All photos, such as they are, by me, taken at the Rickshaw last night. Ask before re-using, eh?
This article has been mildly tweaked since it was first published.
I had originally bought tickets to tonight's Bowie Ball because a local band I am friendly with was scheduled to perform; then COVID turned, the event got postponed, and they had to drop out. But there were still people I knew who were attending, and a few who were performing, it turned out - like Pete Campbell, of Coach StrobCam, the evening's openers, who dug deep for two songs (ie., they stumped me) and then ended on "Kooks," which came with a shout out to mutual (but absent) friend David M. Rachel seems to have been permanently impacted by her time in Clone, because she was totally glammed up, which is NOT how I recall her dressing in her pre-Clone days. It suis her - she looks like a rockstar now!
A ghostly trumpet player emerges for "Kooks." The "effects" are an accident of lighting!
I can't fully say why, though - but despite having enjoyed seeing Coach StrobCam at their Rickshaw debut, I have to admit, it took me quite a few acts after that to warm up to the show tonight. Through many of the first few bands, I noticed mostly the things that didn't work so well, the notes that were a bit off, the flubs (I will point no fingers, name no names; it might all have been the product of my own bad mood). It was like some part of me wanted an excuse to go back home, like I was actually resisting enjoying myself (or had forgotten how, due to lack of concert practice?). But by the time the Asian Persuasion All Stars were onstage - ripping through a stellar "Modern Love," one of the night's higher points - I was warming up, and Danny Echo's delightful rearrangement of "Here Comes the Night" and, especially, his closer, "Under Pressure" - a song I had not seen attempted at any of the Bowie Balls I've been to, I don't think - got me out of my seat and up to the front of the house...
Danny Echo plays to a packed Rickshaw
... and that's where I got hooked in, sold, converted. I loved Beau Wheeler's energetic readings of "The Man Who Sold The World," "Changes," and "Queen Bitch" - viewable on your phone as a 360 degree video, here - tho' I had some Tommy Bahama envy for Beau's shirt... Fans of Beau's set can get a taste of their originals next Friday, in an opening slot for Dawn Pemberton, also at the Rickshaw, which I've interviewed Wheeler about here.
Beau Wheeler
A bit of emcee chatter later, I adored Mellow Friesen's set - especially "I'm Afraid of Americans," which I'd also seen Betty Bathory do at a previous Bowie Ball (see, she CAN sing Bowie songs when she wants to). Mel's Rock Pile, in fact, was the surprise of the night, a band that does not (to my awareness) play often - maybe only Bowie Balls? - but who were really cohesive and tight and generally just crazy good. I had seen Mellow once fronting the Little Guitar Army out in Maple Ridge, but that's it to date - I'm gonna start paying more attention. And she sure knows how to wear a mask!
Betty Bathory's band Daddy Issues, up next, took things in a slightly more confusing direction, defiantly, knowingly, and deliberately playing non-Bowie songs (Devo's "Uncontrollable Urge"), with Betty saying things to the audience like "You want to hear David Bowie songs? Fuck you!" (but in a not-unpleasant way, which made it even more confusing).. I didn't mind that - Betty's always great, and I've actually seen some tangential justification for the Devo choices on FB (someone was saying that Bowie helped Eno produce that first Devo record, which I did not know, and I see now that recordings of Bowie jamming with Devo were discovered a few years ago) - but at the time, it seemed not to jibe with expectations. Betty did explain to me afterwards that her third song, PJ Harvey's "Dress," which really really really has nothing to do with David Bowie, is a "PJ Harvey song we perform often as a reminder of the missing and murdered indigenous women. Its something i personally believe deserves serious attention especially because of WHERE we were performing, a venue right smack in the epicenter of where lots of those women disappear on a regular basis." So I guess that's my second-favourite political gesture of the night?
Betty Bathory fronting Daddy Issues
By contrast, there was no rebellion from Jimmy Baldwin, whom I'd previously missed at past Bowie Balls. He seems a mainstream enough kinda performer that "Dancing in the Streets" - a funky, infections version of it, but still a very obvious, almost too-easy crowd pleaser - fit in his set, but goddamn if he didn't get me moving around to it a bit with it, because it was a very tight, fun reading of that song, which I would normally be a bit snobbish about. More to my tastes, he had a version of "Scary Monsters" that swapped that song's slight weirdness for straight up rock riffs, which actually kinda improved it (for me, at least) over Bowie's original.
Gord McCaw shoots Jimmy Baldwin
Then came one of the high points of the night - for me, THE high point of the night - in the form of Cass King and the Cassettes, doing a soul-ripping reading of "Rock'n'Roll Suicide." It was great to see Cass belting it out like that. Hadn't seen her for awhile; I vaguely remember being a little underwhelmed by her at a previous Bowie Ball, so it was nice to see her regain her crown (at least in my head) as one of the very best singers and frontpeople in Vancouver...
Cass King and the Cassettes
Then came the last band FOR ME, if not the last band of the night: Orchard Pinkish and his Old Canadians - who I gather are a repurposed version of the Lot Lizards, which Orchard and I previously spoke about on this very blog. His mood was also a bit hard to read, and he engaged in a rather lengthy bit of storytelling that I think lost a couple of people (the content of which sure didn't stick in my memory), but his set was amazing and his "honey gravel" voice perfect for "Space Oddity," "Andy Warhol" (also in the repertoire of his LGA alum Bert Man) and, finally, a really hot, lively "Young Americans" with Cass, Betty, and two (three?) other female singers from other bands providing backup. Sadly, I have no photos - my camera ran dry - but here's Orchard with Daddy Issues:
Orchard Pinkish with Daddy Issues
Missed out on the last couple of bands, but it was nice to be leaving because I was satiated, not because I was having a bad time. That I saw, Gord McCaw was the only pro photographer present up front (well, Sharon Steele was there, but she'd forgotten her battery pack and couldn't shoot!). People wanting better-quality photos of the night are directed to Gord's Facebook page - he was still sorting photos while I was crawling into bed.
What a pleasant surprise last night was! Glad I got with the program, and I'm so glad SHOWS ARE BACK. I needed that!
1 comment:
Very informative post Allan, it was really good to see you looking so well and thanks for the shoutout...
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