Monday, August 19, 2002
Well, that was cool.
We moved on Sunday, and we are still reeling from exhaustion. So this will be an abbreviated report on a terrific show.
Celesteville (which is to say, Jake from Tape Mountain) started things off with one of his thornier, more difficult sets—but there were still a few pop gems hidden in the brain-benders. They are both good, you know. Chris joined him for a few songs, including "I Can't Hear The Birds Sing", where he laid down the funky basslines to the Casio's preprogrammed "Disco 2" beat while Jake boogied around the space. And it ended with an electric reverb and delayed-out performance of "Narcotic Effect On Bees", which ended with Jake playing his guitar with his knees.
David Abel read a few short poems from his book Cut and then read a longer collage essay from a book called Conduit which, it must be said, is a ridiculously handsome book. Even the people who don't think of themselves as consumers of poetry seemed to enjoy his reading.
We were up next, and really, it was probably our best show yet. Manny from Atole joined us for "If This Song Doesn't Make Me A Million Bucks..." and did the diva part quite nicely, just as we hoped. When we get around to recording that, we will have to have him recreate that role. And Finn, Charlotte's 2-year-old godson, was there (as were Jake's parents—it was truly an all ages show!), and we sang "Paper Moon" for him, because it was a song we had sung to him when he was a newborn trying to get to sleep. And a few people specifically requested that we play "Lesbian On Skis", so we tacked it on at the end.
Sarah and Richel from Bronwyn showed a few videos which were strange and funny. This allowed Jenn Anderson enough time to put on her costume -- and she came out as Marie Antionette in a purple wig with a boostier and... oh it was quite a sight. And then Louis XIV joined her—or, specifically, a sock puppet with a curly moustache and a purple shower-puff for hair. They explained how to make cupcakes and everyone came up and iced and decorated their cupcakes. Yum.
From the ridiculous to the sublime: Atole played, and wow, it was amazing. He set up four boomboxes around the room, and played them simultaneously, and sang and told inaudible stories and made beats and toyed with some scissors. Waves of sound shimmied across the space, and it was breathtakingly beautiful and strange.
And, finally, Bronwyn closed the show with a deliciously sloppy but still beautiful and intricate set. The arrangement on their cover of the Mountain Goats' "Shower" was particularly pleasant. Random people, apparently having heard Bronwyn through the windows, came in and gave it a listen, and even bought their CD. (Which, if you haven't bought it yet, you should.)
Needless to say, it was a great show. We haven't even mentioned the posters on the wall or Manny's paintings or Finn playing the harmonica between bands wearing his little Sad Penguin Records t-shirt or any of that.
Here's the poster and here's the setlist:
1. (Let's Not) Get It On
2. The Angel's Revenge
3. Vengeance Is Oblique
4. If This Song Doesn't Make Me A Million Bucks, We, As A Nation, Are Fucked
5. Hot Sex Movie
6. The Innocent Bystander's Song
7. Mother's Day
8. Paper Moon [Arlen &c.]
9. Portland
10. Yawning (in stereo)
11. The Thousand Nights And One Night
12. Lesbian On Skis
