John Otway at LanaLou's last night, also with the Minimalist Jug Band and Stephen Hamm: Theremin Man

John Otway takes the stage; all photos by Allan MacInnis

Well THAT was a fun night! I felt like John Otway (previously interviewed here) deserved 300 more people watching him, and the money that would entail, but there were considerably more people who came out specifically to see him than the North Vancouver open mic last February! And from the point of view of an audience member, it was a very successful night... sure hope John felt so, too!  

My battery died shortly after Otway started, so we'll have to rely on other people for video coverage (I was unable to get Jude's cellphone to communicate with my computer so there's just no helping it). My favourite part of the audience was that other than the people named below (and I think a Facebook friend named Sabine) there were a ton of people I didn't recognize, all of whom could be seen smiling and laughing... I felt very happy to have played a small part in their enjoyment...!  

The "12 string" and case

Otway's act was even more theatrical than I expected; there is a theme around his abuse of Deadly the Roadie that did not appear in the Otway movie, which created a kind of narrative arc to the night, an interesting kind of tension, which led me to expect more of a "Deadly's Revenge" element at the end (which I guess is where "Headbutts" comes in, but that involved John hitting his own head on the microphone more than Deadly venting frustration; he did seem to enjoy watching it, though! I commented on the expectation for revenge as he was packing up and Deadly did not break character in quipping, "Some nights I want to murder him!"). 

It felt a bit like the Residents in that respect -- that maybe people who follow Otway regularly might get a sense of meta-level development, a new element to the narrative to track with each gig? 

It was very NO FUN, in many respects, though with a bigger audience (David was not there but that's 1894 cover artist ARGH! with Ed Hurrell). 

The openers, too, were really delightful. Hamm debuted a new song (I won't say much but it involves UFOs). He is "hard at work" on a new album and wore a shirt with a hermetic pyramid-and-eye image that matched my 13th Floor Elevators theme, oddly enough, though neither Hamm nor I can tell you what the symbol means. I can tell you this, though, that Hamm's armpit is very warm:

Al Mader -- the Minimalist Jug Band -- performed as hard as I'd seen him do (see the second song of his set, "I'm a Lousy Lay," here). I had not seen Al's raven prop before, and was happy he ended his set with "Problems in a Box," a favourite of mine off For Crying Out Loud, which I have not heard him do in some time. There was a teenager in the audience who got some good laughs from Al's song about not having to go "fuckin' high school"; Al dedicated "Do You Know Blanche" to the absent Blanche Norton; and he added a new denouement to "Dead Man's Pants" involving how old men's eyebrows keep growing after death.

I did not get to sample Al's armpit but from the sweat patches on his green shirt I'd guess it was pretty warm, as well. 

I'm not sure Vancouver deserved such a great show, to be honest -- Otway's commitment and enthusiasm were set several notches above what one by rights expects -- but everyone I spoke to was really happy with the night. As I say, all the Otwayphiles who came to the North Vancouver open mic were there -- Ed Hurrell, Judith, Grant McDonagh, Ian McClelland, myself, plus a nice selection of new faces, including the artist occasionally known as ARGH!! (who gave the show a "wow" and offered me a quotable quote about how great it was that I did not note; but I am pretty sure the word "best" was in there, somewhere, like the best show of the year or the best show he's seen in years or...? He comments below under one of his many aliases). Larry Lechner of We Found a Lovebird said hi... Competing promoter Sass LaRock somehow manifested for a time despite having a Clone gig elsewhere; and I was especially happy to see the ever-classy John Werner, who had never seen Otway before (read about him here; I asked Otway if he'd ever intersected with John's bandmate Kirk Brandon, before, but he had not). Rob Frith popped by too after a friends gig at the Cobalt, got some merch, got a gig poster, and maybe bought a CD or record...

There was some discussion around what to call Otway's music; Adam Kates offered the phrase "comic solitary theatrical punk," which is probably about the best one can do, though some of the songs ("Josephine") are more folk than punk, so I don't know. I asked John at one point and he just observed that it was "eclectic." Whatever genre NO FUN is in, that's the same genre Otway inhabits. 

I was really happy that Otway did "Louisa on a Horse," complete with his modified coathanger prop that he likened to Madonna's wireless microphone technique. It was very gallopy, though one wonders how often he's had that mike smash him in the teeth? Seeing him prancing around with his mic boinging up and down as he sang was probably the "physical comedy high point" of the evening.

Another of the more fun elements was watching Otway watching Hamm and Al do their respective things (he did vaguely remember Al opening for him in Toronto some 2000 gigs ago). He also was very generous with signatures and selfie requests; he works really hard, but makes it seem pretty effortless, like he's enjoying it as much as anyone. Maybe if we're lucky we'll get to see him again sometime? (John Cooper Clarke, on his previous two visits, upgraded from the Biltmore to the Rickshaw; perhaps a similar thing will happen with Otway once the word-of-mouth about how fun last night was gets out there...? LanaLou's was definitely an upgrade from Toby's!). 

Sadly, my phone died within seconds of my taking the above photo, so I have no images of Otway ripping open his shirt, doing an electronically percussive self-slapping routine to "Body Talk," going wild on Theremin, or interacting with deadpan Deadly. You'll just have to go see Otway yourself -- it will be more than you bargained for, I guarantee it. If you happen to be reading this in Australia and New Zealand, you'll have a fine chance to do so soon (tour dates here -- at the time of this writing, he'll be in Wellington on November 7th, Auckland on the 8th, Christchurch on the 9th, and so forth, touring thru New Zealand, then on to Australia from November 12th to 16th, where he is excited to have the chance to visit places like the Great Otway National Park and Cape Otway. 

Ironically enough, Eugene Chadbourne is just winding down a tour of Australia; he was the last show at LanaLou's that I had a hand in. 

As for upcoming shows at LanaLou's, I had fun arriving a bit early to catch a bit of the Mike van Eyes Jamboree jam session. Word to the wise: Jimmy Roy and Dennis Brock, who are in the Rocket Revellers with Mike, will be joining Mike next Saturday for a bigger'n-usual variant on what they do (which was packed with locals, who had fun dancing to tunes like "Bright Lights, Big City" and other country and rockabilly classics). 

Thanks to anyone who came out, and to Hamm, Al, and John Otway (and to Dave of Stable Genius for promoting the show, and Gary Topp for connecting with us). A very fun, very memorable night. 

Now is that a raven or a crow?