...but a couple of brief DVD reviews

People seeking blandly entertaining but competently made genre fare to watch with their aging Moms can do no wrong with The Lincoln Lawyer. Almost nothing inspired happens, but William H. Macy, in a supporting role, gets to actually act a bit, and there are a few entertaining bits of dialogue, doubtlessly taken straight from the novel. Based on this, I might pick up a Michael Connelly someday (though I'm told his Bosch series is where the real action is). I didn't realize until just now that he's a Canadian!

Fans of horror cinema who admire a sense of elegance, freshness, restraint, and/or intelligent characterizations in film, meanwhile, are advised to stay far, far away from the new James Wan/ Leigh Wannell concoction, Insidious. Despite a depressing 67% positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes - which surely indicates nothing more than that 67% of people paid to write about cinema are either buffoons, hacks, or (at the very best) seriously perverse - the film only entertains (and that too slightly) when its excesses push it close to the realm of parody. These include the use of Tiny Tim's "Tiptoe Through the Tulips" (twice!), a psychic who wears something very like a gas mask to a seance, a rather risibile bit of exposition on astral travelling (crucial, alas, to the plot), and an actual cloven-hooved demon. It's kind of fun to laugh at, but not so much as to recommend it to anyone.

Meantime, has anyone noticed that there's a film version of Radio Free Albemuth?

Nothin' for y'all

Working on writing, but not for this blog. Will post links when I get'em up.

RIP Würzel

Yep - the "other guitarist" who joined Motörhead at the same time as Phil Campbell (but eventually left the band without being replaced) has died, at age 61, of undisclosed causes; his birth name was apparently Michael Burston. I hadn't realize he'd released an album of psychedelically-inspired ambient music, given the rather pleasing title, Chill Out or Die. Nothing like a death threat to help a guy relax... I'm more a fan of his contributions to Bastards, one of the least-appreciated, least-well-distro'd Motörhead albums; check out "Death or Glory" for a taste...

Joey Only is ramblin' on - see him Monday at the Railway

Made an unscheduled trip into Vancouver today to scan the drawings for the post below and check out the Scarebro gig, which was cheap, brief, ended early, and was a lot of fun (especially the joking homage to the Blue Oyster Cult's "Astronomy" stuck in the middle of James' song about how much he hates going to work!). While poking along Commercial Drive, previously, I made an unexpected discovery, pausing in front of the liquor store to note an oddly familiar busker and bassist playing Shel Silverstein's "25 Minutes to Go" (best known from the Johnny Cash version). I glanced down at the open guitar case, and saw from the CDs therein that this fellow was none other than Joey Only, whose music I have listened to, but whom I have never actually seen play; his Transgression Trail is actually a really strong, really fun, very Canadian "punk roots" album. I chatted with him briefly, and it turns out Mr. Only is leaving Vancouver to settle in Wells, where he plans to get married, build a studio, and... play Quesnel more often than usual, I guess...!

Joey's last show in Vancouver (for the time being) will be Monday at the Railway Club, starting at 9. Anyone who likes the idea of an "anarchist Stompin' Tom," as he's been described - or just anyone fond of well-played, "real" country tunes - should check him out... He won't be around to take for granted very much longer!

Mike Payette interview plus Allan Funnies!

Based on a true story, from last week sometime, when I finally saw the Golers, and ran into Bison BC cover artist Mike Payette at the Pender Fresh Slice after the show. The shirt we discuss is here. Thanks to Bison for reliably keeping a stock of XXL t-shirts!










Brief email interview with Mike Payette:

A: What was the inspiration for the Wizard Staff shirt?

M: They asked me to draw a t shirt, and when I was recording with Children in New York, I just started sketching that. I thought it would be a funny idea to have a zombie doing a wizard staff. Bison were in New York at the time, too, and I showed it to them and they liked it.

A: Who is the dude in it?

M: He's just some fictitious dead business man dude.

A: What's the "creative channel" like between yourself and Bison BC, as in, do you come up with ideas and show them and they decide they like it, or do THEY request ideas, and you work on them, or...?

M: That was the case for the first 2 albums (brainstorming), then on the third one James and I wanted to go "less metal" and we did like 8 covers that Metal Blade weren't into. James and I were so proud of the first ones. But my hard drive and computer got stolen with everything i've ever done. and most of the hard copy art I've done, I've given away, so those earlier covers will unfortunately never see the light of day.

A: The Quiet Earth album cover is one of the great works of rock album art of the 21st century, but it has a kind of retro appeal - it looks like it's from 1975 or so... was that conscious? Tell us a bit about where that came from...?

M: They wanted the concept of "a bison in space" so after trying many things that didn't look super awesome i came up with that one last minute. I am a fan of old airbrushed art, and James and I have always incorperated space into even our S.T.R.E.E.T.S. concepts.

A: What else do you want people to know about your art? Do you have a site people can look at? (I couldn't find one). Are there other bands you do album covers or shirts for, other projects people should note?

M: I'm pretty elusive, I just do it for fun, I don't ever have shows. Ususally I just show my stuff to friends when they come over for drinks, or I give art to friends for their birthdays. I do it for therapy, I don't take myself too serious!

Scarebro TONIGHT

James Farwell by Femke van Delft. Not to be reused w/out permission


Bison BC fans should take note: James, Brad, and Bison cover artist Mike Payette have a new pop punk band, Scarebro, who are playing their first local show at the Biltmore tonight, starting at 7pm! (Coliseum have cancelled, we gather). James tells me: "We fucking rule. It's pop punk and we will kill you. You can quote me. Come and see it. Peace."

...I had actually done a whole cartoon on running into Mike and finding out about this band... maybe I can get it online today... Hm.

Riffs Not Riots, July 13th!

Yet ANOTHER cool event coming up - Titan's Eve headlining Riffs Not Riots at the Fortune Sound Club, on July 13th. I wrote about Titan's Eve show at Funky's a few months ago, here - they're a really promising local metal band. The event, the press release informs us, "is to honour the heroic citizens of Vancouver that stood up against the hockey riots that took place last month on June 15th when the Vancouver Canucks loss Game 7 to the Boston Bruins during the Stanley Cup Finals. Proceeds from the event will be donated to Canucks For Kids Fund, a charity run by the Vancouver Canucks NHL Team... Titans Eve's drummer Casey Ory commented on performing at the charity concert: 'Titans Eve is honored to share the stage with all the other great bands playing this event. We stand united with them, the organizers and everyone else who opposes mindless, opportunistic violence. As well as to show to those outside of Vancouver, that the vast majority of us have pride in our city and only want good things for it.'"

Casey Ory of Titan's Eve by Femke van Delft, not to be reused without permission

Date: Wednesday, July 13, 2011
Venue: Fortune Sound Club, 147 East Pender
Time: Doors - 8pm - Show Time: 8:30pm
Cost / Donation: $15
Line Up:

Titans Eve
Black Wizard
Ancients
Galgamex
Weirding
Abriosis
Anion
Depressing

Facebook Event: https://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=119191101502705

The Odd Ball this weekend!

Poster by Rot N' Hell! One of us, indeed!

The Odd Ball, happening at Funky Winkerbeans this weekend, is being described as that venue's "inaugural art show," showcasing photographers, poster artists, tattooists, painters, and music - it sounds like the East Van punk equivalent of the culture crawl, but located at a single venue. The press release reports that "all proceeds go towards the continuation of the culture that has been built around such art forms. The bands have volunteered to play, and the artists will be paid with revenue from the event to provide their services to said bands." The musical lineup will be as follows:

Friday July 8th:
9:30-10:00 Shockload
10:15-10:45 The East Vamps
11:00-11:30 Motorama
11:45-12:15 The Living Deadbeats
12:30-1ish Little Guitar Army

Saturday July 9th:
9:30-10:00 Slowpoke and the Smoke
10:15-10:45 The Fiends
NEW: Burlesque Intermission (Featuring Ms. Candy Cadillac)
11:30-12:00 The Liquor Kings
12:15-12:45 The Strugglers

The artists involved in the show include Bev Davies, wendythirteen, Alexis Muir, Rot N’ Hell, Andrea Beaza, Tanya Van, Carl Baird, Gerry-Jenn Wilson, Karen Hansen, Michelle Duff...and more TBA! Many showing for the first time.

Sponsors: Iron Road Studios http://ironroadstudios.com/
Facebook event: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=180239402030526

$13 for one night, $20 for both.

I've run out o' money, have a cold, have been ignoring my Ma beyond what I should, and have about a bazillion pressing writing projects to get through this weekend, and, of course, I live in Maple Ridge, or else I'd be there for the whole darn thing. Funky's is starting to finally feel a bit more like home, getting a bit more of the old Cobalt vibe - there's cool behind-the-stage graffiti art, there's a decent bottled dark beer (Canterbury Dark Mild) and it turns out those weird barricades around the monitors are actually pretty comfortable to lean on when you're drunk, if you don't mind getting jostled by moshers behind you... It sounds like a great weekend. Hope y'all have fun...

Another blog pause

Looks like KIKI Band won a lot of fans at the David Lam Park show, which I was glad to see, but I haven't the stamina or time to write about it just yet. Lots of requests to cover upcoming events - Riffs Not Riots, the Odd Ball - but I'm trying to reorient myself a bit towards doing healthy summery things like taking long walks in the outdoors and eating fresh fruit (just had an apricot). I have a couple of plans for putting things online in the next week or two but there may be a few days of silence, as well... especially here!

Good news re: Rickshaw liquor license

Things seem to be going well...!

Fake Jazz Wednesdays wraps it up - sorta!

Received in my inbox today - the venue isn't mentioned but I think it's the Astoria:

WEDNESDAY JULY 6TH
10PM Sharp-1am,
open jam from midnight to 1am

The Weekly Series is ending! Come celebrate over 4 years of Fake Jazz running as a weekly or bi-weekly event!

Thanks for the years of support and to all the amazing bands/artists/noise makers/video folks/supporters/regulars for coming out, playing, hanging out, and making this shit fun.

We are shutting down the weekly event, but we're hoping to have future events one day.

The best way to end this phase of the series is a big open invite jam to end the night. BRING ONE INSTRUMENT (MAX 1 speaker per player), ONE DRUM, OR A NOISEMAKER. We want anyone and everyone to participate and help end the series on a noisy note!

WEDNESDAY JULY 6TH
10PM Sharp, first act

*******************************************************************
12-1
SEX IN THE WOODS ----- Open invite!!!

Bring a ONE SPEAKER AMP and instrument, or just an instrument, for a noisy good time.

Everyone is welcome to participate

*******************************************************************
11:30
AEROSOL CONSTELLATIONS + THE NAUSEA

https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Nausea/166731876697671
www.myspace.com/aerosolconstellations

*******************************************************************
11:00
PLACE

++++ONE MORE TBA

cover by donation

Applause Videos and the joys of physical media

Glenn Erickson of DVD Savant wrote a very engaging and useful piece about the pleasures of owning physical media. I second his thoughts. I am scared of a day, approaching even sooner than I'd anticipated, when video stores are scarce and films now commonly available have become much harder to locate, at least in a physical form. I still like DVDs, find them easier to organize, more attractive as objects, and generally of a higher quality than, say, some torrented AVI with mediocre image quality, with no art or notes or extras, burned onto a Sharpie'd DVDr alongside three unrelated films, stuck in a stack of other DVDrs, or, say, just sitting in a file on your hard drive... There's no real pleasure of ownership associated with such items. There's all sorts of ADVANTAGES to such technology - it's environmentally a lot more sound for people to have a few hundred movies stored on a hard drive than burned onto plastic, put in plastic cases, decorated with paper and ink, and displayed on a well-lit shelf - but aesthetic pleasure and pride of ownership are not among them.

Anyhow, for those who, like me, still like physical media - Applause Videos on Commercial Drive, just south of Broadway, is the newest video store selling off their stock. The official start date is July 8th, but by that time, if myself and my videophile friends keep dropping by, there won't be a whole lot left. Criterions are priced at $12.95. In fact, all their foreign and arthouse cinema starts there. Their more common stock is not a deal, so those of you who got all excited grazing the shelves at one of our city's dying Blockbusters can skip it, but for the true cinephile... I mean, I walked out of there with Bunuels, Bergmans, Bressons, Svankmajers... They had TONS of good stuff left over when I walked away. They aren't Videomatica, but then, nowhere is.

2X Bunuel at the Vancity Theatre

For me the high point, thus far, of the ongoing "Surreelists" series at the Vancity Theatre is the double bill this Wednesday and Thursday of Bunuel's Viridiana and The Exterminating Angel. There's an informative essay on the latter film here; I find its refined cruelty and dark humour quite delightful. Cineastes who feel like they've "done" Jodorowsky and Lynch enough to skip those screenings, but who haven't seen these two films, should definitely mark their calendars. (Tho' if you're still craving Lynch, Mulholland Drive and Lost Highway play Monday...).

Adstock! DOA! Maple Ridge!

Sad irony: DOA are coming to my hometown, Maple Ridge, where I now reside, to play a free show... and I ain't gonna be here! The Facebook page for Adstock is here; they'll be taking the stage at the Maple Ridge gazebo around 7pm, following Ninja Spy (the listing on the poster is pretty much in reverse order). Music starts at about 1! Yep - it's a whole day of FREE ALL-AGES MUSIC for the 'burbs!

I talked to Joe briefly for the Straight blog about the fest here. I also got to take my first flip-through of his new book today - a pictorial history of DOA, called Talk - Action = 0. I was kind of skeptical, hearing about the project on paper, but am blown away by how cool it looks - it's a really, really beautifully put together book.

By the way, any Vancouver punks hungry for a free DOA show unsure of how to get to Maple Ridge can either catch the 160 down Hastings to Coquitlam Center and change onto the 701 Maple Ridge East - or if it's closer to where you are, get on the Broadway Skytrain line to Lougheed Mall, catch the 97 to Coquitlam, to again get the 701. It only takes about an hour and a half, if you make the right connections...


Joe Keithley by Cindy Metherel, not to be reused without permission

Someone sticks up for John Lurie

A small part of my conscience has been ill at ease for months. John Lurie, having been, to all appearances, rather viciously betrayed by a highly problematic New Yorker piece last year, focusing on his illness and his experiences of being stalked by a former friend, was counting on people around him to stand up for him after it was published. No one did. I did not, either. In retrospect, I think I did what I believe many people around John did: I kinda blamed him for his troubles, made excuses, and withdrew. I mean, I had troubles of my own, and the situation was not an uncomplicated one, or safe one (since challenging a stalker is an invitation to be stalked oneself), but I've felt kind of ashamed of my performance at that time, and my failure has lingered with me.

So I'm very glad to see that someone - Rick Moody - has finally DONE that work, stepped into the breach and courageously stood by Lurie in the midst of it, taking on not his stalker so much as taking on Tad Friend and the New Yorker, for their very disrespectful, glib, and treacherous handling of an awful, serious, and sensitive situation. My respect to Mr. Moody.

And to John Lurie.

Peter Brotzmann, Group Doueh, Dr. Umezu: questions of context, plus mini-interviews

The jazzfest is underway, and I've missed most of what has happened thus far - I've only gotten to see Peter Brotzmann, kicking things off with his unit, Full Blast. That much-anticipated experience was somewhat disappointing, at least compared to the "Brotzmann of the mind" that is invoked when I listen to his music on my headphones. I can't say what his natural environment really is, but the "Brotzmann of the mind" is playing dirty underground clubs and squats - or at least far seedier places than the very clean, very orderly Roundhouse Performance Centre; has a far less-affluent-looking audience in front of him; has one or two other horn players (or a Haino Keiji) to interact with; and overblows like he's channeling some private inner demons through his saxophone, playing like a one-man Borbetomagus, invoking revolutionary, transformational energies - some sort of primal chaos. The Brotzmann of the jazzfest, by contrast, was playing in a polite middleclass context, was alone with his rhythm section (tho' they were an avalanche indeed), and spent a surprising amount of time referencing the blues - rather mournfully, but with much more sentiment and tenderness than I've come to expect of the man's music. That was interesting, actually, and there was still some very exciting and subtle interaction between band members; and in fact, the more tuneful passages - including at least one explicit reference to Albert Ayler - were often in fact more engaging for me than the "full blast" moments, which is a reaction I don't entirely understand... but the performance as a whole simply could not do what the experience of listening to Brotzmann devoid of context does. Maybe I'm learning something about myself: that I like jazz - but I don't always feel comfortable with the context it occurs in...

It will be even stranger seeing Group Doueh in the context of the jazzfest tonight, mind you - because there's some radical recontextualization going on there! We'll be seeing a band that normally performs all night at weddings in the Western Sahara, playing a music that has evolved with very, very little western influence - because contra the impression that you might get reading the Straight article I wrote, there is actually very, very, very little reference to western music going on. Guitarist/bandleader Doueh might tip his hat to James Brown and Jimi Hendrix, or find a kindred spirit in the blues - but you have to listen pretty creatively to actually hear any of that. It's kind of like eating a really rich, really tasty curry and trying to pin down an individual spice - James Brown is the fennel, Jimi is the cardamon, and the blues are, maybe, the turmeric, but mostly what you're getting, listening to a Group Doueh album, is a garam masala unlike anything you've encountered before - something really quite foreign to a western palate, something that you need to have pretty special ears (or a bit of practice) to hook onto. I mean, what about this album cover suggests Vancouver, or jazz festivals, or any western musical styles?:

I will put a larger piece of writing online about Doueh, with more from both Doueh and Hisham Mayet, after the festival, but I had two questions for Mayet that might be of interest to those attending. The first was to ask about how Doueh's western influences might be perceived in the context of Western Saharan culture. "The fact that Doueh is influenced by James Brown and Jimi Hendrix, probably to a western listener, makes his music easier to access," I observed, "but in his cultural context, is there anyone who would disapprove of that sort of thing – the fact that he’s playing traditional music with a kind of western bent? Does anyone care?"

Hisham Mayet answered: "No, no. I don’t think it presents a problem for him.
His wedding repertoire is still traditional – the traditional canon that is his foundation, which is most of what Sahrawi music/ Mauritanian music is. All of it comes from a pretty limited canon. If you’ve heard enough of this music, you realize it’s all coming from the same stock of songs and poetry that are done ad infinitum. One of the best things about Doueh is that he was able, even early on, to branch out beyond that structured canon and incorporate all these sounds, western or otherwise. But I’ve never known an example of other musicians or anyone frowning upon the fact that he’s fusing the two. I mean, it’s music – they’re just going to roll with it. I mean, I don’t think he’d play any of the poppier songs at a wedding, because it’s just not ever requested; they usually tend to go for the formula of the modal system - the modes, the poetry that’s sung at weddings. Because it’s all pretty traditional. But they’re open to whatever. He can incorporate as much as he wants, and nobody’s going to give him any flak for it. It just kind of is what it is."

The next question was whether, playing to western audiences, he ever tries to change his presentation?

"I think so," Mayet responded. "Sometimes. That’s a battle I have to fight with him all the time. I think he tries to acquiesce to what he thinks western audiences will like, and he tends to get away from the foundation of what I know he’s capable of doing, when western eyes aren’t upon him. I think that’s had a lot of impact on him, too – positively and negatively, in a weird kinda way. Y’know, doing these tours, and realizing that he’s released these records, and reading some of the good reviews that he reads, that I send him or translate for him – I think sometimes he tries to craft songs based on what he feels [people are responding to]. All of a sudden it’s like this thing where he’ll play a few live shows and he’ll play a few numbers that I can’t quite negotiate in my head as something that is his true essence. And I know he’s just doing it to maybe please the crowd, and I’m like, 'you know, this can’t be, you’ve kinda gotta stick to your guns and do what you know how to do and don’t feel like you’re trying to please the crowd! The crowd is here to hear what you’re essentially about, not what you think they need to hear because they like you or don’t like you.' I mean, it’s a rare thing, but it’s happened – it’s happened enough that I’m talking about it!"

Bear in mind that this is Group Doueh's first North American tour, as well! The band has just released its third and fourth albums, Beate Harab and Zayna Jumma, on the label Mayet co-owns, Sublime Frequencies; both were recorded in 2010 by Mayet. Pretty damn exciting that we're going to get to see music like this in North America; this is a rare experience indeed.

The guy who is best poised this fest for easy, discord-free recontextualization, tho', is perhaps Kazutoki Umezu (that's a link to the Coastal Jazz page; my Straight article is here. Umezu is second from left in the photo above). Since he's somewhat of a postmodernist, it's hard to assign him any one natural context to begin with - he's used to slipping around between them, anyhow. I have actually seen, and even chatted with, Umezu in what could be called his "natural environment," the Shinjuku Pit Inn in Tokyo, but his music is very much an international one, even played there (especially since only one of the musical influences mentioned in the Straight piece is even native to Japan). The story of the name of his unit, KIKI Band, had to be shortened a bit to fit into the Straight piece, but it's quite revealing. It began - go read the Straight article - when KIKI were going to do their first North American tour, and Umezu asked an African familiar with his music to name them; the fellow came up with KIKIKI, in fact. The first two KI's were based on Swahili words for "bald" and "chameleon" (since Umezu changes colour all the time). But there was actually one more KI referenced, Umezu explained, the word kigeugeu. I couldn't actually track that down in the Swahili-to-English search engines I found, but Umezu's interpretation was that it was "kind of like Ninja – every time they can appear, everywhere, like, sometime in Japan, sometime in America, sometime in Europe, sometime in some Asian country, sometime in Africa. So he says KIKIKI Band, but it’s too long for us – so we make KIKI Band. And KIKI has also double meaning, by Japanese. One is danger" - actually, “crisis,” according to my Japanese-English dictionary - "and one meaning – kikini kiite kudasai - is like, please listen! So many meanings, it has."

Umezu is touring a new KIKI Band CD, A Chrysalis' Dream. Retaining his somewhat Japanized English, what Umezu said, in explaining the title, was, "I’m interesting about chrysalis – also changing from something to something. I don’t what I want to be next. I eat jazz, I eat blues, I eat Japanese enka, I eat klezmer – I eat many kind of music, that is in my body, every material is in my body. But I’m not sure what I want to be yet, so I’m dreaming, like a chrysalis. I don’t know if they have dream or not, but... I’m not worm, but I’m not a butterfly yet."

I'm especially looking forward to hearing Umezu's guitarist, Natsuki Kido, again; he's one hell of a player. Fans of adventurous music from diverse influences are urged to check out Bondage Fruit, online, in addition to KIKI Band. There's lots to be heard!

Unquestionably, however, the most exciting thing for most folks about Dr. Umezu's show in Vancouver is that it's ENTIRELY FREE - he plays Sunday at 5:15 at David Lam Park. The irony of that is, that very Sunday, DOA will be giving a free concert at Adstock in Maple Ridge. With much respect going to Joe, I'm not going to be there for that. It's a bit easier to see DOA in Vancouver than it is KIKI Band!

This is all overlooking that Mats Gustafsson's The Thing plays Saturday, but I've written enough, for now. Whatta cool jazzfest this is this year...! Good work, people!

Movie as metaphor, plus I'm JEALOUS OF SUSANNE TABATA

First (you gotta read this part first to understand what's next), I just woke up from a dream. In the dream, I had talked the Vancity Theatre into programming a film long unseen by anyone - a Canadian exploitation film of profound ambitions, if somewhat unevenly, and not all fully, realized; a sort of Canadian El Topo, if you will.

The film was not actually El Topo - it was supposed to be, in the dream, Rituals, the classic Canuck urban-rural horror film starring Hal Holbrook and Lawrence Dane. In the way of dreams, the film was not really the film: there were female characters, including a young girl, for one; the only real similarity was that, like the real Rituals, the film was set in the woods. I think dreams do that - change things - as a way of making sure your waking mind realizes, if it remembers the dream at all and thinks about it, that things need to be unpacked a bit, not taken on face-value; to make sure you know that the things in your dream are not JUST signifiers of themselves, but of something deeper, and require interpretation. Or maybe our subconscious minds just aren't very good with details, I dunno, because the Vancity Theatre wasn't quite the Vancity Theatre, either - the snack-and-ticket bar was all wrong, and the auditorium was bigger, with less comfortable seats, in the way of a multiplex.

The thing was - the crowd was not understanding this supposed Rituals they were watching. There were people not paying attention, people talking, people issuing hoots of derision at the screen. (Not exactly your typical Vancity crowd, either, then!). At first, I tried to focus their attention - zipping around the auditorium trying to get people to think about the film in the appropriate terms, to work with it a bit, feeling growing dismay at how this brilliant film was being misunderstood, misperceived, so mistreated by the audience. This was proving an endless task. At some point I gave up and met rudeness with rudeness, throwing a pen at a cluster of talkers and trying to get them to shut up, wondering why, when they saw my angrily mouthing those words, after having been pelted, they TALKED LOUDER. No one takes a hint, I bemoaned to myself - you righteously challenge them on bad behaviour and, rather than realizing they're behaving badly and amending it, they just do whatever they're doing in a bigger, louder, more overt way; everybody wants to be a rockstar these days...

...and finally (perhaps echoing recent events in Vancouver) this actually devolved into a MOVIE RIOT. People were setting the theatre on fire, running around, behaving very badly - I had to race outside the auditorium and find J., the Vancity Theatre manager, to get her to intervene. Nothing was going right, I was saddened and sickened that people neither GOT the movie nor were willing to work with it, and was very nearly getting in fights with people MYSELF over it. Things were in sheer anarchy - when I finally woke up, there was tension throughout my back and shoulders from how upset the dream was making me.

(There was then a weird digression where I discovered that someone had donated Fela Kuti CDs by the crateful to the theatre and they were selling them for $1 each, which completely distracted me from my true moral purpose in the dream - but I'll leave that aside, if you don't mind; it reveals a bit too much of my soft white underbelly).

Cut to: watching Susanne Tabata's Bloodied But Unbowed at Lucky Bar in Victoria last night, with Susanne, Rampage, and Les Wiseman in attendance (and the East Vamps, too, including Gerry-Jenn Wilson, who appears in the film, and Alexa Bardach, whose father is in it). This is a new cut of the film, which has been GREATLY enchanced by the participation of Jello Biafra. If you remember (I had forgotten, until Susanne reminded me), I once ran interference with a rather unusual homeless guy so Susanne could go about her work, when Jello was presenting Terminal City Ricochet and The Widower at Chapel Arts - I wrote about that story on my blog, at the time. Well, the Jello material added to the film is from that time. Not exactly sure what it replaces from the first cut - the film is still only 75 minutes long - but it REALLY adds. There are various tweaks to the movie, as well - including one I (and possibly others) suggested, having a clip of a later-day Subhumans performance (tho' no later-day Art). Some of the stuff that was post-credit in the past theatrical cut is now moved to the pre-credits, too, where it deserved to be, I thought. The ending is STILL a bit bleak, compared to the PUNCH of the TV version - it's still a bit heavier on the "bloodied" end than the "unbowed" - but it hardly matters, because the film is now approaching "Vancouver punk documentary masterpiece" levels - a film that is really (with the inclusion of ample observations from Biafra, Rollins, Keith Morris and others) about the whole fucking west coast of punk in North America, since it's also about how "we" (not that I was really a first-generation Vancouver punk, but regardless...) were perceived by American punks, which also reveals a great deal about how American punks perceived themselves...

...this is actually a staggeringly important punk document, now moreso than ever...

But NONE of that's why I'm jealous of Susanne Tabata. (And it's not that I've got a crush on Rampage or sumfin', either! I mean - I don't!).

Look: I've INTERVIEWED A LOT OF THESE PEOPLE MYSELF. I've spoken to members of the Pointed Sticks, the Subhumans, the Furies and DOA. I've spoken to Art Bergmann, too - tho' not for print; ditto members of the Dishrags, or Zippy Pinhead, or Bev Davies (who gets a wee segment of her own in the film, in her kitchen, which I was happy to see). I've spoken to Tim Ray and I've spoken to Tunnel Canary (who now also briefly appear in the film). I've interviewed Jello and plan to again. I've been working the Vancouver punk journalism thing for awhile now, and at least some small percentage of the stories that are told in the film I have on tape myself. Dennis Hopper's Out of the Blue shoot with the Pointed Sticks? Tell me something I don't know about... None of that is why I'm jealous.

There are some GREAT interviews in the film with people I've NEVER spoken to, mind you - notably Mary Armstrong, AKA Mary Jo Kopechne of the Modernettes. The stuff with her, and her rifle, is brilliant, of course. But I mean, there are cool people *I've* interviewed that Susanne hasn't, so that doesn't make me jealous, either. One of her BEST interviews in the film, with the (still EXTREMELY hard to watch, depressing-as-hell) Art Bergmann, is possibly a greater accomplishment than anything I've ever done in regards to Vancouver punk writing, too - but it's also so sad that I wouldn't WANT to have done it, so it goes by without fazing me. Art seems a challenging guy; I'm more than happy to leave him to others, for now (unless the time should come that I get to speak to him; I mean, it's not like I'm not willing)...

No: I am jealous, I discover, because of ONE CLIP added to this new cut, taken from Susanne's interviews with the Subhumans' Gerry Hannah.

Gerry's a talkative guy, you realize, right? And I have this fascination for his past, and get along pretty well with him, so I've interviewed him at MASSIVE length - for Punk Planet, for Big Takeover, for my blog, for other places; I think I even got a quote from him in the Georgia Straight, when Same Thoughts, Different Day came out. I have spoken to Gerry ON the record about everything from strategic voting to the apocalypse, and have gone so off the record as to get stories about - well, I better not say, but trust me, I have touched on almost every topic with him, many stories of which I have never yet squeezed into a publication. I would guess I have at least five hours of Gerry on tape, more than any other one punk - more than any one person - I have interviewed. And I've done some big interviews.

I was a WEE bit jealous before, after seeing the first cut of BBU, and realizing that Gerry had given Susanne a much more powerful and concise quote about Direct Action than I'd ever gotten from him before - the bit where he talks about left vs. right wing vigilantes, and such. It's a good, concise moment, a piquant observation, a nice line. I thought, watching the film - damn, that's good stuff; why didn't Gerry ever put it quite that way with ME, before - y'know? But I got over it.

But in the new version, Susanne includes what might seem like a throwaway line, where Gerry talks about his job for highway services. Been there, done that too - I have some of THAT on tape, myself, tho' it's never been in print, where he tells me some stories about his work. But NEVER, never does he say what he says in Susanne's new version of the film, where he BRILLIANTLY likens HOW PEOPLE BEHAVE ON THE HIGHWAY with how they behave in society - basically taking his job as a metaphor for life.

It's absolutely brilliant, and watching it, I kinda went subtly green with envy. Five or six hours with Gerry on tape, several thousand words in print, and NEVER have I gotten a line that good from him. I bet Susanne didn't interview him for six hours, but she GOT it, she got this amazing moment, this bit of brilliance that...

Gahh! I am soooo jealous of Susanne Tabata. Fuck.

Anyhow, I think my dream at the Vancity Theatre, above, was kind of a metaphor for life, too.

My compliments to Susanne Tabata - her movie is fucking great. (The Jello interview footage is essential, too). I'll keep y'all posted when there's another Vancouver screening. Those of you who think you've seen this film already (at DOXA, say?) - you better get ready, because YOU HAVE TO SEE IT AGAIN.

Bloodied But Unbowed plays Victoria!

Susanne Tabata's history of the first generation of Vancouver punk, Bloodied But Unbowed, screens tonight in Victoria at Lucky Bar as part of a party featuring The East Vamps!

By the way, Randy Rampage recently got onstage with Joe again to sing Gerry Hannah's "Fuck You" at a DOA show! Who'da thought! (DOA play a free outdoor all ages gig at Adstock Maple Ridge next Sunday). Keep your ears peeled (?) about another Sick Ones show this fall, with a slightly different lineup from the last...

*NOW* I'm busy

Okay, okay, really now: that's it for awhile. Have a good jazzfest - I'll try to check in midweek with some more stuff from Kazutoki Umezu, whose KIKI Band plays a free show at David Lam Park next Sunday!

RIP Peter Falk

From the films of John Cassavetes to a film adaptation of Jean Genet's The Balcony to Wim Wenders' Wings of Desire to (yes, even) The In-Laws and Columbo, I have always had a great fondness for Peter Falk, who has just died, at age 83. Anyone who has never seen Falk really ACT, who wishes to really experience Falk at work, is directed to Mikey and Nicky and A Woman Under the Influence, which are certainly his most powerful, demanding roles. Those of you equipped to search out films unavailable on DVD on Torrent sites are further directed to All The Marbles (I'm told The Cheap Detective is good, too, but haven't seen it). My condolences to those he leaves behind; let's all tip our hats to Peter Falk.