pbs has showcased a string of shows exploring different perspectives based on living in historical circumstances. there's been frontier house, manor house, 1900 house, and now colonial house. i half expect the next program to be called halfway house. cue pbs narrator: "twelve prisoners have been release from prison, attempting to reintegrate into society. we will follow their journey from hardened criminals into functional citizens of a midwest town."
i might joke, but i think this would be a really interesting program. just as these historical shows enlighten modern viewers to the harsh realities of living without the amenities of the 21st century, a show on a halfway house would give people an idea about the struggles people make in the transition from prison to the outside. i bet the john howard society would be behind this kind of idea.
can i at least have an executive producer credit?
standing outside waiting for the doors to open for the all-ages show, watching kids get dropped off by their parents, or walking into the parking lot after being dropped off by their parents a block away, and having a good laugh at how far out of my age bracket i was.
a friend, who used to do the cross-canada punk tour in a piece of shit bus thing himself years ago, asked me to go with him to watch alexisonfire and the black halos (website down) do their thing. i said yes knowing that this would be a fun opportunity to see what this kind of show would look like through the filter of age.
the show moved through whinecore punk from boys night out, shifted to the older sounds of the black halos, and rumbled to the very angry blue skies at war (blue skies have a swank website with nice use of flash). we stood back among the wallflowers, letting the kids have their moment slamdancing and fist-raising. the most shocking thing was the nice mixing decks they were using. were these in-house?
rather than a fuzzy, badly engineered mess we were treated to quality sound for the first two acts. they made these bands sound pretty sweet.
of the four bands that played, the black halos sounded the best. the volume increased with each act, rendering the lead performance of alexisonfire into a garbled mess. yes, punk should be loud. but it can be loud as hell and sound good at the same time.
alexisonfire was the band the crowd came to see. they certainly have stage presence and remarkable energy. i'm sure their musicianship was solid, though the blurry sound rendered some of the finer guitar and vocal work useless.
the other shocking thing was how much punk bands must make on merchandise. the 14-20 year old age bracket looks like it has serious spending power, and they were given plenty of opportunity to offload their dollars during the lengthy set-breaks between each of the four acts.
as for stage act, the black halos hold their own. lead vocalist billy hopeless knows how to strut around acting cocky, prissy, and sassy all at the same time. he's also mastered the punk striptease, ending the set with nothing on but unbuttoned pants. it's glam and entertaining. their sound is simpler, but had more of that old punk edge than the other acts.
alexisonfire, on the other hand, moved blindingly fast with impressive finesse. i can see why the kids are listening.
no matter what i thought of the quality of some of the music i must give respect to these insane troopers of punk. punk at its best, like the immortal dead kennedys (think bedtime for democracy or fresh fruit for rotting vegetables), has the capacity to turn heads and change public opinion. at its worst it is whiny, self-serving, and pointless (or, going further, racist, misogynistic, and homophobic).
bands like alexisonfire run the edge of selling out and becoming a watered down pop group. though their fast and hard style has garnered muchmusic airplay, i wonder how long they will avoid mainstream success and the trappings that come with it. or is being a big label puppet band the goal?
show at the croatian cultural centre, vancouver, may 6, 2004
though i've been listening to their music for the better part of a decade, i had never given thought to who their fan base might be. walking into the lineup at the commodore showed how diverse their audience is. there was a strong showing by those wearing all black, as well as a heavy smattering of us officer worker looking types. my first thought was of the nihilists from the big lewbowski. i was the steve buscemi character.
the crowd is informed that the show will soon begin by the dimming of the lights, the release of stage smoke, and a stage hand turning on the air compressors on-stage. ten minutes later the band emerges.
blixa, dressed in his customary black suit, tells us that this is the third time they've played vancouver, with previous shows during expo 86 and in 1993. this explains why i've never seen them live though i've been checking the papers for years.
after listening to their albums you wonder if you should bring ear-plugs when you go for a live sound-pummeling. what i found remarkable, though, was that while the show is, at times, unspeakably loud and aggressive, it never reaches ear destroying levels. must be something to do with the tones they play. for those wondering what i'm babbling about, go to the neubauten.org site and look at the images of the instruments. lots of metal on metal and miced up plastic drums and other miscellany.
what makes einstürzende neubauten stand apart from other people who like to make lots of noise is that they manage to use these crude and nasty looking instruments to produce powerful songs with warm textures. there are, of course, moments wherein we witness the glorification of intense volume and force. it is this ability to so effectively play off of contrasts that makes einstürzende neubauten unique and long-lived.
playing a combination of new stuff and classics (like 'ende neu' and 'alles'), they were crowd pleasers. due to some technical gaffe blixa flew off the stage at one point in order to scream and flail at a stagehand. they are now in the habit of recording their live shows and releasing limited edition double cds (50 copies) on the spot. however, for some reason the first five songs didn't get recorded this night (setlist for this show). they recorded the encores instead. i picked up a copy both to play for friends that couldn't come to the show, my own listening, and to hear how this mode of instant production/release sounds. the vocals are clearer, though sadly the heavy bass disappears. i'm glad to hear the nimrod repeatedly yelling "blixa, i love you!" is not audible.
they looked like they were having fun, and this is essential for a band that's nearly 25 years old. now that they've taken control of the manufacture and distribution of much of their work, they might continue on a few years more. they've used their existing fame and embraced the internet as a means to work with a subscriber/patron base. it is worth watching to see if this model is sustainable.
and if they come your way i can't encourage you enough to go support them.
show at the commodore ballroom, vancouver, may 4, 2004
zakir hussain has gathered a group of percussion masters and hit the road. if this traveling band comes your way, be sure to visit. you'll be treated to the tabla virtuosity of zakir, his younger brothers fazal qureshi (tabla) and taufiq qureshi (mixed percussion and vocals), ghatam (clay pot) master t.h. vinayakram, vijay chauan (folk drums), the violin duo of ganesh and kumaresh, and a few enthusiastic numbers by the manipuri jagoi marup folk dancing and drum troupe (think north indian capoeira).
there was also a fellow who played a drum kit, though i can't recall his name and he's not identified in the program - it's a pity because he was excellent and i'd like to hear some of his other work.
it's also fantastic going to a concert you are really anticipating and then being surprised by the scope of the show. that's how i felt when i read the concert program and saw that ustad sultan khan would be playing the sarangi. (check out his 1991 album sarangi on zakir's moment records). for those not familiar, the sarangi is a bowed instrument that resembles the human voice. sultan khansahib knows best how to kick you in the chest with the intensity of his playing.
in this tour zakir attempts to meld together both traditional and modern forms of percussion, illustrating a lineage of the drum. this approach doesn't always work, particularly when the modern drum kit drowns everyone else out. still, it is interesting to hear modern drums played to traditional tala structures.
i get excited with anticipation when the one man powerhouse t.h. vinayakram unbuttons his shirt because you know he's about to rock out. but he's playing just a clay pot, you say? you'll never look at one the same way again.
there is humour and narrative from zakir, as he explains certain things or jokes around. after watching a blazing ghatam solo he embarrasses t.h. vinayakram by telling him he can button his shirt back up now.
zakir seems to come to vancouver annually, and i can't wait to see what next year brings.
show at chan centre (ubc), vancouver, may 1, 2004