Tuesday, October 31, 2006

Rockabilly Weekend Nov 3 & Nov 4

The Rocket Fins and the Deadcats

I saw the Deadcats around Halloween last year in a show at the Brickyard that proved to be Scooter's last. This newest incarnation (brou! hahaha!) of the local Vancouver psychobilly band has seen Mick move from guitar to upright to replace the gut-bucket that Scooter brought to the mix.Friday (Nov 3) is your chance to see them perform.

8PM Railway Club, 579 Dunsmuir St, Vancouver

I saw the Rocket Fins play the Lamplighter this last July. This is a part of the review I wrote then:

Last night Stumble Records threw another "chains-on-the-wallet, cuffs-rolled-up, and-tattoos-that-say-'Mom, Cindy, Susie Forever' party at the Lamplighter with The Rocket Fins, The Farrell Bros., and The Alley Dukes. And the faithful turned out proving the local rockabilly and psycho-billy scene is alive and well.

I arrived about 10 minutes into The Rocket Fins' set and the four boys were standing in their canvas high-top sneakers cranking away with their combination of twang country guitars, growling vocals, and clickity click rockabilly drumming. Mick, the upright bass player, was pulling on his strings like he was unspooling cable by the yard.

At one point near the end of their set they let loose with a lead guitar and drum duet with Chopper making his battered Les Paul scream and kick while the drummer kept beating his toms until the room was spinning like a hurricane. And then, with the rattling of the snare drums, the song re-launched into the chorus and the room went back to normal.

It was a fucking magical moment.


The band has its CD release party this Saturday (Nov 4th) at The Marine Club on Homer Street. If the last gig I saw is any indication this is going to be a howler.

See you there?

M

Tuesday, October 17, 2006

Today's Fine Art Today

Don't make these people cut off an ear

This isn't a long post. I have a script to read and critique and some household chores to do so I won't spend too much time saying this: Vancouverites in particular are difficult to please when it comes to fine art painting. We respect photograhers and love photographs but we force painters to create atrocious landscapes full of greens and blues under threat of starvation.

Thomas Anfield has a show starting Oct 20 and running to Nov 2. He's showing his work with several other artists and you should at least go and have a look. Bring a wallet. Prepare to make monthly payments.

Wednesday, October 11, 2006

The Secret Policeman's Ball

I Spent the Weekend Listening to Vinyl


For some reason this year has tumbled and rolled like a convict leaping from a speeding train; I've barely had time to catch up.

CCRA has been knocking on my door - apparently they want some money but by my calculations I don't owe any back taxes - we'll soon have it out with their high-powered calculators and my abacus - and may the best person win.

I've started a new job and, while it's super fun, I'm also hurting for time to spare. Especially so when I no longer have my own office or my own computer (I'm using a spare office and spare computer - while my co-workers dream I write).

This weekend I slept fitfully, like a man in the first weeks of a coma but in the mornings I paid some bills, cancelled a lost credit card, returned some long overdue emails, and sipped black coffee. I also pulled out my vinyl and listened to The Lounge Lizards, Steely Dan's Aja, Phil Manzanera's 801 Live, The Secret Policeman's Ball, and Neil Young's Helpless.

I started reading Tim Richardson's history of candy and sweets, abandoned Augusten Burrough's latest (cruelty to a rodent) and flipped off an old nemesis with a carefully worded email that, I hope, essentially said, 'fuck you'.

Three days holiday but I'm again into hour 12 at work and I'll be here for another two.

Remind me to call Brandon tomorrow. Anyone. Please.

Peace.

M

Monday, October 09, 2006

"They sent us back to get deloused," said Lennon, explaining their lateness in arriving for their concert in Vancouver

Oct 9th - Happy Birthday

For those of my friends who still care, today would mark the 66th birthday of John Lennon, a man who, while flawed, was working towards a better world and a better life. He embraced the maxim, Be The Change You Wish To See In The World.

Here are some relevant sites. Here's the wikipedia entry on Lennon. Here's the YouTube home movie of Lennon's 31st birthday and here's an article of this year's commemorative donation to MSF and the Centre for Constitutional Rights in memory of John.

Oh, and he was a freakin' awesome talent before he was gunned down in New York City in December of 1980.

Dave, you're not here with me to toss back a toast to Dr. Winston O'Boogie but I'm sure you're raising your glass somewhere at this moment.

Happy Birthday John!

xoxo

M

Monday, October 02, 2006

Spiderman Jazz Can Take You Places

Lizards Walk Among Us

In 1981 I walked into a record store on Granville St, where CD Charlies' is now located. There stood the usual racks of vinyl and, near the door, a service island with listening posts: turntables and headphones. I handed the clerk a white album with a black and white picture of five skinny guys in white shirts and black ties lounging around an upright piano and he slit it open for me. It was a new release out of New York entitled The Lounge Lizards, featuring John Lurie and his brother Evan. The reviews mentioned something about the jazz being something out of a cartoon and it intrigued me enough for me to bring to the clerk and request that I get a listen.

I dropped the needle on the first track, Incident on South Street and within minutes I was shelling out 12 bucks and taking this baby home. In 1981 I was listening to Pere Ubu's Dub Housing, Daryl Hall's Sacred Songs (about which more in a later post), Robert Fripp's Exposure, and Brian Eno's Music For Films (and notwithstanding the indelible scream of "will you turn that fucking thing off!?" if I ever die in a fiery car crash with my lungs filled with the smoke from Turkish tobacco, my bloodstream electrified by bourbon, and the taste of infidelity on my lips I want Music for Films to be the soundtrack that accompanies me into the blackness.)

The Lounge Lizards were a combo out of New York and they played a style of jazz that was part Spiderman soundtrack, part Miles Davis, and part Stanley Clarke and Return to Forever. Their drummer was Anton Fier, who played like a Gene Krupa who had decided to hit his drum kit fewer times but to hit it harder. Guitarist Arto Lindsay's contribution was either the jangling noise from a badly fretted chord (imagine a box of pots and pans tumbling down stairs) or a single note zig zagging inside and outside the boundaries of the song.

The main force behind the album was John Lurie and his sax playing. Smooth, melodic and slightly menacing. Unlike a lot of jazzmen Lurie's playing wasn't introverted into itself. On each track the saxophone takes the centre of attention and tells an urban story of traffic jams, images reflected in the mirrored glass of store windows, men in suits on street corners watching men in the back seats of cabs as they drive by. The rest of the band, from Fier's drumming to Piccolo's bass playing to Evan Lurie's piano, add the rhythmic energy of a bustling metropolis. Released by Editions EG Records and distributed by Polygram The Lounge Lizards was an impressive first LP and has survived 25 years of listening.

I bought tickets to see The Lounge Lizards when they came to town that year. They played at what was then known as the Robson Square Media Centre (it now houses UBC conference rooms). The opening act was a band called Phish, and to be fair and cruel all in one breath, they were more of a 'conceptual art' piece than a musical act.

The Lounge Lizards performance showed a surprising difference in dynamics as live performers as compared to the record. Evan Lurie's piano and keyboards took over, the songs took on Evan's point of view, his melodies and his chorded percussions forcing the sax player to the outside. At one point Evan played a melodic run with heavy reverb on his keyboard and before the notes had faded he followed it with another run. You could almost see the sounds washing up the audience further and further, receding a bit before the next stronger wave reached higher.

It was as if the whole audience had gotten inside Evan's head and were listening to the music the way he heard it, a jazz song's version of Rashoman (without the rape, natch). Given the difference in their instruments, Evan Lurie's playing was more percussive than his brother's and changed the tone of the material, which was strong to begin with, into something with much more muscle.

Afterwards, I stood in the street on Robson, smoking the original Player's Special Blend and thought (not for the last time), 'that was fucking awesome.'

John Lurie and The Lounge Lizards continue to produce records and music. Click here for their website. Evan Lurie also composed music for films. Click here for a list of his credits. Arto Lindsay's sojourn in the Lounge Lizards is only a tiny part of his story. Click here for a fuller history and discography. Anton Fier's career can be pieced together here. Steve Piccolo now lives in Italy and his musical story can be read here.