Rickshaw Anniversary Nights One and Four: Bison, Rong, Pet Blessings, Night Court, Pointed Sticks, Rich Hope... and more

Note the Pointed Sticks tag! All photos for this here thang are by Allan MacInnis and are not to be reused by anyone ever unless they ask nicely and I say yes. Unless you're in the photo, I guess, because some of my Emilor photos are already being used on Facebook (by Emilor). Which is fair.  

Okay, so: I already wrote most of what I had to write in the Straight article, apparently the number one thing on their website as I write this (yay!). First thing I've done for them in about a year. There's a complex backstory that I won't bother with here, but it's fun to have a well-received piece there; I miss doing stuff for the Straight! 

Love that War Baby/ Warner Brothers shirt, James! 

...speaking of which, it was mildly funny that, in the lineup to enter the Rickshaw, some guy in a Night Court Nervous Birds shirt basically quoted my own article back to me, about Night Court's unfortunate recent history with the Rickshaw, repeating the story about the last two times Night Court tried to play the Rickshaw. I said something like, "Yeah, I know," wondering if I'd got that fact right (and if he was correctly quoting me). But I said no more. 

It was strangely, if covertly, gratifying. You will understand, I don't get a lot of feedback from music fans about things I've written, because with the odd exception, I don't go around introducing myself as "the guy who wrote the article" or such. People I know (or the odd editor) say nice things but I'm basically just an unknown when I'm in the audience. So having someone quote back something I've written to me kinda counts as feedback. Occasionally I do then opt for the "yeah, I know, I wrote the thing you read that in," which, actually, happened with Bruce Stayloose (pictured below with me, earlier tonight) on the bus back from a Bison gig at the Astoria a few years ago. We were already chatting, recognizing each other as fellow Bison enthusiasts, and got to talking about where Matt had gotten to, when Bruce quoted James in a Straight thing I'd done, saying how Matt was on a "personal journey," and I kinda grinned. That time I outed myself, and I'm glad I did. I see Bruce now and then at shows, have swapped a bit of media with him, am Facebook friends with him, etc. I believe we once even met at a Skytrain wearing the same Bison shirt; it seemed a good sign.

Anyhoo, I didn't out myself to the guy in the Night Court shirt tonight, for some reason, but I was still amused. I mean, it IS a fun Straight story. I do like that people are reading it. Got some nice feedback on Facebook, too. Pity it didn't help with attendance! 

Johnny in the John: RIP Johnny Woggles

Some high points and a-sequential observations from last weekend and this one: 

1. Rong were great last time I saw them, of course, but I've grown to like them even more for having gotten to know their album and having seen Kristy-Lee with Dead Bob. Shot vid of "Same Team," last week, including a small bit of Kristy's playful introduction to guest bassist Emilor. I don't think this got linked in the Straight piece. I've heard Mark Bignell spin "Same Team," at LanaLou's, trivially, and felt happy for it; it kicks off their album Wurst, which people should go out and buy. 

2. Pet Blessings, who preceded Rong last weekend, are still all about Emilor's personality and exuberance, for me. I haven't been able to do justice to their songs. There are no recordings. I can't make out the lyrics. Homework is not an option. But I still have fun watching them (and find it interesting that I can hear sonic similarities in what they do with Night Court, which you wouldn't necessarily expect, despite the shared member; sometimes a drummer can actually be a really important ingredient in a band -- as anyone who has heard Mo Tucker's solo output might already realize). Even though I don't really have a sense of a single song, I loved Pet Blessings last week, because Emilor is so entertaining as a frontperson; she can't really bring the full force of her personality out when she's behind the drum kit but there's no holding her back when she's the lead vocalist.

3. I have already said all I have to say about Black Wizard in the Straight piece, and have no good photos, but I approve of any and all Blue Oyster Cult t-shirts, especially if they reference one of the first three albums, so I will share this one! 

4. Night Court tonight were fun, and I heard no trace of Emilor's injury in her playing. I ended up having to clear the video I shot, when I realized my storage was running out, but the best part of the set started with me standing up front in my NO FUN bat shirt, wondering if they would do "What Is It Like to Be a Bat, Man?" They did a bunch of tunes I know and like, including "Bela Lugosi's Not Dead," "Bride of Frankenstein," and "Not a Unicorn," among others, and I was entirely prepared for them not to play the bat tune, despite me being right there in the front row, wearing THIS SHIRT (referencing this song, which has lyrics by me)... I mean, they did play it for me, by request, at the Red Gate show in May, and I hadn't re-requested it last night. But I was also thinking that I would be kinda touched if they capped off the night with that song. 

So imagine my delight that they did just that. (Thanks, gang!). I danced, and  mouthed the lyrics, and was happy. High point of the two shows I caught, in terms of personal meaningfulness...

4. ... tho' dancin' to "Golden Clouds," the Flamin' Groovies/ Roy Loney cover, as realized joyously by Rich Hope, was pretty goddamn high up there, too. Note that that is the official video, not a live clip -- though coincidentally it includes some live footage shot by me at a past Rickshaw show, when Mack was still the drummer -- he just spliced it in. I am glad that, as with the bat song in the Night Court set, I put down my phone and DANCED for that song, y'know? It was too great an opportunity to waste -- though I did film the first two songs in Hope's set, if it's footage you crave. 

And speaking of Rich Hope, is it just me, or has he reached a next-level level? The last few times I've caught him -- at last year's Folk Fest, at Keithmas, and tonight -- I've been blown away in a way I just wasn't at any of the previous dozen shows I saw him play (where I enjoyed him, but not near as much as these last few).  Maybe he's the same Rich Hope he ever was, and it's just that *I* have been changed by something? COVID kinda made me realize that it's damned important to have FUN at shows, y'know, and Rich is pretty FUN... 

Anyhow, I didn't get many good pics of Rich tonight but gawdamn, I enjoyed his set -- especially him doing things like throwing a verse of "Radar Love" into a song. No one else in Vancouver could or would do that, I don't think. It is necessary that someone be able to. If you  haven't seen Rich lately, you should make a point of amending that! 

5. Like I say, some of you will realize that I am out of sequence, here -- and have been from the start, since Rong was the second-billed band after Pet Blessings last week; but I also enjoyed the Pointed Sticks a ton, tonight -- even "I'm On Fire." I still kinda have an un-processable, un-surmountable, YOU CANNOT GET AWAY WITH THAT-type objection to anyone other than Jim Morrison rhyming "fire" and "higher," if you see what I mean, but every time I see them do that song live, it grows on me a little more, until I realized, peeking at their setlist tonight, and seeing it ahead of us in the evening, that I was *looking forward to it* (egads!)... though the high points tonight for me were "There's the Door," "You're Not the One," and a cover of Polly's "Put a Little English On It." Even though my NO FUN shirt is from the period after Paul Leahy's tenure in NO FUN -- indeed, after his far-too-early-departure from this bardo -- it seemed a doubly appropriate shirt to be wearing when they did that song. A few people commented on it, through the night, in fact (hi, Dale), and it even got seen by Nick, who pointed to me as he was singing the word "fun" in one song. Sadly, my phone ran out of storage and stopped recording midway just before the Polly cover ended, so I don't have all of Bill Hemy's solo, but methinks they do a fine version of this tune. (Hear the Polly original here). 

Oh, and I talked to Tony Bardach about his solo album a bit. There are developments! I do not know if it is timely to break them here, but people who like Tony should pay attention over the next few weeks; wheels are in motion! Fans will be very, very pleased.  

6. But this brings us very close to the end of this blogpiece (it's past my bedtime). I have nothing to say about Dead Soft, really. They do a totally enjoyable 90s-flavour alt rock, and deserved more attention than they got in that Straight piece (I apologized to the main dude at the merch table for not even mentioning them: mea culpa!). They reminded me a bit of Carsick Cars, in fact (a Beijing band I am glad to have seen live once, who do a kind of jangle-pop-meets-Sonic-Youth thing). But I have NO MORE ROOM in my brain, record collection, or writing FOR ANOTHER LOCAL BAND THAT I MUST PAY ATTENTION TO. One must draw arbitrary boundaries sometimes out of sheer self-protection; sorry, Dead Soft! Your set was just fine, just fine. I have nothing else to say about it!

...tho' it was interesting to chat with the guy (the Dead Soft guy: I don't even have room for his name!) about how they ended up with an album cover that riffs on one of the British paperback editions of Robert Silverberg's Dying Inside. Turns out they were not aware of the book, just contracted a collage artist whose work they liked to make the cover, and he came up with something very close to the Silverbob book, which they learned about only after the record was out! Which must have been slightly startling.  The original cover of the paperback is by an artist named Tim White; incidentally, it is a terrific, character-driven SF novel about a psychic having to come to terms with the gradual loss of his powers as he ages. It contains the first description of an LSD trip I ever encountered, when I read it as a teenager. It's a fascinating read. 

...but of course, Dead Soft are not the only band to play the Rickshaw 15th anniversary shows that I have written nothing about! I am particularly sad to have missed Beau Wheeler's set on Friday, but there's only so much show-going I can do. Tonight was, for me, even more enjoyable than last week, so it sucks that tonight was so poorly attended. On the plus side, I'm sure glad that Straight piece made it into the world and is doing so well, because otherwise -- if that article had not gotten published, or merely got stuck here on my backwater blog -- I would probably be blaming myself for how few people were in the room! 

So attendance kind of sucked tonight, but I absolve myself of this! I did my bit! (There must have been some other big gig around town).  

Anyhow: Happy anniversary, Rickshaw! (And nice chatting with you, Mo; Thanks for putting together these terrific bills). Looking forward to seeing Gustaf open for DEHD at the Rickshaw in November (their second time there, after touring through with Yard Act, awhile back. It ain't on the posters yet, but it will be). Will also be on hand to see Art Bergmann next month, and already have an angle on an article, though it's slightly indirect. 

More to come! Happy Rickshawversary. 

PS: The Bison hot sauce is fucking awesome.