Alabama Shakes: Freedom Mobile Arch review -- tips and notes for first-timers

Note: this is less a review of Alabama Shakes than it is a helpful explainer for people seeing shows at the new Freedom Mobile Arch! Heck, that's not even Alabama Shakes on the stage, but Billy Allen + the Pollies. All photos by me!

Erika and I saw Alabama Shakes last year in Seattle, but we didn't REALLY see them; the Climate Pledge Arena was enormous and the band were tiny flecks a seeming kilometer away, in an arena holding maybe 18,300 people, compared to tonight's venue, Freedom Mobile Arch, which accommodates about 10,000 people, assuming, I would guess, that you include the grassy hill in back, where the cheap seats are as cheap as they are because, well, there are no seats at all. 

(Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle: this is NOT Freedom Mobile Arch)

Don't get me wrong, the trip to Seattle was wonderful, overall (photos and notes here, and also, if you're curious about the conversation with Vic Bondi, go here)... but the itch to see Alabama Shakes was not well scratched last time out. So a few months ago, when my buyout had me feeling like I could afford it, I kind of insisted we buy tickets for the band's Vancouver concert (which took place yesterday night as I write this). I'm very very glad we did. We splurged on good seats, too -- not the best in the house, necessarily and not the SRO pit in front, but only 17 rows back, section 202 (right in the middle of the aisle). It was a much, much better experience, though it didn't lend to particularly good photographs! This is about what a row-17 distance looks like, from a slightly zoomed-in cell phone, if you're wondering. Beats the heck out of the Climate Pledge experience, though! 

When it turned out that the t-shirt I bought for Erika in Seattle was now too big, I inherited it and insisted on buying her a new one. That also, I think, proved a good idea!

The show was wonderful. The projections on either side of the screen allowed us to see Brittany's guitar playing up close, which was a treat (I hadn't actually realized that many of the solos are hers!). The sound, while a little bit echoey for Muscle-Shoals-influenced Billy Allen & the Pollies (from Howard's own stomping grounds in Alabma; Billy invited us to cheer her choice to hire locals to support her), was marvelous for Alabama Shakes (I was not impeded in getting to the bottom of the stairs to take one reasonably close-up photo of Billy but imagine the stairs would have been much more crowded for Alabama Shakes. I did not try!). This is more or less what you're going to be seeing if you are seated in the front rows of the 200s: 

The show was remarkably without incident, considering the scale. Security was fast and efficient -- we had to put our stuff in little baskets and get wanded, and there were NO BAG CHECKS available, so if you brought something you weren't allowed to bring, you would have been sent back out to either throw it away or stash it somewhere. Whatever you bring has to fit in an 8X11 bag. But we had followed those rules, so it wasn't at all an issue. And once we were in, there were no further hassles with security at all. There were plentiful guards at work but they all seemed polite and friendly and helpful.

Ditto the actual concert experience -- it was pretty darn smooth and seamless. You know those minor annoyances that happen at every concert you go to where the artist is obliged to spend time asking for more of instrument X in monitor Y, or asking for the lights to be adjusted, or tuning their instruments, or...? Maybe that's more a feature of the smaller shows I favour, but it was still kind of amazing that there was utterly none of that last night. Everything was perfectly set, perfectly executed, one of the most flawless deliveries of a concert experience I've encountered.

But there were some nuisances no less, not with the show per se, which I'm going to enumerate as a way of helping folks plan for future concerts there, since there are many coming up (hell, there's even one I'm going to!). It was entirely a new space for me, so it was pretty interesting to explore and catalogue the pros and cons, the highs and lows and a few of the eccentricities. 

First off, turns out Freedom Mobile Arch is new enough as a venue--having just opened in June--that it is still not on the signs that stand at the corner of Renfrew and Hastings, which is where you have to enter. And we could have used a bit more "prep" in the online information about getting to the show. For one thing, the venue is accessed, at least later in the day, via the PNE entrance, not the Playland one; we made a foolish mistake of paying a substantial amount for parking near Playland, because we could see the arch nearby, and thought it would be convenient (in the lot just off Windermere, across Hastings)... but then were denied entry, since they were closing soon and had cut off ticket sales (a ticket to the show did NOT get you access to Playland). Even though we just wanted to cut through (and/ or maybe grab a bite from one of the Playland vendors, who had better food options than inside the Arch grounds), we had to walk a few blocks down to Renfrew, walk the same length back towards Playland (following very limited signage; we could see a first timer getting pretty confused), then stand outside the gates to the concert area for an hour, waiting to be admitted, wondering if we'd be able to get a decent meal inside.

At least there was a merch table to keep us a bit entertained! (Also, pleasantly, we were at least allowed to walk back OUT through Playland, once the show was over). 

One nice thing was that PNE staff came out at one point to offer seated upgrades to people who had bought grassy knoll "seats." This is probably no more reliable than getting an upgrade on a flight, so I wouldn't bank on that offer being made, but I know at least one person (Gerald, in fact) who benefited from this, which is a good thing, because the grassy area (while it would be just fine for a cheap seat if the weather was nice) looked like you see below (actual photo: I jogged up to the top to snap it). I don't think I'd want to see a show with my ass in two inches of cold water! Erika says that the "know before you go" email specifically said no chairs, no blankets, etc., so even if you have a folding chair that fits in an 8X11 bag, you wouldn't have been allowed, it seems, to use it. So caveat emptor, grass sitters!

It's a fair distance away from the stage, too. The view from the SRO area (the highest-price tier for tickets, so I wasn't able to access it, but could stand to the side of the stage to snap this, which I believe is showing you the "202 area" -- the best space to sit in. We were 17 rows back from here). You can see the structure above the grass in the back: 

There are lots of food options but some things could use some ironing out. Like, there were no sweet treats of any sort: no cookies, chocolate bars, candy bars, ice cream, etc., which is tiny, but Erika felt like something sweet, and I circled every stand to no avail; it seems a weird oversight. There WERE choices of common street-fair food: poutine, pizza, hot dogs, etc. There was even a healthy option, a chicken Caesar salad with croutons which Erika seemed to enjoy. I opted for pizza, and didn't care for the texture of the cheese, which had a sort of "foamy" quality that I find often comes with a reheated pizza; I suspect all their pizzas are pre-cooked and refrigerated, then heated when you order it (because it only took about five minutes to get). Maybe I'm wrong. Suffice to say, I'm fussy about cheese, and did not like the texture (or the pools of grease that I dabbed off with a napkin). Erika had a few bites and liked it well enough, so maybe it's just me? 

Mostly, though, the food was plentiful, had more options than we expected, was not super-expensive (I think a bottle of pop was $4?), and there were vendors in a few spaces, so there was no issue of long lineups. We didn't explore the alcohol options, but there seemed to be plenty of choices there, too.  

One interesting thing I noted: there was absolutely NO trace of cannabis in the air. Maybe it's down to the option of legal edibles, or general prohibitions against smoking, but the only thing I smelled anywhere on the grounds last night was one puff from was someone's fruity tobacco vape. (I here mean "fruity" in the more literal sense, note, as in, it smelled like fruit). Given that there are people who CAN consume cannabis products but CANNOT (or at least SHOULD not) consume alcohol -- people, like me, who have had tongue cancer, say -- and given that you can now buy cannabis beverages, gummies, and so forth basically in every city in Canada, it sure would be nice if the powers that be extended cannabis liberalization to concerts, too, eh? I could someone successfully pursuing this as an issue of accessibility: why should alcohol drinkers be allowed access to intoxication at concerts, while those who cannot imbibe it be forbidden? 

There are plenty of stalls in the washrooms. It's interesting: they use the standard, old fashioned men and women iconography to let people know where the toilets are, but once you actually GET to the toilet area, the iconography changes to wheelchairs and toilets, so I spent a few clueless minutes LOOKING for a men's room while being totally surrounded by gender-neutral stalls. So the bathroom area is kind of post-binary-gender/ post-toilet-segregation, but the long distance signage isn't; I'm not complaining, just noting an eccentricity (is there a name for archaic iconography that survives past its best-by? For instance, the little floppy disc you click on to save a document, when no one has used a floppy disc in fifteen years?

Mostly the washroom area was just another cool aspect of the spaces as a whole: The sinks, in particular, were weirdly futuristic and kind of cool to behold...  though oddly, the soap dispensers didn't work, so we were provided little pump bottles (visible if you look closely; that was liquid soap, not sanitzer. You can also see me in the mirror, snapping this photo): 

What else? There wasn't anything in the way of heating and the whole area is open-air, so if you're prone to being cold, or if, as last night, it is breezy, wear a few layers? But that's a gentle tip, not a complaint -- I was, myself, very comfortable just in my t-shirt and shirt combo. Compared to the traumatizing shitshow that was the first night of the Neil Young concerts at Deer Lake last year, last night at Freedom Mobile Arch was a nearly perfect concert experience, really. Where your biggest quibble is, you couldn't buy your wife a cookie or such -- you really have no quibble at all; I would not hesitate on shelling out money for another show there, should one strike my fancy (note: the second night of Neil Young was much much better but the first night was such a fuckup, organizationally, that I will evermore think twice about going to Deer Lake for a show). 

As for the concert itself, Brittany was, of course, charming and sincere and a powerhouse performer, as ever. She, Heath and Zac remain the core of the band, and it is unclear to me if the two keyboardists, drummers, and female backup singers we saw are just touring support, but everything sounded great. I haven't lived with the new songs much ("Time", "I Feel Hope Coming", "American Dream" and "Garden," according what was played in Tacoma the other week; there is a setlist online for Vancouver, but it's missing at least two songs, maybe more).  At one point, in acknowledging the challenges of our times, Brittany explained that she wasn't the religious type so wasn't going to offer us prayers, but instead wish us good tidings, whereupon she ran through a list of wishes for everyone, starting with "I hope the price of housing goes down." Everyone cheered, whereupon she said something like, "Oh, you have that problem up here, too, huh?" At various points the whole section stood up to dance, and we happily had a real good dancer in front of us -- an older Asian lady in a white T who totally got into it and thereby vicariously transmuted some of her pleasure to us. The biggest challenge of the evening proved to be the choice between watching the band on the screens (which feels like "more TV" but which had great detail, especially during guitar solos) or watching them on the stage. But at various points ("Sound and Colour", say, which I am starting to think is my favourite song of theirs), I could solve that problem just by closing my eyes and listening. 

64 Funnycars, MeBats, Bon Rube and more: terrific weekend of local music

That was a very fun night of music, which saw us starting at the Fox Cabaret -- as full as I've seen it, where people ate up the sets of 64 Funnycars, whom I'd written about here, and Star Collector (who I hadn't written about at all, not even in that very article, and barely knew, though they have been around since the 1990s and apparently played last Bowie Ball; both they and Muncho won deserved fans, but I confess to not paying close attention). It was one of those rare evenings where I wondered if my article actually had an impact, because (assuming Funnycars were the draw), the last two 64 Funnycars sets I've seen, they didn't even sell out LanaLou's, while suddenly tonight, they packed the Fox, with no less than three photographers (Bob, Gord and Kevin) on hand to document the night. Something helped bring people out to the show, and hell, maybe it was me? (Or maybe 604 Records put a lot of weight into advertising it, but I didn't notice much, personally). 

Whatever the reason for the packed room, the band played their hearts out, and people seemed to totally dig it. I have seen and enjoyed Tim Chan (in a few different bands) more times than I can count, but I think it was the all-round single best show of any band I've seen him in, last night (and certainly the biggest crowd I've personally seen him play to, unless you talk Bowie Balls). Caught a clip of Eric Cottrell doing a delightful Dylan cover, followed by Chan's "I Don't Mean to Be a Prude", off Happy Go Lucky, which you can stream or pay to download here.  Congrats on the very successful show, you Funnycars! (And thanks for the shirt, Tim!). 

We then headed to the Princeton, where a seemingly-pretty-inebriated MeBats (formerly Stab'Em in the Abdomen, last written about by me here) did a sprawling, raucous, delightfully undisciplined set, playing to a crowd that held all the familiar faces that had been absent from the Funnycars show. I felt like I recognized half the room; ended up sitting with Barry Benson and Danny Nowak, waving hellos to John Werner and Larry Lechner and Bert Man and Sinéad X Sanders, and recognizing many many others. Kitty Cane, MeBats' new guitarist, played a very interesting, apparently fretless, presumably custom-built guitar (or so people at our table were speculating; Benson was particularly intrigued), but it seemed a bit low in the mix (if I'm gonna quibble with any aspect of the sound at either show, I'd have liked to have heard Kitty a bit louder!). Along with Tony Lee (whose absence had been noted at the Funnycars show, but here was the reason), Kitty seemed to anchor the band a bit, to serve as an eye to the hurricane, but things were still gloriously ramshackle, in the best of all possible ways; mostly thinking of the Eds here, I don't think I've seen anyone as unabashedly drunken onstage since I saw the Replacements at the Town Pump back in 1987. And yet it all held together!

Erika would comment later in the evening, "Did people seem generally drunker tonight than the usual shows we go to?" (There had been a fair bit of booze flowing at the Fox, too).  

Guitarless since his injury, Ed Hurrell staggered on and off the stage (and not just because he uses a cane now), but always deliberately and intentionally (or at least he made it look that way). He belted out tunes with an exuberance exceeded only by bandmate Eddie Dutchman, who roared his vocals like a man-who-really-means-it, while a female keyboardist (didn't get her name or guage her level of sobriety) added some pleasingly tuneful (if simple) highlights overtop it all. Their best songs were "What Happened to Me" (an amazing Dutchman tune which I would have loved to get on video, but it was the first song of the night, and I was not yet prepared), "Satan, Bacon and Beer" and maybe "Worried" ("double-you-oh-double-r-i-e-d"). The one song of theirs I shot, which I did not get the title of, was not among the best, in fact, but did I hear that lyric right? "My body stinks/ people smell/ but I love you"...?

It might be fun to become a MeBats groupie or something. Whatta raucous ruckus!

Then Bon Rube was up, an incarnation of the Rubes that did NOT just play AC/DC covers, as some expected (though they did do at least one, "Rock'n' Roll Damnation", early in the night). I got Tony to sign my Antheads single (because why not?).  I brought a Hollow Weiners single for the Eds to scribble on, too, which is the sole recording I have of vintage Stab'Em in the Abdomen (who are completely outdone by the Scissors' "Underwear Wolf"). I think EddyD. implied that Stab'Em might also have appeared on Very Scary Cemetery, too, but I don't have that one!

Incidentally, Bags of Dirt, represented on Hollow Weiners, allegedly played that 1985 Dead Kennedys show at the York that I caught, but I have no recollection of them whatsoever. You can see a photo of me in the audience, age 17, while the Bill of Rights play, here in my recent Deadcats feature. But also here, if you want a closeup.  

But back to the Rubes. Tony is an under-sung local treasure, who I did a pretty deep dive with here. (He's also on my Bludgeoned Pigs 7", which I neglected to bring, so I've got a great excuse to see him again). Originals we caught included "Jubilee" and "Starlight Train" off his under-sung 2009 album Treasure Town (which does not appear to be on bandcamp, but can be heard on Spotify, if you use that, here, or SoundCloud, here). He was joined live by (I think) Sean Stubbs (filling in on the kit for a present-but-sidelined Doug Donut), Don Binns, and Rod Bruno (is he still in Braineater?). Alas we did not make it all the way through the set--Erika was turning into a pumpkin-- but long enough to see a jaw-droppingly entertaining cover of Nazareth's "Hair of the Dog", which I realize now, unbelievably, I have never seen any band perform live, ever. It rocked! Pretty sure Walker was sober, but he still fell over in the middle of that song, though he shot his fist up in the air in grinning triumph when he discovered, sprawled on the floor, that he was still plugged in and could continue playing, righting himself (but not the mic stand) just in time for that vocal bwap-bwap-bwap verse, which he delivered in a crouch while the sound guy struggled to get the microphone standing while still holding it still enough that Tony could get his face up to it. Just as well my phone battery had died, but you know you're a pro if you can fall completely on your ass in the middle of a song, knocking over equipment in the process, and barely miss a lick.  

Come to think of it, it's kinda fucking amazing that that happened during the Rubes set, and not the MeBats, but... there it is... 

The one place I didn't manage to check in last night was Red Gate. I sure hope that was a well-attended ig. I'd made the Russian Hall portion of Trooper Fest the night before (written about in my previous post), and finally did manage to get a Straight article online Saturday morning, thanks to Mike Usinger. As noted, there, the highlights of that night were a song by Quit It!, the rude and funny acoustic set by Alex Mo, and Noelle's "Bring Catnip", which (sorry, you Funnycars) was, after "Hair of the Dog", the highlight of the weekend for me, musically. 

I also took my one great photo of the weekend, of Chaos, Disorder and Panic (though it wasn't actually shot during "Bring Catnip"). Dig the blurring drumstick! 

I won't be at the Sunday installment of Trooper Fest either (Erika and I are going to see Alabama Shakes tonight) but if you're looking for a community-minded punk event and want to contribute to the well-being of the animal companions of local punks, hit Red Gate for the final night tonight. Headliners Emma Goldman pack a ferocious punch, if you want to be punched ferociously! (Actually, JISEI sound pretty intense too, and New World on Fire,  and... I think I'm most intrigued by Blake Pinder, to be honest -- prolific and quirky lo-fi-ish Chilliwack alt folk or... something?). 

Trooper Fest 4: the final fest, in memoriam to the most famous punk cat king in Vancouver

 

Trooper Fest is a multi-day, all-ages Vancouver punk festival that organizer, musician, and former Black Lab affiliate Noelle Chaos (previously interviewed here) has been putting on these last few years to help raise funds for the care of her diabetic cat Trooper. She wrote touchingly about her history with Trooper last year, to mark the third annual Trooper Fest. 

This year will be the fourth and final Trooper Fest, which Noelle began organizing in the spring, before Trooper's passing on March 2nd. She's already been hosting events in the buildup to the weekend, but the music starts tonight (Friday, July 24th) at the Russian Hall at 600 Campbell, headlined by Seattle punk band Kids on Fire, before moving to the Red Gate (1965 Main St) for the rest of the weekend. Funds raised by Trooper Fest 2026 will go to help other animals in need, more on which below.

Trooper and Noelle

The lineup for tonight (doors at 6:30, bands at 7; the Russian Hall is near the intersection of Campbell and Keefer) will start with local acts, kicking off with standup from Alex Mo of the band Alien Boys. We have no idea what Alex is going to do but are most intrigued!

Alex Mo by Bob Hanham

This will -- minus whatever announcements or raffles or other shenanigans are planned -- be followed by a set from "Trooper's human's band", Chaos Disorder and Panic, and a set from Vancouver's thrashy, rude, and funny punk band the Fomites (whose bandcamp describes them as being "influenced by skate, horror, pizza, sci-fi and all things rad" and whose band name rivals working from home as one of the best carryovers from COVID). 

The Fomites will be followed by two out-of-town acts, tuneful Calgary punk act Quit It! (formerly the River Jacks), featuring Spencer Jo, whom we first saw performing a solo set at the Black Lab back in 2020 ) and then, as noted, Kids on Fire.

Again, the entire festival, including the Russian Hall and Red Gate chapters, is all ages. Noelle—who notes that she always knew the festival had an expiration date—wrote the following on the occasion of what would have been Trooper's 14th birthday (on Wednesday), saying that she missed her furry best friend and was saddened to celebrate his birthday without him:

Trooper Fest was never like other fests. It was a labor of love born out of necessity to help with the costs of caring for the most important creature in my life. Me and Trooper were a team, we did everything together. As we approach the final Trooper Fest, I’d like to reflect on how what started out as a desperate Hail Mary single show thrown together in about two weeks when Trooper first got sick grew into not just a fundraiser to help me care for my cat, and not just an annual weekend fest but a beautiful celebration that brought out the best in our community.

Trooper, with his light-up-a-room personality, had a way of making everyone who knew him want to be his friend. The fest as it grew brought a lot of people together from many different parts of the punk scene as well as the community at large and it introduced to me to many people who I now call friends and comrades. I’ve also heard a lot of stories people have told me about Trooper Fest being their first show, how attending the fest helped them find a place in the community and lots of different stories of what the fest meant to them. I’ve also heard stories from people who said they mourned Trooper's passing but they will also mourn the end of the end of the fest because of those experiences. It makes me happy and proud to look at how it grew and evolved into something we as a community built together. I’d like to take this opportunity to thank anyone who has ever supported Trooper Fest in any way. The venues, the bands, the volunteers, the labels, the vendors, people who donate to the raffle, make the merch, do important behind the scenes stuff; and you the show going public who throws down at the door and helped make sure Trooper got everything he needed. Thank you for giving me and Trooper three and a half extra years.

 

Day two, on Saturday at Red Gate, will include, Noelle reports, "Skellytune, Matt Earle (of Dead End Drive In and Earmarked), Danger Box from Nanaimo and, headlining the night, local punks Die Job" (who I shot at Red Gate a couple years ago -- fun band!). 

But there will also be a free matinee screening of Trooper's favourite movie, the original 1978 John Carpenter version of Halloween, earlier that day at Red Gate, Noelle explains: "Trooper was a cat with a taste for the classics. Doors at 3pm and movie at 3:30pm: join us for a unique and classic theater experience as we screen the movie on a projector through the venue PA and we all relax on comfy couches. There will be popcorn and concession stand style snacks available and air conditioning. As a way to thank the community for your support this event is free come celebrate with us. Please note although the movie screening is free. The show afterwards does cost $20!"

The final night, Sunday, July 26th at Red Gate, will include Blake Pinder (from Chilliwack the city, not Chilliwack the band; this is true of many of the acts playing day three); Clay (but not Clayton Holmes; this is a different local band called Clay; their bandcamp is eluding me); Assaliant (ditto re: their bandcamp); New World on Fire; JISEI (from Vancouver/ Victoria) and headlining, Emma Goldman, whom Noelle notes have just returned from their European tour.

Emma Goldman at the Rickshaw, 2025, by Allan MacInnis

With the festival now happening in Trooper's memory, Noelle thought about how she wanted to close out the festival, and how to best give Trooper the celebration of life he deserves, she explains. "I wanted him to have the legacy I think he would have wanted. After seeing how little there is available to low income pet parents, especially of older pets with complicated chronic conditions, the profits from this years Trooper Fest will be used to create the King Trooper Memorial low-income vet fund which I hope will break down some of the barriers low income folks face when their baby falls through the cracks. As our way of doing something to support the community that supported us."

Fourteen bands and a comedian, "representing every single kind of punk" will be performing; Noelle notes that the diversity in the line ups is her favourite feature of the festival. "Every single band is Trooper approved. God damn did my cat have good taste in both music and friends. The entire fest is super-stacked front to back and I encourage people to look up all the bands." (We've provided links where we could). Anyone who thinks punks are antisocial can correct this mis-impression starting tonight. (I dug my All Cats Are Beautiful t-shirt out for the occasion -- believe that's Trooper there!).

Thanks for inspiring such a great community event, Trooper (and being such a good cat companion, Noelle!). 

The Odyssey: a Christopher Nolan film for people who do not like Christopher Nolan films

I have not, historically, cared much for Christopher Nolan's films. Before I get to The Odyssey, I want to walk through his filmography, as a refresher for myself as well. 

At the time of its release, I enjoyed Memento, the first of his films I saw, and went back and watched Following, which also seemed very interesting at the time (having only seen it once, over 20 years ago, I cannot really speak to Following now). But sometimes critics can have an impact, and Jonathan Rosenbaum's terse dismissal of Memento did make me think of the film in a different way and feel less impressed by it; if you subtract just being engaged in the game Nolan is playing with form, what do you have, ultimately? (I believe I read a longer-form essay than that in one of his books, in fact, but it touches the same points).

Before I read Rosenbaum, however, when I was still big on Memento, I saw Insomnia first run and was crushingly disappointed, came out of the cinema in 2002 really struggling with how little I had appreciated it, how lame it felt (I was much more demanding of cinema back then). I liked it more the second time I saw it, decades after that theatrical experience, so I think for the most part, my bad reaction the first time round is down to my having a lot of trouble adjusting to late-phase Al Pacino, whose last great performance (that I've seen, at least) was arguably in 1992's Glengarry Glen Ross? Or maybe it was Scarface. If he's done any great work since -- if he's made a film where he doesn't come across as an ill-prepared ham, lacking any trace of subtlety or craft or real engagement with his characters, where he basically isn't playing "Al Pacino acting in a movie" -- I've missed it, but I have missed a lot of his later films, by choice (there are some things he's done post-Glengarry that I've enjoyed, like Michael Mann's Heat, but it's like I've enjoyed the movies in spite of his presence, not because of it. Maybe I should try him doing Shakespeare, or in one of the film's he's directed? I have not felt much desire. I think I watched about five minutes of his Richard III film and turned it off). I think I was still struggling with adjusting my feelings about Pacino (who was so great in the 1970s, of course) that it wrecked Insomnia the first time. As I say, I liked it far better on trying it again a couple of years ago -- it is one of three films on this list that I could see myself watching again for pleasure (if there weren't so many other movies I'd rather see instead). 

I didn't see Batman Begins for some time, but went to see The Dark Knight theatrically, and hated it. I wrote about it at the time. As I say, this was 20 years ago, and I've softened a bit since, in part because I made an effort to do so (I have also come to enjoy the Iron Man movies, including the one I call "idiotic and contemptible" in that very review, but that doesn't necessarily mean I don't still think it's idiotic and contemptible; something can be idiotic and contemptible and still be fun to watch, which Iron Man is, and The Dark Knight is not). I think I have come to think, based on the other two Batmans Nolan made, that he really was just going for a cynical cash-grab with his references to current events (9/11 in the first, the War on Terror/ Abu Ghraib in the second, Occupy in the third), but that's more because I came to realize that most of Nolan's films have been about nothing, or nothing very important. I give him credit, in that review, for a sort of right-wing manipulation of his audience, but I hadn't seen enough of his films at that point to recognize mere cynical nihilism for what it was. I actually gave him *too much* credit! 

Somewhere much later I saw The Prestige. It was kind of entertaining, and though I didn't and still don't really know what to make of it ("Is this film actually worth thinking about? Maybe!"), I had no objection to it. I felt that way the second time I saw it, maybe even moreso. It feels like it might actually be Nolan's most sincere reflection on his own trickery, hubris, and ambition? Nolan is his own drowned Hugh Jackman (or at least that's the premise I'd start with if I were to watch it a third time). And though Bowie isn't particularly good in it -- he was never that good an actor, just good at playing himself, it turns out -- you gotta give Nolan credit for the idea of it alone: Bowie as Tesla? Nice. 

Incidentally, that's the other film on this list I could see re-watching for pleasure, with the the third and final being The Odyssey. 

But I hated Inception. I think it was actually the next Nolan film I saw after The Dark Knight (he made it between Batmans, as with The Prestige). For one thing, I felt like it came very close to being a plagiarism of Neuromancer, though there's a section of The Odyssey ("the lotus flower years" with Calypso) that seems to provide a common source for something that happens in both texts. But that wasn't really why I hated it; I hated it because a) it forces you to think far too hard about far too little, seems a walking embodiment of the old saw that if you can't dazzle them with brilliance, baffle them with bullshit; and b) I had never, on seeing it, had a dream where I held or fired a gun, and didn't buy or understand or enjoy how much gunplay the film puts in the dreamlife of its characters. Finally (c), there's nothing of the flavour of dreams in the film -- just the same cold puzzlebox that Rosenbaum finds in Memento.  I love dreams and dream movies, generally (try Dreamscape sometime -- it's cheese, but great cheese, and the dreams actually feel like dreams!); so I went in hoping for dreams, and got chilly games and a hey-this-is-kinda-similar-to-William-Gibson and the usual squinting headache trying to just keep the plot sorted, nevermind what it amounts to. And all done at great length, with a huge budget and a tremendous amount of cinematic and financial resources rallied in service of... what? 

But maybe I am being unfair. Fact is, Inception is a film I've been meaning to revisit for some time, but I liked it so little the first time around that I have never successfully made myself sit through it again. Most of Nolan's films get more interesting on second viewing, I grudgingly acknowledge, but few of them inspire a second viewing, you know? You kind of have to force yourself. So I may watch this one again someday, but not because I really want to, just to see if maybe I missed something. (Does anyone else do this with films they hated? I mean, I occasionally will do an about-face on second viewing; I really didn't care for Children of Men on first viewing, and now I think it's a masterpiece, so...). 

All that said, Interstellar was an exception to how I usually watch Nolan films, because if memory serves, I loved the first three quarters of it. I was even confused by how deeply I engaged with the story, compared to my usual experience of his cinema. But I had a terrifying glimmer in the first 20 minutes or so that I knew exactly where the film was going, one of those premonitions where you think, "this better not be going where I think it is", where I turned out to my horror and disappointment, when we got to the end, to have been absolutely correct: that weird noise on the shelf would turn out, come the end of the film, to be (spoiler!) the main character, at the other end of his journey, observing himself. I swear, I guessed the twist, not based on any clues in the film (it gives you none) but based on a theory I was forming on what kind of filmmaker Christopher Nolan is. Interstellar was the film where his gamesmanship became demonstrably predictable, where he more or less proved (to me, at least) what kind of filmmaker he was. That didn't stop me from liking the first big chunk of it, however, and being impressed, since usually Nolan's films never emotionally engage me at all. I remember being actually angry at Nolan by the film's end, at the bad joke it makes of itself, which I guess is an improvement over my norm with his cinema. It was a good enough film up to a point that it had the capacity to be wrecked by the ending. 

I skipped Dunkirk, I was so pissed off with Interstellar, and still haven't caught up. Tenet, I went to see in the same socially-distanced COVID delirium as everyone else and thought it the most empty exercise he'd offered yet: a film that requires immense effort to think about, but that transparently has nothing to it worth thinking about. Big-budget formalist masturbation: I can give myself a cheaper headache by simply laying off caffeine for a day, thanks. What a waste of audience faith!   

And then Oppenheimer, which I admit I enjoyed, then read some piece of criticism about that seemed, as with Memento years ago, to force me to reconsider what I'd watched. It wasn't Armond White, but it was as damning. Maybe it was Charles Mudede?). I can only say that I enjoyed the film theatrically, and have no interest in ever revisiting it. 

Suffice to say, if you ask me who the most overrated filmmaker alive is, Christopher Nolan is my go-to. 

I absolutely loved watching The Odyssey yesterday. It's great spectacle, but it also makes the audience work, and for once, there's a reason to DO the work. I'd probably love the film just because of the sheer number of young people coming into the bookstore where I've been working to buy copies of Homer (though maybe not: the number of people who have bought Dune based on the recent films is pretty impressive, too, and I think they're kinda lousy). Saw the film in 70mm -- an actual film projection -- at the Park yesterday. It's pricy ($26!) but the house was 3/4s full, which is impressive as hell on a Monday night. The film makes me want to read The Odyssey as well (I've only read The Iliad). I particularly love that youngsters shopping for the book are even being specific about which translation they want (the Emily Wilson, which was what Nolan used as the basis of his own writing, we gather; we should note that Wilson, who knows her stuff, had mixed feelings about the film. It has been well-received in Greece, however). 

This is all I have to say at the moment about The Odyssey. I may pick up the Wilson translation myself -- I can't really offer meaningful criticism without knowing Homer. But there are ideas about morality and human nature in The Odyssey that elevate it far above most of Nolan's other films. Maybe he's finally made a movie that is thematically worthy of its hugeness? That demands you work with it, but has something worthy of the work underlying it?

That was how I felt after watching the film last night, anyhow. 

Note: comments remain turned off on this blog, since there's a commentor I cannot otherwise block who I do not wish to hear from, but feel free to find my link to this review on Facebook, if you can, and comment there (Facebook, unlike Blogger, allows you to block people effectively). I'd love to know what my friends thought, of this or any other Christopher Nolan movies. 

Gigs: H.Ä.L.T., Code-22, Sue Foley, Billy Hopeless, David M., and one for Saturday night

In which many gigs are discussed (we'll get to Sue presently). 

Bad cat daddy had to leave gig early tonight to feed the cat, who has been alone all day. I am home now, but (now that he has been fed), he is not hanging out with me from his usual perch by the computer. He's a bit "hrumph", I suspect -- is chilling in some other room, which mayhaps he will leave should I enter. I missed the Tranzmitors for this? I could have at least missed them for Digression (see previous post). 

I did get to see H.Ä.L.T.. whom I have promised future press to. I like them, but I have questions, including basic ones, like what does H.Ä.L.T. stand for...? I also wonder, given that the bassist reminds me of Dave Tregunna, if that name means anything to him? (Also: is his look more Melvins or Birthday Party? I am unable to decide). I am now attending gigs by bands so much younger than I am that I can no longer assume common ground. There were, like, 13-year-olds dancing around in the audience, I'm pretty sure! 

I also liked that touring band Cheap Glue (from Minnesota!) did a cover of the Pointed Sticks "Out of Luck." I promptly emailed a couple of Pointed Sticks and let them know it was happening. Fun band,  that Cheap Glue, but I hope they sold a lot of merch, because it's a long way back to Minnesota. 

Shot vid (but not the Pointed Sticks cover).

Turns out the best time I had, though, at the Red Gate tonight, was dancing to "Big Brown Eyes" by Code-22 (who I also mentioned to Nick; I think he'd dig'em). I'd forgotten how much I like that song! It was also my best photo of the night. 

This was my third time seeing Code-22, and I well-documented the first, in the dank environs of Alf House, including a vid of the very song I mentioned above. Someone: this song badly needs to be on a 7". 

Does Pete not look a smidge like...

But as I say, this was my second night out in two days; my wife and I went to see Sue Foley the night prior, as well. Sue was great, though I liked some pieces better than others (particularly was taken with the dark, earthy "Southern Men" and her cover of Blind Lemon Jefferson's "Jack O' Diamonds," which is a revealing song to research if you want to understand the odd lore around that particular playing card, which also appears in Clarence Ashley's "The Coo Coo Bird" (aka "The Cuckoo"). It relates to Conquian, a card game related to rummy that (maybe?) also dates back to an ancient Chinese card game called khanhoo? I was, weirdly, finding more revealing stuff on my phone than I am on my computer, but invite you to dive down your own rabbithole, here. Suffice to say, there is some complexity to playing the Jack O' Diamonds in Conquian, because of how cards get scored, that makes it a risky card, apparently -- but I'm not entirely clear how that works. Some variants of the game remove the 8s 9s and 10s, so the Jack joins runs with the 7, making it, if I understand correctly, the highest-scored "non-face-card", which also makes it a card you can lose points on? Not totally clear! I'll ask Sue Foley about it if I see her again. Just as well that Townes used stud poker for his song, though; rummy wouldn't cut it. See also: Seven Psychopaths. 

...But while we are talking about the meaning of songs that Sue sang, did guest Steve Kozak really lead a song with a chorus of "If the house is a rockin', don't bother-knockin'"?  Did anyone else get confused by that lyric? To me, it brought to mind and cross-pollinated with that classic dare-I-say-'white-trash' bumper sticker,"If the trailer is a rockin', don't come a knockin'", which I think means, "If I'm fucking someone in here, don't bug me"? So if the whole HOUSE is rocking, what is that, a gigantic orgy? ...And in that case you should just come on in and join the fun?

The vibe of the song is far more roadhouse than it is group sex, but still, that was where I initially took that lyric. Erika didn't seem to share my puzzlement, translating for me that it meant if there's a party, come on in. Which is certainly the first of the entendres, but... was there seriously not a second one? Is this all in my dirty little mind? I did not want these thoughts in my head.

Anyhow, great show. I was less fond of the boogie-woogie stuff than the deeper blues of the evening, but Foley's playing was very hot throughout, and her band, including old Yale co-conspirator John Penner, were great; plus she was  gracious through the meet and greet, signing whatever was placed in front of her and patiently listening to everyone's stories (I tried to spare her any of my own, though I did try to tell her that I was getting a poster signed for Rob Frith; she joins Tony Levin in the ranks of musicians I have mentioned that story to who a) had not already heard it and b) did not seem to care! It must be hard to feign polite interest in the stories people tell you at meet and greets (incidentally, Stick Men are coming back in September; Tony DID chat with Rob about a mutual friend, even if he didn't know the Sir Paul story; and Pat and Markus did!). 

...as for Sue Foley, I bought her 2024-Grammy-winning One Guitar Woman, which focuses on her acoustic, fingerpicking side, with a few moments of flamenco, as well as a copy of her book, which has an Ellen McIlwaine interview in it. Besides that, we meet-and-greeters got swagged -- signed posters, bags, and Sue Foley tea towels. To be honest, Erika and I are not sure we need two of those! 

If anyone else is craving a Sue Foley tea towel, hit me up? Also, my wife wanted to know if those were Louboutins, but we never got around to asking! (They had the trademark red inner heel).  

What might else one say to Dr. Foley? Congrats on the PhD in Musicology, and thank you for educating the world about Charo, because for years, I thought she was basically just a joke, a manufactured, cartoonish, somewhat vulgar made-for-TV bimbette. I saw her clowning around on television when I was a kid and even then found her annoying and silly. I am blown away and humbled to learn that she was (and still is?) a flamenco guitarist and I will be reading that chapter in your book as well. 

I don't have much else to say at the moment. Happy for the folk festers (wait, that sounds wrong: the folk festival goers?) that the weather cleared, but I'm sitting this one out (I hafta work). But I do have some fun photos of Billy Hopeless with the Parole Models at Khats last weekend (I shot a clip that includes one full song; hang in there for it): He ended up giving roses to various girls in the crowd afterwards, and when the girls ran out, gave one to me, as well.

Ever the romantic...

I also, somewhere in there, made it to a co-op picnic event where David M. played a short set, including "If I Was a Bat," in which I partook; his wife Danielle also joined him for "Manic Monday," and I took a couple of my favourite-ever photos of M.:

Finally, the Deadcats show -- I didn't get much, but here's RuBarb and Chopper: 

About Chopper: someone explain edamame to him, okay? He came by where Erika and I were sitting (at the Counter at LanaLou's) just as our edamame arrived, and I offered him one, but instead of popping the beans out, I'm pretty sure he just threw the whole thing in his mouth and chewed it up. Probably not the best way to have your first experience of edamame, if that's what that was!

It's been fun getting out to a few shows, though I'm glad to have slowed down a little. But for people who have an interest in such matters, note that Aging Youth Gang will be opening the night at LanaLou's tonight (July 18th), trying out a few new songs, apparently; they'll be followed by Motorama (the present incarnation of both bands involving Orchard Pinkish, incidentally) and then Witchy Sister, which also involves Marcus Lander of Motorama. Deets here, and apologies to Billy Bragg, who I will not be seeing at the festival! 

I am told (by a maybe slightly less-than-reliable Orchard Pinkish, who was chewin' the devil's lettuce when we interacted) that Witchy Sister involves Marcus Lander, of Motorama, and that Orchard will be in two of the bands, playing guitar in Motorama and bass in Aging Youth Gang. Or was that the other way around?

Here's one of their songs! 

But hey, you have options. Hope wherever you end up, dear reader, you have fun!