Iron Pour

[jeffcrom]

The 4th Ward Afro Klezmer Orchestra, of which I am a member, played a gig in the Castleberry Hill district of Atlanta last night. In the past ten years, Castleberry Hill has developed into a very interesting area with lots of art galleries and bars, and frequent art "happenings." When I got to the gig, I found out, to my surprise, that we were accompanying an iron pour. A group of artists who work in iron had a furnace and molds set up, and about 45 minutes into our set, they opened up a sluice and molten iron poured into a bucket - that's what's happening in the first picture. The second picture shows them pouring the iron into molds. The guys (and a girl) were dancing to our tunes as they worked. It was a pretty amazing experience. And now I know what molten iron smells like.

These pictures were taken the great Atlanta music photographer Vincent Tseng. I've included a post-gig picture of the band because I think we look so damn handsome.

[JSngry]

What does molten iron smell like? Anything like a steel mill smell? Hopefully not?

[jeffcrom]

What does molten iron smell like? Anything like a steel mill smell? Hopefully not?

Never been around a steel mill, so I don't know. Hard to describe - the smell was pungent without being pleasant or particularly unpleasant.

[JSngry]

All I know is that the one time I got out of a car in Gary, Indiana, I got nauseous, like, almost immediately. That, and playing a couple of three week engagements in Birmingham, Alabama was a lesson in watching out for when the air was not clear before stepping outside.

But still, a pretty neat thing to be a part of, this must have been!

[jeffcrom]

I drove through Gary once, on my way from Michigan to Chicago. I remember thinking, "This is the worst place I've ever been." (I hope nobody from Gary is online here.)

But yes, it was a great evening. It became a real interaction - the artists were obviously digging the music, and the band was digging the iron.