May 22, 2005
Hugo, Chewie & Panda Panda
I went to see Gang of Four the other night. My mind was practically blown, put on some higher sort of terror alert status. The old men still have it. Andy Gill killed, his guitar tone alone could do the convincing. Is there such a thing as involuntary air-guitar? Jon King stalked back & forth between mics, shirtless under a suit jacket, did his weird football/army training dance. The highest point among many was "He'd Send in the Army" during which King beat what was either an old amplifier or an air condtioner with an aluminum bat. For the entire song. Opening band Radio 4 seemed like an X-Games commercial in comparison. Or maybe not even. My Wire experience a few years ago was tempered by the unfamiliarity & sometimes outright dislike of the latter-day stuff. There was barely a hint of that at Gof4. Everything off of Entertainment & Solid Gold sounded just as raw & urgent as it did when I heard it for the first time (Carlos' hand-me-down tape of Urgh! A Music War circa 1992). A couple of 3rd LP or later duds that sounded like Echo & the Bunnymen b-sides were lost among all the favorites. Extraneous highlights included Hugo Burnham's headset mic & his VIP cheering section w/infant, ubiquitous old punk dudes with ponytails & seeing Mass Art faculty dance in place.
Star Wars III - Revenge of the Sith is either the 3rd or 4th best of the series. Probably 3rd, beating out Jedi. Star battles, Yoda v. Palpatine & the Wookie planet make it worthwhile. The script blows to the point of actually feeling sorry for the millionaires who have to deliver the lines. My friend Ryan bought our tickets on craigslist for face-value.
Deerhoof overcame feedback issues & totally weird, airport-style security (I had to hide my swiss army knife in a planter) to make everybody smile for 65 minutes. Also, two 10 yr. old punk kids being encouraged to get Satomi Matsuzaki's autograph by their parents & some guy made amazing sound-sensitive, garbage can lights which may be impossible to explain. Pictures later.
Ken Kagami is the guy who did the Milk Man cover for Deerhoof.
Posted by Rob at May 22, 2005 3:09 PM | TrackBack