then we remembered what happened last time we did that, with the guano everywhere and the general confusion over how to use our bathroom’s magnetic “door” (birds being the insane clowns of the animal kingdom). Thus, instead, this is a people-only Swap Meet — for people! So throw off that blanket, closet those galoshes, and come out into the world, to be with people, singing, in a basement. Spring!

Swap Meet is an aperiodic celebration of the cultural commons organized by The Royal Academy of Nuts+Bolts and Superbunker. We have a poorly-organized music exchange, enthusiastically amateur karaoke, and an overall Betalevel open house with snacks and drinks for all.

What to Bring?

• bring: your singin’ voice and dancin’ shoes (optional)
• bring: some storage media and/or some music filez and/or your personal music device of choice (optional)
• bring: drinks, snacks, or a kindly donation (optional)
• bring: a defiant sense of joy in the face of our eroding cultural freedoms (required)

What to Sing?

Here’s the house karaoke list

Piracy – Karaoke – Conviviality
Saturday, January 22, 2011
10pm until late
Free

Ah, the good old days, when men were men, our country was strong, and Swap Meet was once a month. Remember those days?

Yeah, it’s a bit foggy for us too.

And really, the more we think about it, the more we remember that those days of old weren’t always so good; that men qua men certainly weren’t all that great (they were kind of dicks most of the time, no?); and our country, our bleepin’ country, seemed to have something to prove regarding its strength, so it kept getting itself embroiled in questionable wars and whatnot. And Swap Meet? Well, frankly, there were times that the end of the month would roll around and the thought would occur to us: Didn’t we just do one of these things? That doesn’t mean it wasn’t fun, but it often didn’t inspire the thrill, the excitement, the sheer pent up frenzy of desire that singing Men Without Hats in a back alley basement in Chinatown should engender.

So we decided to no longer do it on any regular schedule. We’d only do it “when we felt like it.” And generally, since then, that has been about every other month or so. But busy schedules and vacations and holidays and weather-induced malaise have conspired to create a nearly four-month gap since our last Swap Meet. And, let us tell you, we are jonesin’ bad. We’ve got the shakes. We’ve got the sweats. We passed by that copy shop downtown where they do karaoke in the back and a couple of us had crazy heart palpitations and started hallucinating. It’s serious.

But, thankfully, the stars and our calendars have finally aligned: this weekend we can get our fix.

Oh, the sweet ecstasy of song. Our spoon runneth over. You say there is no spoon; we say you can dance, you can dance, everybody look at your hands.

Swap Meet is an aperiodic celebration of the cultural commons organized by The Royal Academy of Nuts+Bolts and Superbunker. We have a poorly-organized music exchange, enthusiastically amateur karaoke, and an overall Betalevel open house with snacks and drinks for all.

What to Bring?

• bring: your singin’ voice and dancin’ shoes (optional)
• bring: some storage media and/or some music filez and/or your personal music device of choice (optional)
• bring: drinks, snacks, or a kindly donation (optional)
• bring: a defiant sense of joy in the face of our eroding cultural freedoms (required)

What to Sing?

Here’s the house karaoke list

Piracy – Karaoke – Conviviality
Saturday, August 21, 2010
10pm until late
Free

Google made its surprising net neutrality “compromise” the same week that Max Headroom was released on DVD? At least megacorps still have a sense of humor.

But, seriously folks, you’re looking at this all wrong. What they’re really saying is that you, when you’re out in the world, mobile, should be with people, not the internet. Because, let’s face it, you want to be downloading and they want you to buy stuff or watch Justin Bieber videos or, you know, buy stuff. That’s what they’re going to prioritize. But that data you want to receive, that you want to give – the exchanges you want to make – should be done face-to-face, live, in person. Google isn’t making an argument against net neutrality but an argument for… SWAP MEET.

Thank you, Google. We appreciate your support. We’ll be toasting you this Saturday with a MexiCoke and a song.

Ca-ca-ca-ca-ca-catch the wave!

What Is It?

Swap Meet is an aperiodic celebration of the cultural commons organized by The Royal Academy of Nuts+Bolts and Superbunker. We have a poorly-organized music exchange, enthusiastically amateur karaoke, and an overall Betalevel open house with snacks and drinks for all.

What to Bring?

• bring: your singin’ voice and dancin’ shoes (optional)
• bring: some storage media and/or some music filez and/or your personal music device of choice (optional)
• bring: drinks, snacks, or a kindly donation (optional)
• bring: a defiant sense of joy in the face of our eroding cultural freedoms (required)

What to Sing?

Here’s the house karaoke list

FANTASTIC FREEDOM SWAP!

Piracy – Karaoke – Conviviality
Saturday, July 3, 2010
10pm until late
Free

Still bummed that the U.S. national team got eliminated from the World Cup? Well, what’s wrong with you? This is AMERICUH. And we don’t like football unless it’s OUR football — with the swine-skin ball and the tight pantalons and the beefy men wrestling each other to the ground — not that effete, European “soccer” stuff.

And this is the weekend that we celebrate all that is great about America. Like AMERICAN football and grilled meats and things exploding and songs by John Cougar Mellencamp and FREEDOM. You like freedom, don’t you? Okay, then let’s sing about it. Together. In a basement. The way the founding fathers intended it.

And don’t worry, you can Tivo the Tour de France. Sissy.

What Is It?

Swap Meet is an aperiodic celebration of the cultural commons organized by The Royal Academy of Nuts+Bolts and Superbunker. We have a poorly-organized music exchange, enthusiastically amateur karaoke, and an overall Betalevel open house with snacks and drinks for all.

What to Bring?

• bring: your singin’ voice and dancin’ shoes (optional)
• bring: some storage media and/or some music filez and/or your personal music device of choice (optional)
• bring: drinks, snacks, or a kindly donation (optional)
• bring: a defiant sense of joy in the face of our eroding cultural freedoms (required)

What to Sing?

Here’s the house karaoke list

Piracy – Karaoke – Conviviality
Saturday, April 3, 2010
10pm until late
Free

This month we celebrate not only the zombie (or, if you’re Mormon, werewolf) resurrection, but also the reappearance of Southpaw, a ghost from Swap Meets past. And we’ll do it in the traditional way: with gold fish and Lincoln Logs! L’chei-im!

Swap Meet is an aperiodic celebration of the cultural commons organized by The Royal Academy of Nuts+Bolts and Superbunker. We have a poorly-organized music exchange, enthusiastically amateur karaoke, and an overall Betalevel open house with snacks and drinks for all.

What to Bring?

• bring: your singin’ voice and dancin’ shoes (optional)
• bring: some storage media and/or some music filez and/or your personal music device of choice (optional)
• bring: drinks, snacks, or a kindly donation (optional)
• bring: a defiant sense of joy in the face of our eroding cultural freedoms (required)

What to Sing?

Here’s the house karaoke list

Piracy – Karaoke – Conviviality
Saturday, February 27, 2010
10pm until late
Free

Rejoice! We’ve added some new songs to our karaoke library! Including some recent popular hits! Including some Lady Gaga! But, be warned, there is not enough Lady Gaga for everyone to perform there own Lady Gaga song. So, you know, maybe you want to show up on the early side, to make sure you get to sing the Lady Gaga? Or maybe everyone will just have to sing along together to Lady Gaga?! Yes, that’s better. The Swap Meet Gaga Chorus! Let it be so.

Swap Meet is an aperiodic celebration of the cultural commons organized by The Royal Academy of Nuts+Bolts and Superbunker. We have a poorly-organized music exchange, enthusiastically amateur karaoke, and an overall Betalevel open house with snacks and drinks for all.

What to Bring?

• bring: your singin’ voice and dancin’ shoes (optional)
• bring: some storage media and/or some music filez and/or your personal music device of choice (optional)
• bring: drinks, snacks, or a kindly donation (optional)
• bring: a defiant sense of joy in the face of our eroding cultural freedoms (required)

What to Sing?

Here’s the house karaoke list (note: new songs not yet added to list).