NOW UPDATED! And the video problem seems to have resolved itself... yay...
All photos by me, including a selfie with Ron!
I said I wasn't going to write anything and I'm not, really, but then I thought about friends who couldn't make it... plus I must give thanks here to Judith Beeman! I think the show last night was Graham's introduction to Betty, which would not have happened, maybe, if she hadn't gifted me those tickets. A postie was there, too - Jeannette! Plus someone Beeman herself suggested (UPDATE), one Nick Mitchum, AKA ARGH!!, who donated the DOA Colouring Books that some of you won, and offers this as a review:
a funtime time machine…music and faces from 40 years ago…it sounded like the 1980s …it looked like 2024…old grey fat bald….but nobody gives a fuck about that...jimmy c hasn’t changed…still fun…braineater music…sounds like nothing else…yeah i seen bad girl betty and daddy issues and her plastic pussy before…essence of early alice and iggy…very stoogey….fun rock’n’roll…but i didn’t really need be reminded that i have seen iggy’s real dick too many times…art…kinda sad…too quiet for the loud room…i liked him better with lick the pole minus the girls backing him at the hard core logo screening at the rio a couple of weeks….wasn’t that excited about seeing the enigmas…saw them lots years ago…but were alway fun but never a fave…i had been thinking i wish the modernettes were playing instead…but last night the enigmas were wow…very much lots of rock’n’roll fun…i guess you know i really like fun music…and they pass the test of of true punk rock...when the covers are all (mostly) from lenny kaye's nuggets…the seeds of all punk…but most of all i liked the old man times….rockin’ at 7…back out on the street at 10…home with a beer in my hand by 11….a real good fun night…thanks the nudge and the ticket…saw some folks walk out the door with my coloring book…i’m going back to the fox this morning and check the trash bins in the neighbourhood...
This is not how ARGH!! dressed last night, but it is how he dressed at the previous gig we saw him at:
Loved the show and the chance to reconnect with so many friends, so I am really grateful for the ticket!
I don't have enough time to fill you in on my connections with the performers but I, Braineater took me back to shows in the late '70s and early '80s where a comedy act I was promoting sometimes opened for Jim. He still sounds as primal as ever and the set was rockin!
I wasn't completely prepared for Betty and being up front for that set was something else. Aside from the highly entertaining visuals, she can sing!
Art was in better form than last month at the Rio ( Hardcore Logo ) according to Nick Mitchum. So much history and he's still doing it when others would have given up.
The Enigmas were tight, loud and lovin' it. Paul is such a fine frontman. I kinda miss the kilt but I have stories for you about him, his bike and his girl, who worked at Videomatica.
Again, a big thanks for a great evening!
With store manager Cyrus
...which thanks, once again, go out to Judith Beeman for the tickets. All four were well-accounted for and the people I have invited may have donated to the Gofundme besides! I have posted some clips, of
the Engimas,
Art Bergmann (solo acoustic),
Daddy Issues, and
I, Braineater -- there seemed to be an audio-video synch issue when I first played them, but it has mostly resolved itself. There is also a hidden clip of Daddy Issues covering Nomeansno, but apparently one musician was a bit off, so I have left it a private clip for now! Tried to sneak out early because I am tired, sick, sore... then someone reminded me that I'd forgotten something and I went back in, ended up backstage for a bit... which meant, because I don't know where the backdoor is, I was stuck at the front of the stage for the start of the Enigmas, and changed my mind about leaving. Sure was glad I did!
The video kicks off with an amusing/ embarrassing moment: Danny Shmanny almost won a guitar that had been stolen from Ron, then given back, then gifted as a prize, but his ticket didn't match (the drawn ticket was # 117 to Danny's 118), which Dave characterized as someone trying to steal the guitar again! It was fun to see Danny called to the stage, anyhow. Actually, I was talking briefly to Boom Boom Benson of the Spores -- Danny's previous band, much missed by me -- and it turns out he wasn't annoyed or offended at all (as I feared) by my raving about the absence of a Spores song from the show that Stiff Middle Finger did with Aging Youth Gang. In fact, he had had the same thought: "Why didn't we do a Spores song?" So he found my griping about the same kind of validating.
Maybe someday a Spores reunion will happen? If you don't have this CD, and you're a local punk, you're missing out. The best 2nd wave punk band in Vancouver history? (Okay, well, some of you might be Death Sentence fans; House of Commons were pretty great too but from Victoria. My money is on the Spores).
As for other raffle prizes, the aforesaid ARGH!! donated DOA colouring books, Jim donated shirts, and Bev donated a photo of Ron with Black Flag. There were other things, too (but no merch table that I could find). When the draws happened, between each song, it generally took a very long time to get people to check their tickets! Some winners went prize-less, and Lisa Lloyd almost had her swag given to someone else -- she only got to the stage at the last minute!
As for the music, it made sense last night, hearing I, Braineater, that Jim had done stuff with Tony (RIP) of Deja Voodoo. The new lineup of the band has a very strong garage element -- muscular Neanderthal rock. I arrived late, as they were doing a new song, "Bunny" (or something like that), which is really fun! "Sacred Cow" in the hands of this unit sure sounds a lot like "I Wanna Be Your Dog," but that is not in any way a complaint.
Betty, strapping on a dildo for, I think, "Bad Touch," said her usual "this song is about your father's cock," and then, gesturing at her new appendage, said something like, "Do you recognize it, or do you need me to move it closer to your face?" Ouch! Her hair tonight brought the phrase "Peg Bundy from hell" to mind. She remains the most intensely watchable performer in Vancouver, but I have a point of etiquette, expressed as a question: when the singer is 95% butt-naked and wearing a fake vagina over her real vagina, is it gauche to then zoom in on that vagina? Is the vagina a legit part of the performance? What about if Betty -- erm, Holly Holy -- waggles her ass as part of her performance? Can one zoom in on that?
Because I did, somewhere in there, but I also zoomed in on Richard Katynski's frontal bulge a couple of times, mind you. Got some shots of the "cocaine" betty threw over him (looks like sugar to me?). It seemed maybe healthier for Betty to pack a baggie than for her to be smoking sugar in a meth pipe (she did not do that this time). I was worried for her lungs.
Interestingly, Orchard Pinkish managed to keep more of his clothes on than usual tonight...
People who have missed Daddy Issues should consider this Halloween-themed New Years event, also with the Campfire Shitkickers and the Fomites. I will not be there, alas. A venue I do not know!
Art, up next, played as quiet as I've heard him, because, as he said, all these years of punk rock and nothing has changed. It was very moving -- even for Art; one song off ShadowWalk had him burst into tears, but he sang through them and even smiled to be crying. My favourite of the songs he did was "Children of Kali," which he connected to Luigi Mangione, who he called "the guy who assassinated the medical stockbroker," envisioning a movement in which said children "pick up bows and arrows and start assassinating the cunts that rule over us." Then he chuckled at himself.
I like Art. And sure, people should have listened more attentively, but it was a heavily social event -- there was a lot for people to talk about last night -- so maybe we can forgive some of the audience this time? Another chance to see Art looms large this spring at the re-release show for What Fresh Hell is This? I wonder if this will also be solo acoustic?
But that was a full meal for me, so even though the Enigmas had not taken the stage -- and I do *like* the Enigmas -- I was actually walking out the door when a guy who I was supposed to have connected with was walking in and reminded me of the thing we had to do, so though I'd said goodbye to people, I ended up following said guy backstage and getting a package off him. I am making this seem mysterious but no, it wasn't drugs, but a Christmas gift (and no, not Christmas drugs). Shhhh.
Anyhow, I ended up seeing the Enigmas do a couple of songs, after all, so I'm glad. Singer Paul McKenzie, looking dapper, explained that if they didn't begin with a certain song, bad things happen -- a genuine Enigmas superstition! That song turned out to be "You're Gonna Miss Me," and holy cow; I wish my video of it were more watchable. Weirdly, there was a bit of a Tom Jones thing that was happening, but in the best of all possible ways. Maybe I'll add the clip later? My sync issue is annoying.
Great night, in any case. My article about Ronfest here, links to the Gofundme here (still $10,000 from the goal). Our best to Ron and Dianne (and thanks to Dave Bowes for putting the show together).
