Did a fun feature with Noah Walker here, and very much enjoyed the Kitty & the Rooster "full band" variant last night at the WISE, though we did not stick it out for the supergroup at the end. Shirley Gnome and Jack Garton had somevery rude hand gestures to illustrate the lyrics to certain songs: scooping upwards for "Underbutt", for instance, or doing a sort of double-jerk-off move for "Banging on a Cock(tail drum)." It was fun to see Walker's parents in the audience, too. I don't know if I could get onstage and sing a song like "Sexercise" in front of my own folks, were they still around! (The gestures for that were very fun, too).
As for Fred Frith, appearing tonight, the one thing that got cut from my two features on Frith -- interview; show review from Nanaimo -- was that he saw John and Yoko's notorious gig in Cambridge in 1969-- the first time that a member of the Beatles had performed outside the Beatles, after the Beatles had stopped playing. I'd love to hear what he made of that (he didn't actually weigh in, just said he was there. But was he pro-Yoko from the outset? Is he now? I'm actually quite into Yoko, and advise anyone whose defacto setting is anti- to listen to this, say. It's practically Krautrock).
The Vault was a marvelous room, and phipps pt. (in the first photo) were captivating, too. I don't envy people going to the Vancouver show; the quality of listening in this city sucks compared to Nanaimo! But everyone listened VERY closely, even to phipps pt (with Wobby of Negativland and local Lovage Sharrock). The band is apparently named for a location on Hornby Island.
I had been a bit unconvinced, actually, by the prospect of seeing Fred Frith doing solo guitar, but it was brilliant, very enjoyable, very musical, and fascinating to watch. There are
still tickets for the Vancouver show. If you've never seen Fred Frith before, you should go tonight.
Also had a real fun experiencing zipping back across from Nanaimo to downtown on the Hullo ferry. The trip across the water takes about the same amount of time but when you land, you're not an hour away from things out in Horseshoe Bay or Tsawwassen. I would do this again!
The one weird thing that must be noted about Nanaimo is the near-complete absence of easily-accessed thrift stores. I guess the locals are all so hip and cool that they'd just hoover up anything good that came to town anyhow. I bet there are lots of shop owners in Nanaimo who make runs over to Ladysmith... every thrift store I could see on Google maps was at least a 25 minute walk out of town.
Oh, and I crashed at a friend's and made a new cat buddy. There were two cats. I only saw the butt of one, briefly, but this guy came up and said hi to me during the night. I was glad he did.
That's about all I have to report. I am going to be trying to change my relationship with this stuff soon. Money is now a serious concern, since I have transitioned from being a fulltime VCC employee to being a part-time used bookstore guy. (At least I'm out of debt! The buyout was significant from VCC, but it's going to be an interesting few years). I have bought ahead for a couple of concerts -- most notably, Dutch punk band
The Ex, whom I have wanted to see for decades. But, like, there isn't going to be quite as much of my writing about shows, I don't think (as soon as I clear a few things I committed to doing).
One show I haven't written about at all, that I would have, is happening tonight, in fact. It's the reason I went to see Fred Frith in Nanaimo, because I have wanted to see Daniel Romano's Outfit for a few years now, and I absolutely love
the album he's touring. (I am also really partial to side one of
How Ill They World is Ordered, if you want another point of reference, but he's got a very varied musical output, not all of which has hooked me, so I'm glad to be seeing him on a tour for my favourite thing he's done so far). I hear
Uni Boys are supposed to be great, too.
I think this is going to be an incredible gig, frankly -- if you've never seen Frith, I would still pick that over this, because you likely won't get many more chances to see him, while Romano tours through every year. But if you HAVE seen Frith, or just aren't into avant-garde improv, or just really want a ROCK SHOW, this is the place to be tonight. There are
still tickets, too. And there's
an island show tomorrow!!! The blurbs for these shows say it all better than I could. Check it out, this is all I have to say.
But maybe I'll put a photo in this space tonight.
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