
The AvantGarden venue in Houston, Texas.
Photo courtesy of Ed Schipul at Flickr Creative Commons.
Charity organizers are livid over an incident that took place at a benefit concert in Houston, Texas. On Friday, Feb. 17, Michael Clemmons from the duo band Sonic Rabbit Hole defecated on stage as part of a “performance art” act. The incident took place at AvantGarden, a popular events venue that also serves as a bar, social patio, and lounge.
According to the Houston Press, Clemmons demonstrated a “muscle-milk enema” onstage. He then lost control of his bowels and defecated all over the floor and stage. After performing the stunt, Clemmons fled to the bathroom. The audience evacuated immediately.
According to Mariana Lemesoff, AvantGarden’s owner, a staff member immediately confronted the duo and told them to leave. An argument broke out, and one of the band members allegedly broke a window with his amplifier on the way out. The police were called, but did not arrive until after the duo had left.
“Because it stunk so badly, we closed too early for a Friday night. There was no way to continue on with the charity event,” Lemesoff stated. “Their disgusting performance took money out of my staff’s pockets. It also took money away from all who were involved, including who the benefit was for.”
Lemesoff says that her staff stayed up until 4 a.m. cleaning up the mess. Employees discovered bits of the enema kit in the bathroom, some parts properly disposed of in the garbage can, others left in the sink. Fecal matter was smeared all over the walls and floor.
A reporter from the Houston Press reached out to Clemmons for comment about the incident. When asked about the impetus and theme behind the act, Clemmons stated:
“We have this faux-bro weightlifter culture sort of thing going on that we were sort of trying to make fun of. And we started our set like a normal jam. We had gotten booked as a band, but we told them that we were doing performance art, and they said that was perfectly OK. We had this sort of piece that we’d been sort of joking around [with] for a while. So we decided to make that a reality.”