November '98
Now that I finally bit the bullet and joined Dandys Rule it seems like I never get around to writing these things. Even though I talk about them endlessly. So Swoon 23 broke up. But I guess I have Magic Fingers to go see instead.
Courtney Taylor and Friends, Rick Bain and the Genius Position, Brian Jonestown Massacre-- Berbati's Pan
Everybody and I mean everybody was there: all four (current) Dandys-- but not Eric, Matt Hollywood, Spike ex-Swoon, current sweeties of Peter and Courtney, the @lright people, Mike Allred, and a significant number of Dandys Rulers (Sandy, Misty, Jem, no brand, Kali, Kevin, Sean).
Courtney's thing: he and his guy friends (Brent, plus some people who used to be in Nero's Rome) sit around and play covers on acoustic instruments. That's pretty ok, but not really much to look at, and only probably interesting to Dandys fans. I actually did my nails during their set; hey, it's not like they even looked up. I enjoyed the cover of 'Girls just wanna have fun.' 'Ride' was the definite highlight.
Rick Bain and Genius Position is the band Brent DeBoer used to be in before he was with the Dandys. They used to have some other name, which was much less lame, but I can't remember it. They're pretty good. Kind of in the 60s rock vein too, they have an organ, but they sound like Sunset Valley a little. The lead singer's fly was undone for the whole set. That was rather distracting.
BJM played a good set, with Zia doing tambourines along with Joel. At one point Joel kissed her on the lips but then she wiped her mouth off. One of my friends (Misti) was there really early to avoid the cover and she ended up watching the sound check. She said it was pretty funny to watch Anton chew out every member of the band and they all cowered except for Joel who rolled his eyes and was like 'whatever, Anton.' Scored lots of BJM stickers, but none of the coasters.
Too much smoke. My tongue went completely yellow. Lots of fun.
Lolly, Magic Fingers-- EJ's (free)
Lolly is the band of one of the 'friends' in Courtney Taylor and friends. Very good. The singer can hit all the notes that Chris Murphy can't always make. Like Blur, when they really rock out.
Magic Fingers played a short, but kick ass set. Seemed about twenty minutes long. Much more rock than BJM. BJM = influenced by 60s pop, MF=influenced by 60s rock more than 60s pop.
Spotted: (besides the members of the bands playing (i.e. Matt Hollywood, Eric, Spike, et al)) Zia, Pete, Kevin, no brand (well, he looks more like a no brand than a Brian).
Notwist, Solex, Cornelius-- Satyricon
Nobody was at this show. Well, no one I know, except for Jamie from @lright, who I don't really know. Tons of Japanese expatriates in the bar using their cell phones. Japanese people don't look like assholes with cell phones, they look normal-- unlike Americans. The expatriates mobbed the merch table and bought tons and tons of Cornelius shirts, which look completely different under sunlight than they do under natural light, very cool. Wish I could have bought one, spent my money on booze instead. I did get a free Solex sticker, and Elizabeth Esselink (AKA Solex) smiled at me, because I think I was the first person who came up and asked about her stuff and not Cornelius stuff.
Notwist is a Bavarian band. They have two people on synths/samples, and they had one person on saxophone, plus the normal assortment of rock instruments. At times they sounded like Pavement, at times like free jazz, at times they were emo-- in the span of a single song. Very intriguing.
Solex as a recorded entity consists of Elizabeth Esselink plus whoever else played on the track. When she plays on the road, she plays with a band. And a looped animated film which is rather disturbing. Wish I could read Dutch so I could've figured more of it out. I thought she was pretty good live, because the one thing I didn't like about her CD was that it's a little sterile sounding, and live, the sound was muddier and had more depth. But this was the very thing that @lright's Jamie, who was standing directly behind, complained about. Arg.
Cornelius kicked my ass. They're huge in Japan, and for good reason. I am placing them above Beck in my 'this is the best act to see live' category. Completely multimedia. Cornelius had amp-like videos projected onto the screen which they had completely synched to their playing. There was a theremin solo of 'Love me Tender' synched to a film loop from 'Blue Hawaii.' And their music kicks ass. Only comparable to acts like Beck or the Beasties musically, but with a Japanese sensibility. I cried. I'm not kidding. You should go out and buy 'Fantasma' right now.
All this for only 8 bucks.
Think I'm lame? Read the disclaimer before shooting
your mouth off.
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Copyright © 1998, Suzanne Baunsgard/Androgyne Amalgamated