When Raw Paw takes over a venue, they take over a venue. The upstart arts collective utilizes every inch of available space, filling it with vibrant art installations and playful games. Last time it was a joust; previously, it has been a luminescent threefold basketball goal. As I approached Cheer Up Charlie’s on Friday night, a large blue, yellow, and red inflatable wall towered over the venue’s outdoor area. Inside the venue’s fence, people queued up to strap on velcro vests that would enable them to bounce on a trampoline surface and stick on the wall–this is the sort of merriment we’ve come to expect from Raw Paw.
The night served as benefit show for Raw Paw founding member and poet Montsho Jarreau Thoth, recently diagnosed with cancer–acute myeloid leukemia. While selling Thoth’s recently released chapbook of poetry, Raw Paw founding member Talib Abdullahi provided a little information about the situation. Montsho remains in good spirits and took convincing before he agreed to be on board with the benefit show. Abdullahi describes him as humble and incredibly upbeat during his frequent visits to visit Montsho in the hospital. I spoke briefly with Montsho via phone and he expressed his immense gratitude for Raw Paw and everyone who made the event happen. He told me it’s the most help he’s received since his diagnosis.
I arrive to find Magna Carda just getting started after I caught another set across town. I remember hosting the band at a show a year ago, and the increase in their onstage charisma and presence is noticeable and exciting. Since the group’s onset, most of Austin has been impressed with the group’s prowess in terms of lyrical delivery, but increasingly, Magna Carda also provides powerful performances as they command the stage. The band that supports Megz Kelli and Dougie Do has sharpened as well, and the four pieces has honed in on a classic hip-hop aesthetic. Keep it coming, y’all.
Hikes set up to headline the outdoor stage, and their devoted vans packed the space, ready to mosh and crowdsurf. Under the leadership of Nathan Wilkinson, Hikes sounded as anthemic and cathartically inspiring as ever. As the band plays, we’re all restored to some soaring dreamlike version of ourselves, bursting with pure joy, brimming with aching love. Near the end of their set, Wilkinson sends out some positive vibes for the night’s honoree, Montsho, who can’t be in attendance due to his compromised immune system.
The entire crowd takes up the chant of his name: “Montsho! Montsho! Montsho!” The hair on the back of my neck stands up to witness this: a community in fervent support of a beloved figure. This is what Raw Paw does best. With an undeniably austere disease affecting a loved one, they still find a way to celebrate the incredible life Montsho Jarreau Thoth continues to live. This is not merely a benefit, but a celebration of his newest book of poems. Thoth had a hand in the creation of this arts collective, and it’s easy to see that in these companions he found like minds, others willing to share in his positivity and celebratory methods of living. Even if he’s at home resting, his heart and spirit inhabit the chant raised up in his absence.
I leave after Hikes’ set and run into Raw Paw organizer Clementine Kruczynski on the sidewalk just in front of the venue. “Did you bounce?!” she asks excitedly. “You gotta bounce!” I look back up at the inflatable velcro wall and grin. “Not this time,” I say. “We gotta have fun,” she insists. “We gotta get in touch with our inner child. That’s important,” she tells me. I smile. “I’m serious,” she goes on, “I’ve been doing bubble baths, some Teddy Bear stuff! It’s important! We need to laugh!” She means every word of this. Even in the face of fear and insidious illness, Raw Paw refuses to back down, instead teaching us all how to find the healthy, youthful part inside ourselves. They erect a monolithic, rainbow tower devoted to fun and joy, and dare the world to try and tear it down. It hovers of us powerfully, triumphant, and Clementine gives me a warm, sincere embrace before I head off through the cold and into the February night.
Support Montsho’s medical bills and other expenses by buying his new chapbook of poetry and/or making a donation right here.
All photographs © Bryan C. Parker & Pop Press International; all rights reserved. Click any image to open set in slideshow viewer.
