The rules are simple for anyone wanting to play the Tiny Gear Concert series at The Library speakeasy in Lake Worth: performers can sign up at 7 p.m. on a first-come, first-served basis; the show starts at 8 p.m.; only three pieces of musical equipment are allowed — and they must all fit inside either a briefcase or a backpack.
Also, no laptops and no solo vocal performances. Got all that? A growing cadre of musicians has embraced these limitations at a once-a-month gig where new ideas and sounds are workshopped and refined in front of a close, receptive audience.
“Beat makers, ambient artists, experimental artists and everything in between share their creative output in an inclusive and supportive environment,” series host Rod Furious tells PureHoney. “It’s a truly unique evening and one of the few art-forward events in South Florida.”
BabyGorilla
Tiny Gear was the brainchild of a South Florida expatriate, Marlon Foster, and carries on with Furious emceeing since Foster returned to his native England. Held on the last Wednesday of the month for the last two years, Tiny Gear has become a home for experimenters and tinkerers from every genre corner operating in South Florida.
“There is always something we’ve never seen before and it’s fun to see what everyone brings to the table each month,” Furious says. “We’ve seen theremins, melodicas, otomatones (a quirky Japanese instrument that looks birthed out of a Super Mario Bros. production meeting), toys, modular synths, samplers, homemade effects, and tapes.”
Human Fluid Rot
The constraints on instruments “accomplish three main goals,” the host says, “to challenge the musicians to rethink their creative musical flow through new sounds and equipment, keep all participants in the same equal parameters with which to work, and to allow quick set up and transitions between artists.”
In an era of mammoth movie franchises and pop tours, Tiny Gear rethinks entertainment as sheer scale to focus on something intimate and special — fleeting even as it lives in the moment — and sustainable.
The Tiny Gear Concert series happens 7pm every last Wednesday of the month at The Library at Lilo’s in Lake Worth. lilosstreetfoodandbar.com/the-library ~ Abel Folgar
