Every once in a while, in this vast world of ours, I come across a mystifying sight to behold. Be it the wonder of the Niagara Falls, or the history of talent contained within a work of art; I cannot help but be captivated by this thing’s presentation. How did it come to be? What prompted the creation of such a thing? Why was such a scene made immortal in the capturing of this picture?
These are questions I ask myself as I ponder the following picture.
My first impression is that this takes place at a concert of some kind, given the people standing about and the guitarist in the foreground. Now as for the location, I want to say it is a house show, in a basement. But upon further inspection, I don’t think it is a house basement, for the walls are just too tall. It has to be a bar or an establishment of some kind especially with the piping and rafters just barely visible at the top of the photo.
And then of course, the star of the attraction, the centerpiece of the whole image, the shirtless man with the couch. This display of raw primal power gives me the idea of a basement show due to the raggedy condition of the couch, and such wild antics are what one would expect from such an environment. I have only been to a couple myself back in college, and while I didn’t see anything like this, the disheveled couch, and look of the whole scene very much fits in with the house show vibe. But I digress; back to our main subject.
With his very expressive face, and the visual feat of him raising the couch over his head, I must assume that he is either very angry, very much under the influence, or just having a very good time at this concert. Given the poor condition of the couch, and exposing the ribwork of the frame, the conclusion could be drawn that it must not weigh as much an ordinary couch. Either that or the man is so amped up on emotions, drugs or both that it doesn’t matter. Either way, the couch is elevated by this man alone. While the overall quality of the picture isn’t amazing (it kind of adds to the mystifying quality of it I think. Of course a photo like this would be grainy!) I can see the man is slightly blurry and that his legs are spread apart. The camera appears to have caught him in mid flight across the room, carrying his burden all the while.
This brings me back to pondering the location. With the tall walls, and piping and rafters, and the space of the couch above his head, and also enough room to run across the space, it’s hard to believe there is a house with a basement that big for this to happen. The house concerts I have been to where certainly not big enough for this to happen. The ceilings were too low and it was too crowded to run at full speed with a couch.
Now where is he going? Again this relies entirely on his mental condition. If anger, maybe he sees Lars take the last PBR and is rushing to stop him. If it be inebriation, maybe he sees Lars as some bug he must smash or maybe he is trying to impress Lars with his feats of strength. If he is purely moved by the music, then that euphoria of the underground beats must have unlocked a sort of heightened ability within him.
Speaking of music, we have the curious expression of the guitarist, or rather lack thereof. We can see in the background, two men who are most certainly watching Couch Man as he hurtles across the room. But the guitarist is entirely fixed on his instrument. Several reasons come to my mind Maybe he is caught up in the music as well? Could it be characters like Couch Man and the event unfolding before him is par for the course?
Many questions abound in this picture–for all of which there are no answers. So, all one can do is just sit back and take in the…uh…events freeze framed before them.