Rodney DeCroo, whom I have reviewed here and interviewed at some length here, and whom I think is one of Vancouver's finer songwriters - sort of in the "dark country/ folk" tradition of Townes van Zandt, maybe by way of Nick Cave- will be doing a rather intimate-sounding, "in the round"-type show October 19th, with Mark Davis (from Edmonton, and, Rodney tells me, one of the key songwriters for the band Old Reliable; I haven't checked out his music yet but any album called Eliminate the Toxins is surely worth poking one's nose into). Also joining them is Vancouver's own Sarah Wheeler, whom esteemed colleague Adrian Mack has said has "an effortlessly big voice which falls somewhere between Chrissie Hynde and Neko Case." The three will share the stage, maybe share songs, stories - it sounds like an intimate eve of talented songwriters doing their thing. Rodney tells me the space, Hidden City was founded in 2015 by Trish Klein (The Be Good Tanyas. Hidden City), it's also somewhere I haven't been yet...
Also of note, Ford Pier - pretty much the only super-talented Vancouver musician I feel guiltier about not paying enough mind to than Rodney, but mostly because I see him two out of three times I pop into Red Cat Records and so am constantly reminded of my neglect - will be opening for Bob Mould on October 22nd at the Rickshaw. Of course, Bob's the draw, there; I'm happy to report since I previously blogged about him, I have completely gotten over my whiny "but it isn't Zen Arcade" issue and have embraced Mould's genius fully. Black Sheets of Rain, Silver Age, Beauty and Ruin, Patch the Sky, and even two of the same Sugar albums I heard and turned my nose up at in the early 1990's have all been on heavy rotation for me these last weeks. I finally get it; next thing you know I will be replacing Warehouse: Songs and Stories in my collection (but not if it costs $40).
Sadly, Bob is not doing press for that show, so I've invited a "celebrity guest" to share some of his thoughts on Mould's solo output, which he knows far better than I do (more to come on that - I had actually been contriving to hook him up with an interview with Bob, but that can't happen, unfortunately; maybe Bob just doesn't want to answer question after question about the passing of Grant Hart. I sure wouldn't). Meantime, I am also working on something with Ford Pier. My two favourite Ford Pier songs (based on my shamefully limited exposure to his music) are "Great Western," a charmingly Canadian country ditty about two people who meet at a bingo game, which reminds me a bit in its humour of the wit and wordplay of Tom "Fussin' with the 'tussin" Holliston; and "Lions and Tigers and Bears," at the further extreme of Pier's musical spectrum, more Wright brothers in its middle-aged anguish - about aging men facing impotence, illness, death and untold stressors who turn to ground-up health supplements involving the claws, fangs, paws, gall bladders, blood and/or genitals of deadly animals to prop up their imperiled masculinity (to be fair, I don't think Ford mentions any genitals in the song, but you get the idea). It works real well on a mixtape between Husker Du and Nomeansno, I discover. Again, more to come on that.
Finally - but of course, DAVID FUCKING M. HAS ANOTHER FUCKING SHOW to -
Ahem.
My friend and the neglected Vancouver musician who makes up for the neglected Vancouver musicians I don't pay enough attention to by being the neglected Vancouver musician I pay FAR TOO MUCH attention to, THE GREAT AND DELIGHTFUL David M., of NO FUN, the Beatles of Surrey, whom a whole bunch of people OBVIOUSLY ENJOYED when he opened for Marshall Crenshaw and the Rickshaw (which I was briefly tempted to miswrite as "Marshall Chapman and the... Richardsaw," thinking of Richard Chapman, obviously, of the Heritage Grill and Northern Electric) will have two shows in the week after Bob, both on Monday night: on the 23rd, with Coach StrobCam (featuring the great Pete Campbell of Pink Steel, the Wardells, and... what was that other band he was in?) in New West.... and then the next week at the Princeton. David M. writes:
There will be a special NO FUN film presentation at the Heritage Grill Backroom Theatre, there's a newly-written show theme song "In Fall", there's yet another version of your popular Bat-tune, there are more new songs, etc..In other news, David and I have been discussing whether this poster is in poor taste. (He's got a couple people out there naysaying about him on social media so he thought he would attempt a poster from their point of view. I am not sure the point of the satire doesn't get lost, but, well, that's David for you, sometimes.
We only did this show once before, at Slickity Jim's, and I believe that you and Erika were there. [Was it this show, I wonder?]
I've realized during the past year that, for me, Glen and Dave bring actual elements of Paul into the shows. They both knew him very well, and were right there participating in NO FUN shows the whole time. Pete does this too, in a different way, by representing how Paul and I started connecting with people in the 1980's by just doing what we felt like doing any way we wanted to do it rather than trying to fit into the mould of someone's idea of a rock band. So these shows are new and different, but they're also a kind of seance that actually works, if only from where I'm standing.
I realize the Princeton show is probably more convenient for a lot of y'all, but the Heritage backroom shows are pretty comfy and fun, actually, and there's far less chance of talkative Italians or drunk buffoons making requests for David to sing - what was it that guy was shouting for, "The Dream Genie?" (David had riffed on "The Jean Genie" by Bowie in one of his songs and it reminded this drunk buffoon of the actual song which he then started loudly requesting, all the while getting the title wrong, as Club M snickered at his expense into their cheap beers. That sort of thing has yet to happen in New West).
More to come...
This just in - Coach StrobCam has hadda pull out. Pete will still be there tho!
1 comment:
That's my life: far too much or none at all.
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