I hope you will have questions about some of the images I am sharing from today's excursion to LanaLou's. Like, why is Kent Lindsay examining a Taylor Swift colouring book? And why is he holding a bowling ball? Who brings bowling balls to LanaLou's?
To understand the latter question, I recommend reading
this report from my 20th anniversary celebration of my blog, last year, also at LanaLou's. The Minimalist Jug Band had somehow grooved on the symbolism of carrying a found bowling ball with him to the venue for his performance there, where David M., pictured above with Kent, played. Kent and M. go way back: in fact, M. was best man at Kent's wedding, just like he was best man at mine. And Kent is part of the small team at Atomic Werewolf that is releasing the
NO FUN back catalogue (and more!). You can read more about Kent's history with M.
here.
You might guess where this is going: having put out the call to find a suitable home for the bowling ball -- taking it as a serious symbolic gift to be passed on with some gravitas, as Al Mader's comment on the Sisyphean nature of creation -- I discovered that, in fact, Kent Lindsay bowled. And that this is a pretty good bowling ball: nothing to sneeze at!
Tony Lee, getting onstage with the Moonlighters, graciously took a minute to snap these photos of the rite of passage, my ball becoming Kent's, fulfilling the trajectory the Minimalist Jug Band set in motion last year. Even though my wife in fact ended up joining us later in the night, I packed the bowling ball in my backpack, since Al had himself carried it to LanaLou's that fateful day.
That's just how I roll.
Photos of Allan and Kent by Tony Lee (thanks!)
By that point,
Crushed Velvet had already peformed, doing the same songs at they had done at the ball (see
previous post for commentary on one of them, their Kingbees cover from Bowie's Davie Jones years; the link under their name, by the way, takes you to their cover of "White Light/ White Heat." They are in fact best known as a Lou Reed cover band, and will be performing at Scott Beadle's Lou Reed event in March at the Princeton. They also re-did their version of "Satellite of Love," which is again a Lou song, but with a Bowie connection, since
Transformer was co-produced by Bowie; and Iggy's "Lust for Life," which seemed much more suited to the environs of LanaLou's and the couple of enthusiastic adult dancers (most of the dancers were children). They did a couple of other Lou songs today as well, adding them to their set: "Take a Walk on the Wild Side" and "What Goes On" and... was there one other?
My favourite thing they did was "What Goes On," especially because the little kids had started to dance by that point, but I didn't capture it on video. That "White Light/ White Heat" was nothing to sneeze at, though!
Next up came
the Moonlighters, with Tony Lee, who, like me, was a bit under the weather I believe. He and Bob the bassist are the members I knew best. I didn't take notes of their songs, but they were all more "strictly Bowie," and the link goes to their cover of "Ziggy Stardust." I believe they also did a "Rebel Rebel" and a few others...
...But mostly I remember that because Cora and the Moon commented on how several of the Bowie songs they'd picked had been done by other bands that night! Cora and the Moon is fronted by the proprietor of the very fun Little Miss Vintage shop on the drive, which emcee Rebel Valentine pointed out to the audience; I believe I saw them (and enjoyed them) at last year's Lou Reed tribute show, but they seemed quite a bit more confident. I enjoyed how passionately Cora belted out some of the songs but now I've completely forgotten what they did ("Five Years," maybe?). That's her son in the Melvins shirt; she told us so.
Oh, they mighta done "Moonage Daydream," too, or was that the Moonlighters? Someone did it!
Next came my friend David M. of NO FUN, who did a stellar "Laughing Gnome," which got the kids dancing again, then an "Absolute Beginners" that he played (I think he said) at Kent's wedding (or at least that WAS played at Kent's wedding). I didn't catch that on video, but I did get his "Moonage Daydream" rewrite, "Elf Toymaker." I have heard that song many times, so much so that if ever hear someone sing, "I'm an alligator," the next line that inexorably comes to mind is, "I wear tiny curly pointy-toe shoes." Which alligators typically do not do.
Anyhow, you can hear that song, and learn the story behind the Taylor Swift colouring book, by clicking the link with his name (the link with the song title takes you to the album it is on, which is a very fun listen, if you've missed it).
Finally came the WTFs, which they say stands for a different thing depending on their audience: did they call it Wildeyed Teenage Fashion tonight? I am sure there is much mileage to be gotten from this: Widespread Touchable Fomites; Worried Testicular Frown; Wistful Termite Fantasies, etc. The Bowie Ball Pit listing had it as the What the Fudges. They played kazoos and oddball instruments that I cannot identify and did brilliantly wacky readings of classic Bowie, including "Space Oddity," previously linked. I hope Al Mader gets to see them some day.
David M. commented that he's done both the Bowie Ball and the Bowie Ball Pit and said that the Pit show is more fun. He's done it twice now. I hope he does it again. (His take on "When I'm Five" is really lovely; I did not know that song until I heard him cover it).
Another great night...!
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