No Neck Blues Band play Granville Island Friday; Stalker at the Cinematheque

The No Neck Blues Band will be appearing at the Arts Club on Granville Island on Friday, November 10th. This should not require explanation to those interested in avant-garde, experimental, or improvised music, but just in case, check out their Myspace page for song samples, or their official site. I am most excited. By the way, their excusion with Krautrock survivors Embryo, EmbryoNnck, is really really cool -- it sounds a little bit like a lost tribe from a rainforest'd country covering Can's Unlimited Edition on traditional instruments. Nuff said, tho' you can get more info about the actual gig through the Vancouver New Music site.


Also seeming to require little explanation or advertisment is Andrei Tarkovsky's Stalker, playing on Friday and Saturday at the Cinematheque in a new 35 mm print (so I'm told). (See this link for an interview with Tarkovsky on the film). At times, I find the film's philosophizing a tad overbearing, and it's heavy as a frozen mammoth uncovered in the wastes of Siberia, but nevermind all that: it's a stunningly beautiful and unique film experience, which you must see to believe. I am not sure what you need to do to understand it; I suspect it's a bottomless experience, and like the greatest of film art, the questions it leaves you with are questions about life itself. In any event, it's not to be missed.

Actually, I'd really like to go see Bonnie Prince Billy, too -- since I saw him in Old Joy at the VIFF, I've been enjoying exploring Will Oldham's music, which I'd never really done before. (The song "Blood Embrace" is chilling, tho' unfortunately not all his work is that powerful). Alas: all three nights are sold out, and I don't much feel like standing outside the venue, hoping to get a ticket.

Tho' that worked for the Hip. More to follow on that.