Car Wheels on a Gravel Road Reimagined, night two at the Kay Meek Centre

Note: I felt duty bound, sitting up front, to shoot a couple of videos, but my phone maxed out after two: Joel Plaskett and Shaun Verreault. 

 In reverse order (mostly): 

Selfie with Erika at the end of a marvelous night:

The big bow:

The closing number:

From right... Dawn, Lindi, Shaun... and...?:

Boys club: Joel, Chuck, Steve:

This one has Mercy:

The red boots weren't extroverted enough:

Theresa, I think! (Of Pony Gold):

Erika thinks Steve looks a bit like Jesse Plemons with the 'stache:

Dawn from the other side: 

Backstage with Regina: 

Dawn again!:

Chuck telling the audience to invest in Lucinda Williams records:

Shaun:

The Eisenhauers:

Pony Gold:

Final stop on a record quest, en route to West Van, looking for a Shot of Love: Dale tells me to look up Dylan footage with Spooner Oldham. I tell him to look up Dylan footage with Chalo ("Charlie") Quintana, who lived in Vancouver for a long while...:

 

At Painted Lady, where I get an upgraded Saved (my old one was hole-punched):

Most Slow Train Coming copies out there have ringwear and so forth; this one at Highlife was the best I found. But I got my old seam-split copy signed... I got a few signed for friends:

The second night was, as I suggested in part one, the more polished and perfect; or maybe it's just that our expectations were adjusted; we knew what to expect and how to enjoy it! We ended up with an accidental upgrade, because the couple in F1 and F2 (our actual seat numbers) had been displaced from F5 and F6 by other people and the show was just starting, so a major shuffle was out of the question. "It's okay, we can just sit down here" (gestures at A1 and A2). I guess no one had reserved them! So: front row seats, a backstage chat with Regina, and a very happy wife. You can see her in the bottom corner while Dawn is doing "Metal Firecracker." She loved it! (And so did I).

Regina was a wonderful interview, but I'm going to hold on to that for now, to see what happens with the folk fest...! Meantime, mission accomplished:

Car Wheels on a Gravel Road Re-Imagined: a night of surprises and delights

That was a marvelous night! 

I'm speaking, of course, of the Car Wheels on a Gravel Road Reimagined concert at the Kay Meek, which I wrote a well-received preview of here. For those who missed it, it repeats again on October 18th ("today" for some people reading this), and I do urge your attendance, because great as last night was, tonight's will be the more fully-realized, more confident set (tickets are still available, but not many!). The first night, taking place after one mere day of rehearsals, is fresher, maybe, more exciting, more dramatic, since it's the band's first time doing this material before a payin' audience; but the second night, now, will be informed by the experiences of the first. It's basically like everyone's had one more day to rehearse, but in the highest-stakes context possible: last night might have been the braver night, but tonight, they're coming to the material as salty, seasoned, tested-and-true warriors who know they can pull it off. 

Another, weirder way of putting it: tonight will be the first time in history that this group of musicians has played this body of work in front of an audience for the second time. Given that, as I say in the Straight piece, the folk fest follow up is not by any means a given, it may also be the last time, and almost certainly the last time with exactly this permutation of musicians. So that's going to be a special thing. I wonder how many people go both evenings? Tonight will be the first time I've done that -- there were two great seats up front, and I pulled the gun without even waking my wife to check. I sure hope she doesn't mind! (If she does, some lucky friend will be getting a phone call from me!). 

Damn was that a groovin' night of Lu, both on and off the album in question; I don't want to spoil anything, but the addition of a horn section to most of the songs meant we were getting the most soulful ("Shoals-ful?" Can I get away with that?) readings of Lu's catalogue imaginary. It's not exactly an unheard-of direction to push Lu's music, especially if you consider the Southern Soul album in the Lu's Jukebox series, but Dawson and Black deserve abundant credit no less for choosing that direction, especially given the readings of "Can't Let Go" by Dawn Pemberton, pictured above (who suddenly I'm enormously proud to have interviewed in my preview, because wow) and "Right In Time" as done by Regina McCrary. The night was full of high points, but surely these two songs were the highest?

True confession: I did not know Regina McCrary or the McCrary Sisters before this weekend. I mean, whattaya want from me, I'm just an old punk! But here's an interview about McCrary singing with Dylan during his Christian years. Reading it makes me want to track down the vinyl of Trouble No More and pester McCrary to sign it. I do have Saved and Slow Train Coming, but not the live album, which now seems a terrible oversight on my part as a collector, given that I actually love Dylan's Christian period, in terms of the passion of his delivery, and think some of the songs from it, especially "Gotta Serve Somebody," stand as the best things he did in the 1970s (that's a link to a performance with McCrary on it!).

(Actually, I bought that album on CD, but traded it with Bruce Stayloose for something else, because I wanted it on vinyl, then I never got around to it. Dumb!). 

And while we're talking about Ms. McCrary (spoiler alert! You're going to find out what her second song was! Though -- hint, hint -- it won't come exactly as a surprise), I have a question that contains elements of a confession: Did everyone but me realize there was an allusion to snake handling in "Get Right With God?" Given that I once wrote a term paper on the topic, you'd think I would have noticed the opening lyrics, or at least remembered them ("I would risk the serpent's bite/ I would dance around with seven/ I would kiss the diamondback/ If I knew it would get me to heaven"). Suddenly I have two things to ask Lu about, if ever I get to talk to her: Don Todd and snake handling...

Writing about the rest of the night feels like it should come with a spoiler alert. I don't even want to tell you what Shaun Verreault, of Wide Mouth Mason -- another artist whose music I have completely ignored before this weekend -- did for his second tune. Like, seriously, stop and skip to the next paragraph if you don't want to know, because otherwise, you might be able to guess what it was, even if I don't tell you; it was an amazing reading of a very relevant, very topical song, which I did NOT expect anyone would play last night, and in fact did not even remember existed in Lu's catalogue (click here if you were there and don't know that tune, or can't bear the suspense; it was written by Lu about exactly the person it seemed to be about). It was so powerful it bled over onto Lindi Ortega's follow-up (especially given her sassy red boots) and made her song seem topically-charged, too. 

Not only did Verreault score the high watermark in terms of topical impact, he and Dawson's interplay during that song had me flashing back to watching Lou Reed and Mike Rathke leaning into and playing off of each other in Tokyo, when I saw Lou on the Ecstacy tour. You always know amazing things are going to happen when two guitarists stop facing the audience and start facing each other. So it wasn't all about horns and soul; there was some meaty rock guitar to the night, as well. 

The other real surprise was Joel Plaskett doing "I Lost It," which is actually something he has covered before; he had a bit of an advantage there (nice of Dawson to assign him a song that was already in his repertoire!). But everyone was wonderful in different ways. In particular, the Eisenhauers (whose female vocalist reminded my wife and I of Dolly Parton), island duo Pony Gold, and Mercy Walker (the most wonderfully-named performer of the evening!) all were locals who I'll keep an ear out for. Mercy was the only one who confessed, rather sweetly, to being a bit nervous (and also the only person who said hi to her Mom from the stage). I'm guessing Mercy was the youngest person to perform last night; with her blessing, I've put one of her songs on Youtube, the only thing I shot video of, and a shitty video it is indeed, shaky and out of focus and all (there's a better clip of her doing one of her own songs at the Anza, here). But sometimes with a night like this, that's what's left -- a shittily-recorded Youtube video of a splendid moment. You really actually HAVE TO BE THERE, which... did I mention there were tickets still available?

If I had one quibble -- and alas, I tried to communicate this to him afterwards, which was a bit more awkward than I expected -- I actually would be more excited to hear Chuck Prophet, yet another person I had not been paying attention to before this weekend, playing his own songs than doing Lucinda Williams covers. I had a couple of Green on Red fans come out of the woodwork at me on social media, expressing amazement and enthusiasm that he was in town; they're champing at the bit for him to come back and play a full show here. I'm actually more of a Dream Syndicate man, myself (there's are a couple of overlaps between those bands), but if there'd been Chuck Prophet albums on the merch table, I'd have grabbed one, but actually being a Chuck Prophet fan is probably NOT the best reason to pull the gun on a ticket.  For whatever reason, though I was content to hear Verreault and Plaskett do covers -- I'm not going to even look for Wide Mouth Mason records today -- Prophet is a songwriter I'd like to get to know from his own music, not cover tunes, however well-executed, so last night left me with an itch that did not get scratched, there. 

...and that's all I'm going to tell you about what to expect tonight. I've said too much already.  Boy I hope my wife isn't annoyed that I bought us tickets for tonight, too. There were two! Aisle seats! Up front! HOW COULD I NOT????

See you there? (There are fewer than 20 seats left as I re-type this, and it looks like there's a discount rate for people under 30, which there really were NOT many of last night...).

PS, Erika is delghted, so no calls to friends will be made. And hey, look at that, Regina McCrary is on BOTH Slow Train Coming and Saved, but under another name! Looks like I have something to get her to sign after all...! (Oh shit, she's on Shot of Love too... I don't have that... gotta call the record stores again... dammit...).

I Love The Good Mother: Diane Keaton, Roger Ebert and a misjudged masterpiece

Remember how you could write into Roger Ebert with a film-related question? I think I did twice. One time it was a Cassavetes question, and he wrote back to say he did not know the answer, but suggested I ask Ray Carney, which I did, and which led to an interesting brief correspondence between Carney and myself. I forget the exact question -- I think it had to do with the odd number of films John Marley and Lynn Carlin appear together in, but the answer or the fine details escape me. I got some inscribed Ray Carney memorabilia out of it (!). I think I sent him a Love Streams item he did not have (I *added* to his hoard).

So thanks, Roger, for that!

The second time I wrote Roger Ebert, I think, was to ask if he ever considered writing a book about times he got it wrong. He did seem now and again to be able to acknowledge fallability. And lord knows all of us can get something wrong now and then! I wasn't meaning it as a criticism, but he didn't respond to that one. Maybe my question came too close to the "Brown Bunny/ colonscopy period" ("we've had quite enough of that, thanks!"). 

I didn't actually care about that, to be honest, though I thought he handled it all (that is, Gallo) with panache and intelligence, kinda. No, he got that one free; instead, my case in point was a Diane Keaton feature film called The Good Mother. Boy he got that wrong!

And what's interesting is to see -- sympathetically -- just how BADLY he gets it wrong, and how. He's judging the film against the standards of a women's weepie or something, against Hollywood formulae, when it needed to be judged against the standards of Ingmar Bergman or Shakespeare or AT LEAST FUCKING FASSBINDER FOR FUCKSAKE, you know? (I did not write that part to Ebert! I was much more polite). But Fassbinder told as a contemporary child custody case. 

It's really a film about cultural values in conflict, and... I'm not even really sure how to sum it up. It's a film about the dangers of not sticking up for ones values, an everyday tragedy. Just another story about how fear eats the soul. 

It's an astonishing film, and a great adaptation of the novel (which I also read and also admired; even as a kid, I had a love for dramas like this, or say, Ordinary People or The Big Chill, both of which I also saw first run and admired in different ways). The Good Morther is a film that has been widely underestimated. It is only a little bit less grim than Dancer in the Dark, and may not to be everyone's taste, but it is not answerable to the formulae that Ebert expected it to follow! 

I may have accused Ebert of damaging its reputation a little, in fact. But like, that's a whole book to be written: the HOW DARE YOU "fan" mail. Weirdos. He must have drawn a few, and maybe I made it into his "weirdo" file.  Hell, even I have a weirdo or two. There's a country song there for ya: "Everybody's friend is somebody's weirdo, and Everbody's Weirdo is somebody's friend." 

Anyhow, I didn't bug him after that, though I would have welcomed his response with fondness; I meant no ill will. I hope that was clear! It would have rocked if he'd watched the film again with my guidance and "got" it. He missed out.

And the film is also the greatest thing Leonard Nimoy ever did. Not the most popular, but it's a terrific piece of cinema. The whole cast is great. Jason Robards, Ralph Bellamy, Teresa Wright (gotta look her up), Joe Morton, other familiar faces, plus apparently Matt Damon and Ben Affleck are extras in it (?! I just showed the film to Erika and I think we found Affleck but good luck on Damon. Now I have something to ask the guy if I ever run into him). 

And it's a side of Liam Neeson you don't see much of these days, either (maybe his best work, too? It is a film his fans would find very interesting, a challenging role).

Proud to have seen it first run. Have seen it a couple times since, and Erika and I just watched it in Ms. Keaton's respect tonight. If I'd ever interacted with her, I'd have asked about this movie. She's great in it. 

She had guts, took gutsy, interesting roles. This is the best one I've seen, but it raises some challenging questions. The best works of art tend to do that. My respects, Ms. Keaton. Thanks for having the guts.   

Lene Lovich, Royal Strays, Tranzmitors, and Night Court: a spectacular Saturday in Vancouver

Lene Lovich by Bob Hanham, not to be reused without permission

Fabulous two gigs on Saturday, though the high point for most folks -- Lene Lovich's return to Vancouver -- was entirely missed by me. Bob's photos are fascinating, and I'm happy that he got to get his ticket signed, from a show some 35 years ago. May I never come to regret my decision to skip her performance! 

Actually there was a lot I skipped on Saturday: there were at least five noteworthy shows going on, with stuff by bands I have enjoyed or at least heard about at the Red Gate and LanaLou's and the Astoria, but I was already double-booked by the time I heard about most of those - triple booked if you count visiting the island for my brother-in-law's 50th birthday and having to commute back by bus and ferry and train and bus again... 

Royal Strays L-to-R Don Binns, Ani Kyd Wolf, and Don Short. All photos by me except as noted, none to be reused without permission!

Things started for me at the Rickshaw for Royal Strays. Barely caught Hausplants! Heard good things afterwards, but with Bob and I commuting in from the island, we had only just got in the room and gotten our merch sorted and they were done. No photographs, no memories; sorry! Then it was saying hi to Ani as she made a quick dip into the crowd to hug friends. 

(taken by Dave Bowes)

I had actually picked up two of Lene Lovich's most famous albums as homework, and had intended at some point to see her set. But it soon developed that I wasn't going to be able to stay: not only did I want to reward my work as a writer by seeing two of my favourite local bands, the Tranzmitors and Night Court, but I also am doing some non-local press for the latter band and wanted to get fresh photographs. Rather than trying to cram Lovich into my head, I simply gave the albums to Bob and left him to see her...

But I'm so glad I got to see Royal Strays' first concert ever. Ani Kyd Wolf was in peak form, returning to a Vancouver stage after a ten year absence, doing a darkly folky, but sultry and sensual, highly unique alt-lounge act, I guess you could call it, with two members of Sons of Freedom, Don Binns and Don Short. I'd interviewed the three for the Straight, and am gratified to see my article in the number three slot on their website today. 

Ani's voice was gorgeous and her movements captivating. I'd last seen her (Lou Reed tribute nights aside) belting out grungy punk, sharing the Rickshaw stage with Jello Biafra and a reconstituted version of her band Fuel Injected .45; I've heard her do other things, as well, but I have not seen these things presented live; I've actually spent more time, I think, seeing Ani  in social contexts, or interviewing her, than I have on seeing her perform (!). Royal Strays makes music that requires a fair bit more vulnerability and nuance than your average punk song, or even your above-average punk song, so I actually wasn't entirely sure, especially given her long hiatus, what to expect. Ani quickly confirmed that she is astonishing, an under-sung Vancouver powerhouse who I hope will play here more often. She's also a very nice person! She had fun passing down printouts of lyrics into the audience as she finished a song, but I didn't notice her consulting any of them while she performed...

Don Binns wore the most hats of the band members, shifting effortlessly from acoustic guitar to keyboards to bass. I think I'm accurate to say that the vision for Royal Strays began with him, but quickly became a collective venture. That was the impression I received from talking to them, anyhow. I shot a clip of "Sinister Campfire," a song the title for which came from the band, maybe Ani, remarking that the music sounded like a sinister campfire song. It kinda does! That was the one that most reminds me of the Swans' The Burning World. Ani could totally own a song off that album, if they were to cover one, but they hardly need the material, as their new album is great. Hope Royal Strays plays again soon!

I suspect I may have been the only person in the Rickshaw on Saturday who left before the headliner. Seeing Bob's photographs makes me question the wisdom of that -- especially the hooded figure Ms. Lovich cut at the start of her set, full-on Bene Gesserit in its impact. I mean, I've seen the Tranzmitors and Night Court a dozen times each, and I will doubtlessly see them again, but I've never seen anything quite like this: 

Lovich lost some of the costume as the night progressed but clearly still cut quite the figure. It's interesting to me that she's done little to disguise her age (she's 76). I'd just seen Cyndi Lauper, a couple of months ago, and Ms. Lauper does a fair bit to deny/ conceal that she's 72, striving to create the illusion of some timeless, ageless girlhood. Which I don't mean to criticize: she can present however she likes. But to me, it's more interesting to see an older woman who presents as an older woman, but who still makes a vivid visual impression. I mean, talk about advanced style...

Lene Lovich by Bob Hanham, not to be reused without permission

But what can I say: I did what I did: I took a taxi to Green Auto almost as soon as Ani left the stage, to catch one half a song by a Quebec power pop unit called Danny Laj and the Looks. I even got a photo or two, but though I enjoyed the half song I heard, I resolved to think no more about them and not buy their album because I just cannot follow EVERYTHING that happens...! (If I wasn't deep in a hole this month I'd have grabbed that record for sure). 

Tranzmitors did a killer set, as always, of which I shot two songs. One of the very best (and best-dressed!) bands in Vancouver, whom I first saw in 2007, back when they had a keyboard (!). It is mildly weird that our city should be home to a Mod revival survival of this caliber, but why ask questions when you can DANCE? 

Maybe that is why I have not done them justice yet, interview-wise, but they do have a new album in the works for next year, so there will be chances! Much of their set was off that upcoming album, I gather. I only knew "Teen Man" and "Dancing in the Front Row" as older tunes, in fact -- the set's closers. Much that they played was completely unfamiliar to me, but still, of course, catchy as all get-out. 

Night Court was equally terrific, if harder to pin down; people who strive to put bands into genre-boxes will find them a bit of a challenge. The Straight thing I did (#7 today) looped in Guided by Voices and Fugazi and... I dunno what Circus Lupus sounds like, but I bet Night Court doesn't sound like them either, much. They master the art of being wholly unique while seeming totally familiar, and it was a real treat to see Jiffy liberated (mostly!) from bass duties, so he could make maximum use of both hands. He should injure himself more often!

I jest..l.  but it was great -- he is a terrific frontman; a lot more of his character comes through when he is not slinging an instrument, is freer to move around and gesture. It was like the show where Art Bergmann was forbidden by his band to play guitar, and we could see how expressive his hands could be. It might have pissed Art off, but it was a rare experience for his fans! 

My best photo of the night was probably this one of Dave-O, though: 

It was over all too soon. I chatted with Adam and Talesha, who had both come to the show, then met up with Bob at the bus stop. He told of how he chatted with a couple from California who had followed Lovich up here, and of how she had been very friendly and approachable, signing things for fans, even though she had no merch to speak of.

Me, I got my Nervous Birds scribbled on. Whether I made a duff call or not, I'll never know, but I sure did enjoy my night; it was one of those great nights of local music that sustains me, makes me want more -- the first gigs I've really enjoyed in awhile, having overextended myself a bit recently. It really does help that I interviewed the artists, too, and that they're such nice people.... and part of such rich scene that we have in this city. Nights like this, you can almost forget how totally fuckin' apocalyptic our times seem for a few hours..

...Almost. Jiffy wore an uber-political t-shirt (that's a Tesla truck on fire); there was a striking bit of political graffiti (a sticker, actually) in the bathroom, reading "Charlie Had It Coming"; and I could not resist the newest Night Court t-shirt design, which I guess is only "political" in the broadest possible sense. But now I have two Night Court t-shirts with X-ray themes, and signed copies of everything they've put out on vinyl (I do not have their cassettes and I gave my Nervous Birds CD to Bob).  

We will now endeavour to take somewhat of a breather from gig-going, though next weekend, there's the Jason D. Williams gig, with Supersuckers opening, and the debut performance from the new collab between Billy Hopeless and Philly Roach, And then there's Big Top's return, November 1st, doing a live score for a fabulous Lon Chaney movie... then the Dream Syndicate! 

More to come on that last, and maybe some of the others (I wonder if Supersuckers will be familiar to me at all? I last saw them about 35 years ago at the Cruel Elephant, I think, before they started to add rootsy elements to their music. Enjoyed them at the time. Maybe it's time to give them another chance? 

And Jason D. Williams is terrific. I saw and photographed him last year. Even Jerry Lee Lewis would be impressed.

Sorry to have crapped out on ya, Ms. Lovich! Thanks for stayin' weird. The world needs more of it!