I highly recommend you take a dose of Medicine for the People

Nahko and Medicine for the People

The date was Friday May 11, 2013 and we headed down the dark backcountry roads of Puna towards the Kalani Retreat Center to check out Nahko (means 'bear' in Apache tongue) and his band, Medicine for the People. Friends and acquaintances had been raving about them for ions and I had missed their show at the Palace months ago so this time I came prepared. I had bought my tickets almost a month in advance. And it was a good thing, too, as the tickets sold out nearly 2 weeks prior to them taking stage.

After talking way too much in the car, and being a bit dramatic to boot, we finally arrived at the venue. We parked and meandered our way up to the building where we were relieved of our belongings (my date generally carries a backpack with him everywhere he goes) and then ushered through a maze-like network of rooms (or maybe it just appeared that way due to the state of mind I was in)  which resembled tropical lobbies. Finally,  we arrived at the rear of the building where a room the size of a high school auditorium was located. There,  we were completely blown away by the most amazing musical feat either one of us had seen in a quite a while. Nahko Parayno ("Nahko Bear") delivered his message and music with finesse and passion, Hope drummed away like a wild tribal coyote woman and Max rang out his guitar hooks like only Max can. At the end of the band's stunning performance in which the adoring crowd sang along, danced and jumped up and down like pogo sticks, Nahko pitched out several free black colored CD's , his band's latest oevre, "Dark as Night." (The LP would be officially released about 2 weeks later.)  Alas, I should have brought my mitt as I caught none. OK, though. Easily downloadable off their website, www.nahko.com. My date and I had instantly become total MFTP converts.

Thomas, my boyfriend, had already been a huge Xavier Rudd fan (whom he has seen in concert on numerous occasions) so when MFTP did a cover of one of Xavier's songs shortly after we arrived, Thomas was smitten. But what would follow would really blow his mind. I think I was hooked when Nahko sang,  "All the shifting, shaping ways you can be.......Wake the dreams into realities…" [Budding Trees, "Dark as Night"]  and " What if you knew what you were for? And how you became so informed? Bodies of info, performing such miracles. I am a miracle, made up of particles and in this existence, I'll stay persistent and I'll make a difference…"  Then there was , "Come to teach, come to be taught, come in the likeness and the image of God, cuz you can be like that with all that humbleness and all that respect." There was also, "I cry for the creatures that are left behind but everything will change in the blink of an eye and if you want to survive, you will find the guide inside." [Aloha Ke Akua, "Dark as Night"]  How about "Every cell is transforming and returning to original concept to construct. And then I started to shapeshift and the animals within me grew tails and talons."  It was as if he was singing the songs of my soul, for God's sake. MFTP's  lyrics express joy, frustration, heartbreak, passion and anguish over the state of the world yet overall the tone is divine and hopeful, ushering people to take the medicine and then start making the movement move. Thomas was equally inspired by the music , the lyrics and just the general all around cool-ness of the band. The next few weeks after the concert, Thomas would be playing MFTP non-stop over and over again to the point where it even drove ME crazy. In the car, at the house, in his head, in his sleep………the man became utterly obsessed. 

But back to May 11th. We had arrived a bit late due to much talking in the car on the way over (it was something lolo in the air, I think) and we ended up finding our niche on the floor about halfway back. The band was already in full throttle and was amazing. No doubt the best band I have ever seen in our state in which at least one of the members claims Hawaii as their home. (=Nahko is a Hilo, Hawaii resident) He has a weirdly contradictory aura of both seriousness and fun around him ( a strange combination but yet he somehow pulls it off) and Nahko's physical appearance is riveting as he is mohawk- cool and exotically indian looking (which as it turns out is because he is part Apache, Phillipino, Puerto Rican , and Hawaiian!)  I have posted a link to his interesting and colorful life to the right. (please click for more information)

Fast  forward to 3 days later. Again, Nahko and Medicine for the People playing a concert, this time less formal (and FREE!)  and in the street in front of Dave's Hilo Bayfront Kava Bar. Dave is a bit of a local hero as he is the owner of the popular hipster watering hole for those seeking a brew with slightly tranquilizing qualities. He's always available for a chat behind the bar and who wouldn't want to 'talk story'  with this all around endearing and gregarious guy. Armed with a quick smile and fresh brewed hawaiian kava at the ready, the man has earned the nickname Kava Dave as well as countless friends. Also worth mentioning:  his homemade kava chocolate or scrumptious kava brownies with macadamia nuts are pretty incredible, too. (mmmmm!) Turns out Dave had been a major promoter of MFTP, giving them a place to play and plenty of coconut wireless advertising when they were relatively unknown 4 years ago. At current, the band is on tour with Xavier Rudd and globetrotting across the world packing stadiums, arenas and outdoor concert venues with thousands of people. 

But here I was, before all that eventuality, standing on our humble Hilo Bayfront street with hundreds and hundreds of …well….hippies…..and surfers and new-agers and freaks….all listening to Nahko play just about every song he has ever written. The musician, who is relatively small framed  but clearly packed with the energy and lean muscle of three men, played for five to six hours non-stop, the show finally winding down to it's conclusion at nearly 3am.  My personal favorites off "Dark As Night" are New Eyes, Aloha Ke Akua, Warrior People, Vulture of Culture (that one sounds somehow very Jack Johnson) , One in the Chamber, Risk It, Manifesto II, So Thankful and Budding Trees. I have a version of Budding Trees without the beginning dialogue of what my son calls "the drunk girl" which I actually prefer to the one on the album. (No offense, I just like the one without the dialogue better!)

Earlier that evening on Bayfront before the free magnanimous show was about to start, I bumped into Nahko and thanked him for his music and his incredible concert at Kalani. I thanked him for 'raising the goddess' which is not a term I have ever used to describe any other band's musicology but it is the best way that I can describe what MFTP does. It's why they are so important and why they are carrying a message that's on fire, like a burning scroll. Nahko was great. He was friendly, humble and complimented my leather fringe jacket vest. (it was new, so I was stoked that he noticed it!) My Dad, professor of theology and linguistics and die-hard Catholic, has always said the Immaculate Mother can be fierce , like Kali, although in European culture she is never depicted that way. She is depicted more like the demure, gentle mother who wears light blue and a Mona Lisa smile. I like to make the analogy, if I may, of say…. Mrs. Brady or perhaps Mrs. Cleaver. But the goddess has evolved just as we have. The Goddess is here. She is now. She is alive and she has thrown off her blue mantle. She's ready to rumble, folks, so get with it and belt out some of these songs and carry your torch high. Lend your ears, lend your hands, lend your movement, anything that you can.

Goddess Kali, she's on fire

Repeatable quote of the day:
"Kurt Cobain killed himself one month after Justin Bieber was born... He knew." - Total Sarcasm, twitter

JOURNALS of Kurt Cobain

So I read the Journals and its a fast read. If you actually sit down with some tea and some time.. you could easily finish it in a day. My household is boisterous and constantly eventful so it took me 3 days as I only have time to do it while waiting for swimming class/ paddling/ etc to be over. I have wanted to read Kurt's journals because in 1991, I was snapped out of a stupefied lethargy when I heard Smells Like Teen Spirit for the first time. Music in general at that time was just so boring and uninspiring. I hated just about everything that was on contemporary pop radio. I was mostly listening to dated stuff, old punk rock (Clash, Sex Pistols, Black Flag, Bad Brains, Minor Threat..the whole punk rock canon) for the most part but I do kind of remember listening to the Cranberries and some stuff that Paul Simon was doing with african drummers. I am embarrassed that I hadn't heard the first lp Bleach first. I like to be one of the firsts on everything and , unlike now, I didn't have the excuse of raising children, running a household or owning a business as an excuse. At any rate, the album Never Mind got my head to snap up pretty fast and I was instantly compelled by Kurt's voice, his lyrics and his music which seemed to me to be the first thing to come out in a while that had any relevance or real musical originality. If you can relate to what I am saying, definitely get the book and give it a read. It really reveals who he was on a much deeper level. There aren't any surprises but its interesting to note that someone else has seen Jesus in woodgrain panel. I saw that during a tr*p in 1987 on someone's bathroom door. I actually made everyone that was with me file into the room and check it out. I think most everyone else was able to see it. We were silent observers from a different planet. We just watched the craziness of the world around us and made little discoveries that were so profound that we just smiled at each other or laughed, knowingly. All on the same wave length as it were. Then the strychnine took over and it was the feeling you have after you run a marathon when your muscles are sore and achy except it was a mental marathon we had just barely staggered away from. Anyways, I'm rambling.  But so does Kurt (A LOT!) in Journals. So enjoy...........

BLOC PARTY at The Republik

"Nice shirt" said Kele, leaning into the mic. But I didn't hear that because I become a bit of a gimp when I am in the front row center, I have discovered. (Excuse the term but I DID just watch Gervaise the other day on French TV) Lisa, my trusty rock concert companion, told me about Kele's comment later and was sure he was referring to my shirt. But don't ever knock that dumb, deaf, blind kid, you know.... cuz he sure plays a mean pinball. And then later turns into Jesus. And let's face it: no one wants to be left out of a good cult following.

I'm succeeding to speak like I'm f'ing mad. No one told me that fuchsia hair dye soaks down into the frontal lobes of the cerebral cortex! That dirty, lowdown hairdresser! Please forgive me, now where was I?

Kele was not the first to comment on my shirt that evening. It drew many admirers, I guess you could say, in a very Henry VIII sort of way. [refer to above]

I was in front by a guy that has title to the funniest line-maker of the evening (see sweaty blond youth with braces to my right.) During a slight pause in the noise-making, he yelled , "Kele, I WANT YOUR BABIES!!!" That was just too good coming from him and the girl on the other side of him and I busted out in a raucous roar of laughter. She is sporting a t-shirt procured from Kele's solo show at Webster Hall last summer, lucky minx. Her shirt ties mine. Touché!

In fact, Kele may very well have been talking to her rather than me. Well, doesn't that f#ck all!?

I DID, however, manage to hear him call me a "pussy" (well, all of us actually) for not getting riled up enough and then to 'show us how it's done,' Kele jumped off stage into the crowd , danced around a bit and then jumped onto the bar on the other side of the Republik and continued singing while swigging whisky from a bottle and then spraying it all over the crowd with his mouth. It was beautiful. I have never seen a performer jump up on a bar like that during a live show, mid-concert while swigging whisky; that is a "first." You start to use up 'firsts' as the years pass, so when they appear, it's usually a welcomed thing.

His bacchanalian baptism was timely as this was the first evening the Republik opened its doors to the publik. EVER. And yes, I WAS THERE!!! I wouldn't miss something like that....a new venue in Honolulu that caters to alternative and punk music? HELLO...nice to meet you!

I really was looking forward to the pink telecaster but it did not make an appearance. *sniff* I love a man playing a pink guitar. (truly!) What ever HAPPENED to that guitar? But Gordon Moakes stuck with his grey Fender bass, Russell played his non-pink Fender the entire time and Kele constantly and rather obsessively alternated between a Gretsh, a white Fender and a Rickenbaker depending on the song. He also toyed around with an effects pedal and the end result was --- friggin' amazing! Thank you Bloc Party! We hope you like Hawaii as much as we like you! And you wear the leis quite well, by the way.

Set List:

(not in order)

~~ please Twitter if you see any mistakes and I will rectify list ~~

Their new album FOUR from which they played a few selections at the show, will be released this month on August 20, 2012 so mark it!

Blue Light

So Here We are

Day Four

Flux

Hunting for Witches

Signs

Octopus

Helicopter

Banquet

Like Eating Glass

I Still Remember

Mercury

One More Chance

Hunting for Witches

Jason Mraz' Country is a Four Letter Word? (ugh)

I waited patiently for the album to come out and with great anticipation. I listened to and downloaded "I Won't Give Up" from Jason Mraz' new LP. It sounds like country music. Now, music is my passion but I do not like country. It's kind of the way John Lennon felt about jazz. It makes me want to throw up. The only exception might be some stuff Jewel released in the late 90's that sounded like country which was still good because it was more folksy/country ( I DO appreciate a wide variety of folk music)and the other exceptions are Johnny Cash and the song 'Lake of Fire' by the Meat Puppets of which also Cobain did a cover. Some punk music sort of intersects with country but it's quite different because it has a much rougher, jagged sound and I like that. Try as I might, I just can't get myself to download the whole album as much as I love Jason Mraz. Country music is definitely my kryptonite and if you ever want to make me run away and quickly, just play some really twangy sappy country. Eventually, I hope to venture over and at least sample the other songs on the album but I may need to be armed with some cortisone first.

May I just mention....

that I think Coldplay is severely overrated. They're a good band and all, but are way overly touted. By the same token, The Vines are so underrated. Craig Nicholls is so talented, way more nuanced and experimental and capable of a greater breadth of sound (I like Coldplay, but all their music sounds the same to me) and yet not touted to the extent that his talent deserves. I have my ideas as to why this is so, but regardless of my thoughts, it just seems a great injustice to me. In the end, however, the proof is in the pudding. I think that people will come around and realize what a great band they are(were) and hopefully it won't be too late. Politics really suck but sadly, are a part of our every day existence.

Heart Palpitations/Noodle Revelations

I'm having heart palpitations. Good heart palpitations. Craig Nicholls is recording. I don't think its The Vines but as he is the singer/songwriter of the Vines music, I know its going to be good. DANKEN GOTT! (I'm not jewish but sometimes speak in tongues when excited.) Another interesting revelation: I figured out the other day that I AM Noodle. Only with better teeth.

The Strokes

My best guess is that their 5th album will be released sometime in late 2013. They are working on it but , God love 'em, tend to agonize over details. At any rate, that's where I put my money. I'll also be putting it down the hot second their 5th LP comes out, mind you. Once a Strokes fan, always a Strokes fan.

I couldn't agree with Phares more:

"The Vines never sound weighed down by all the influences they include in their music—it's as if they're so excited by everything they hear, they can't help but recombine it in unique ways."-Heather Phares, Allmusic, 15 April 2004.[26]

On a side note, I am so sad Haimish has left the band [permanently]. I have always really liked him on so many different levels although I  can completely understand--he has his own career to look out for not to mention the unbridled energy that characterizes most drummers. I do wish him all the best in his globetrotting musical endeavors.

Lydon is preparing to release his first album with PiL in 20 years, 'This Is PiL', on May 28.

The Vines must revive - how can some1 pass up seeing a band like this? EXTRAORDINARY. cut and paste below

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J0YZg1d0gvk&feature=autoplay&list=FLoDa7_u5izriha6txzdtahQ&lf=plpp_video&playnext=1">

double click to enlarge slideshow; FOSTER THE PEOPLE in waikiki

Foster the People Review Part 1:Aloha Tower, Waikiki

My goals for the weekend were to see Foster the People at Aloha Tower with my good irish friend and old Maui surfing buddy Lisa McInnis and to get some water time. Both missions were accomplished. (Thanks Agent 99!) We got to the Aloha Tower around 7pm and enjoyed the balmy weather hoping it would last through the show. As usual, as soon as the gates opened at 8pm, I shot like a bullet to the front row, making the mistake (which ended up being not-a-mistake) of ending up on the under 21 side. The band was scheduled to come on at 8pm but were 45 minutes late which, even if it did prompt some name calling and swearing, would have been drownded out by either 1) the extremely loud pumping jams of the DJ who was to the right of the stage dutifully cranking the eardrum shattering decibels across the waiting crowd OR 2) the sound of coughing and hacking due to the smoke machine triggering asthmatic reactions across the populace. According to state data, Hawaii has the highest asthma rates in the nation at 17.6% of the population for adults and 28.3% of the population for high school students. (2010 and 2009 data, respectively) So, if there are any entertainment lawyers out there, I highly recommend that you tell your performers to turn off those machines at any concert played in Hawaii. Actually, go ahead and throw them off the plane into the Pacific Ocean. Why not use a massively huge humidifier instead? Don't forget to pour in a jar or two of medicated Vick's. It makes cool-looking ambient vapor and actually mentholates the air simultaneously. It opens up our hawaiian asthmatic bronchial passages, thereby allowing us to scream and sing more while actually deodorizing the sweaty, stinky dancers at the same time. Just a random 'how bout killing 2 birds with one stone' thought.
The funniest line of the night was the whine behind me of a kid saying "This is taking too long [for the band to come on]. This is actually longer than school!" I turned around to see the cutest local version of the Peanuts character Marcie with a disgruntled look on her face and... who could blame her. But the band eventually came on and played, completely amped out on every tune and ended with Pumped Up Kicks. No intermission. No encore. Just an hour and 15 minutes of straight high energy. It was the equivalent of drinking a shot of Jeigermeister rather than sipping on a fine Cabernet in alcoholic terms. It was worth it [I have always wanted to see Foster the People live],although the albuterol did have to come out that night due to the smoke machine (I heard other people complaining about their asthma also) and hasn't returned to the medicine cabinet yet. BUT....I am VERY happy and stoked I got to see the band . They rocked it. It also didn't rain which was a blessing and Mark called the island "beautiful....a paradise." He takes his craft 100% seriously , executing his music like a Manhattan businessman getting down to it. A businessman that has downed a can of Red Bull. The most impressive part of the performance was how Mark can dance around like that, move his feet, his legs, his hips, EVERYTHING, and yet keep his fingers still enough on his keyboard to play the chords correctly. I just was amazed that he could do that. It was a feat beyond imagination. He sings and performs with heart and soul. Pontius completely amped it on drums... Monster style, all of them and then *poof!* they were gone. This was ok, the entire 'now you see me, now you don't' because they came out before the show and cavorted with the music loving peasants. And I loved meeting and talking to the charming Cubbie Fink and thought it very cool that Foster came out and took photos with the People. It just put smiles on everyone's faces (ok...yes...it 'fosters the people'...happy now??....) and added to the positive vibe. Now,to change the subject entirely, have you ever seen Invasion of the Body Snatchers? I am talking about the 1978 remake starring Donald Sutherland. Remember the scene where an alien discovers that the human is not 'one-of-them' [e.g. the body has not been snatched] and so lets out this horrible silent scream (apparently it was at a decibel only audible to other aliens, sort of like a dog whistle]?? That was the freakiest part of the movie...haunts me to this day...and it is actually 100% relevant to the next part of my story. The story about the VIP section of FTP. Stay tuned, Chief.

Foster the People Part 2 RE: The VIP section

I have been to a lot of shows in my life. Big stadium type venues. Small intimate shows in a maximum capacity 400 person building.College auditoriums. Outdoor concerts. Amphitheaters. etc. A lot of times there is a VIP section for those who want premium seating. The VIP section at FTP was unusual because for 2012, they were super cheap. $60. I was going to procure them for Lisa and myself because they were so reasonable and what-the-heck...but I couldn't because they were sold out. And at that price, one can see why. Now the thing that was so interesting about this show, was that they (the VIP people) were literally sandwiched right up against the (for lack of a better word) commoners. Or...lets say, the general admission ticket holders. First off, at the Strokes/Pearl Jam concert at Alpine Valley last year, for example, the VIP section seats were $1000. You can command a little haughtiness at prices like that. But at $60? Come on, people! The only thing that separates you and us is a bucket of chicken from KFC. So, psychologically, it was interesting how the women (not the men at all, interestingly, just the women) were just lording their VIP status over the GA section. It was ridiculous and frankly, the most odious display of classism I have ever witnessed. The sad thing was that it wasn't even real classism but 'fake classism', because the VIP tickets were freakin' $60. That's 2 large pizzas, people! So, at one point, before the show, this lady in a glittery gown comes over to us as if cavorting with peasants and says "What are you guys singing? Is that a Foster the People song?" [all the kids were singing the hip hop tunes the DJ was spinning in unison] "Uhhhhh....no." "Oh!" she said, embarrassed, clearly knowing very little about the band she was about to see. "Well, its so nice to meet you," she said demurely to the people in the front row of GA and then she almost shook their hands or something but then hesitated and walked away. It was...bizarre. I think she was trying to be nice but somehow mistook herself for Grace Kelly on a visit to Bangladesh circa 1953. People are...uh...weird. I am not going to go into all the descriptions right now of the foolish things the women in the VIP section said or did but lets just say, its better when the section is geographically farther away and it doesn't have to be witnessed. Now I was wearing a punk outfit at this particular show...black leather biker jacket, zipper dress, jolly roger tights and combat boot style shoes. You can't wear an outfit like that and not do something a little...naughty. It's got to be earned;otherwise you are just posing. So I decided that at some point, it would be fun to climb over the little barrier into VIP and dance around a bit and maybe take some closer-up photos. Of course, I did it because its a rarity that I don't accomplish something I set out to do. Maybe 4 songs from the last, I climbed right over (easy) and I got a really great shot of MArk Foster (in slideshow) and was dancing around a bit when halfway through a song, this girl turns around and points at me and says "She doesn't have a VIP bracelet!" No one seemed to care and she got no reaction so she repeated it. Again. And again. And again. Finger pointing, voice accelerating in urgency....still, no one cared. The people around her actually laughed (I just don't think they cared and thought the scene rather funny) but then eventually, a guard did come over to tell me I had to move back into the GA section. I smiled and said, "Sure" and calmly walked along the stage to where I could go back to the GA area. It was really no big deal. But the thing that sort of freaked me out was that the girl looked exactly like Donald Sutherland in Invasion of the Body Snatchers. I mean EXACTLY. Her face. Her mouth. Her pasty skin and desperate eyes. Her facial hair that she really should have waxed. EVERYTHING. (see sidebar to the right above Black Keys photo) Honestly, I think she may have been an alien.

Foster The People March 18 2012 Aloha Tower, Oahu

I will write about this. There is a lot to write about.

This is here for purely aestethic reasons

IT IS SAID...

That MORRISEY is coming to Hawaii.... a BAMP project. Stay tuned.

Foster The People

Album to be released 2013. They are working on it right now.

Brit Awards 2012

I just can't believe Coldplay won over Arctic Monkeys at the Brit Awards. Its like the Grammy's when Robert Palmer's sucky song "Simply Irresistible" beat out Lou Reed the year he released his New York LP (89). Just shows you that those award shows are largely [insert expletive of your choice here].

I Never Would Have Imagined....

that when Jonathan Lipschultz told me I should go see a Grateful Dead concert back when we were 17 and arranged it for me, it would connect me instantly with deadheads over 25 years later anywhere I went. There's this instant rapport when you find out the guy next to you in the grocery line or at the cocktail party is one of Jerry's Kids too. Your eyes light up, the memories come rushing back (of the magic and mayhem that only a live Dead show can deliver) ...and you've suddenly got lots to talk about. Why Jonathan picked me for a disciple, I'll never know. We weren't particularly close but had known eachother from school since kindergarten and we both had brainy professor fathers. The show: Alpine Valley with Bob Dylan opening, 1985. You never forget your first. The Last: Brent Mydland's last show at Tinley Park, 1990. In between those 2 shows, I managed to fit in forty one other shows from Buffalo to Sacramento......while simultaneously completing my college degree.

Last night at the pre-party for the David Nelson Band, despite the fact that Jerry's been gone for seventeen years, it was the same heartsong playing...Jerry's Kids connecting with the unconditional love that marked all those concerts way back when. We held hands in a big circle and had a communal blessing which had no words - it was a soulful fiddle that sang the grace held by the gifted hands of Topenga Tony, a man that would entertain me with many photos on his iPod for the remainder of the party. It wasn't the photo of him with Charlize Theron or the other celebrities that impressed me the most but the one of the roach-clip given to him by Janis Joplin back in the 60's. Tony is now 72 years old. He's the proud father of three beautiful and successful daughters (one is the owner of Richie Hippie boutique, one is on staff at Berkeley and the other just came home from four years of flying as a military pilot). He has lots of stories from his years in the music industry. He is the owner of a sunny disposition, and beautiful homes in both California and Hawaii. He has lived and lived large. LARGE.

While chowing down on the delicious food and sipping the Shiraz, I also chatted with a man who came to be known as Snorkie. Snorkie is about my age and hails from Santa Cruz.We discussed everything from organic food and communal gardening to Tesla and the possibility of alien life (pretty standard fare, actually) but there was something about this guy I really liked...something about everyone at the party that I really liked. I can't specifically put my finger on it. What is that certain-something, that family sort of feeling, that connects us deadheads together in to the same fabric?

Later on in the evening before the first set started, another friend, Mike(The Gnome), mentioned that once you have experienced some live Grateful Dead shows, there's almost always a return to complete innocence where you are experiencing all the input to your senses in a very complete and uninhibited way. It's a temporary return to the purity of childhood. He even went so far as to say your brain is permanently changed.

I think that might just be it. Or part of it at least. It's that indescribable experience which somehow interconnects and binds us together.

Even though Dead shows always came to an end, eventually...and so did the magic...its the fruit of those experiences that stay with you permanently.

Enjoy the slide show.(Scroll down below wicked t-shirt of Jerry)And next time the David Nelson Band comes to town, come on down and check it out. The Music Never Stops.

DAVID NELSON BAND REVIEW

Do you miss Jerry?

Enter: David Nelson Band.

Review to be posted soon and slide show of the great concert (and pre-party) last night at Akebono Theatre.

The Music Never Stops!

Set I: Deep Elem Blues
Gimme Love ( G. Harrison)
Babe
Free Mexican Airforce
Just A Season
Where I Came From (Nelson/Hunter)
Standing in the Doorway (Dylan)
Big Six

Set II : Long Gone Sam (DNB)
Snakebite (DNB)
Six of One (Hunter/Nelson)
Lazy River Road (Grateful Dead)
Impressionist Two step (DNB)
Talking Back
Aiko Aiko

SUCK IT AND SEE music review, Arctic Monkeys

Suck It and See

Oh, an abundance of lewd puns won't stop spinning around in my head on this one. But all I can say is that I don't have to think of any clever ways to expend the english language because we have Alex Turner to do that for us and that, my dears, is one of the grandest things about this, the Arctic Monkey's 4th album. Released six months ago, I hurry to write the review so it can be at least current to the year and I wish I had listened to the album earlier quite frankly. I have always enjoyed the Arctic Monkeys (particularly fond of Flourescent Adolescent and Whatever People Say I am, That's What I'm Not)but it is this latest album that truly sent me under the spell of the Sheffield gents once and for all.

Black Treacle is simply perfection and is smartly the second song on the album just after She's Thunderstorms. One of the reasons why it took me so long to fall under the hypnotic voice of Alex and the magnetic pull of the Arctic Monkey's music is because the lyrics are so male-centric. You know, men waxing on about their frustration, obsession and tribulation surrounding the female sex. It was Man's Music.[insert beer propelled burp here] I admit that John Mayer's "Your Body is a Wonderland" is a good song, for example, but I don't want to listen to it. I know my body is a wonderland and I'm glad you find it mesmerizing, as it should be. A song about it is nice but really, not necessary. Mayer's "Daughters" is a thoughtful and poetic description of a certain woman's state and it goes even further by declaring a deep truth about women in general that is rarely seen in a pop song. It's beautifully done but really, I don't need to peer into the sometimes perplexing window of a womans' psyche because, well, I am a perplexing window, I mean (cough, cough)...a woman myself. Again, this is for others not me. I bring that up because She's Thunderstorms, although very different in an Arctic Monkeys kind of way, is similarly a poetic metaphor waxing on about the female psyche, something that other men,confirmed bisexuals or frustrated lesbians could certainly form entire Psychological Associations on trying to understand. And considering John Mayer's track record with women, he doesn't understand very much at all. But my disinterest in the entire subject is perhaps point proof that I am inherently heterosexual.


Having said all that, Black Treacle's lyrics are the best lyrics I have heard in a single song in years. It's an art putting together good lyrics and Turner may hitherto be called the Master of Metaphor as far as I am concerned. The listener is simultaneously baffled by and yet completely understands his metaphors, case in point being the first three described in just the first stanza.("Lately I've been seeing things...bellybutton piercings, in the sky at night when we're side by side.And I dont mean to rain on anybody's cabaret, one of those games your gonna lose but you wanna play it just in case.") And that's just the first stanza, people! Even the title of the song is genius. The word 'treacle' immediately summons up the conversation between the dormouse and Alice in Lewis Carroll's masterpiece, one of my favorite scenes in one of my favorite books of all time. Whenever else do you hear the word 'treacle' used in everyday language?

I have understood over the years that there are great melody makers (Paul McCartney, for example, is certainly this) and there are great lyricists. The two gifts aren't usually manifested in the same person or, unfortunately, even in the same band. "It is now to time to make it unclear" Cobain confessed in his song 'On a Plain' because sometimes the unclarity of it is what makes the lyric mysterious and compelling. Fortunately, Cobain never muddled the meanings enough for it to get annoying and I consider him one of those rare artists who was both a great lyricist and melody maker, a rare combination of gifts shared by only an exclusive few musical geniuses the world has had the pleasure to serve up, such as Lou Reed, John Lennon [all bow] and now Alex Turner. On the other hand, if you're really lacking, and you can't at all wow them with beautiful and compelling lyrics , you can always confuse the listener with sheer indecipherability. This is lame, of course, something Brad Pitt would do in Guy Ritchie movies to make up for the fact he can't do a British accent worth donkeyshit. I am laughing right now and if you have seen 'Lock, Stock and Two Barrels,' then I am sure you are laughing too. All I can do is echo the famous line, "You can fool some of them some of the time, but you can't fool all of them all of the time!"

Another beloved lyric on the Arctic Monkey album that I just have to mention because it is a favorite is "I heard the news that you're plannin', to shoot me out of a cannon" from Piledriver Waltz, track 9. This is an overall great song with unforgettable imagery and metaphor. I have to laugh with glee every time Turner sings it. I think I'm in love.

Another track which finds a special place in my heart is "That's Where You're Wrong" because it could have been made in the 1980's during the New Wave era and no one would be the wiser. It's a fantastic and perfect New Wave tune that brings me straight back to art student collegiate days where despite looking like the missing fifth member of Bauhaus, I was actually a very happy goth once I was with my friends and properly medicated. My friends and I would listen to The Church, Echo and the Bunnymen, New Order and Modern English...bands that this song reminds me of immediately. All of a sudden I'm 20 again...and that's a wonderful thing in small bytes.

In short, ladies and gentlemen, the LP is a true classic despite having the built-in anti-promotion feature of a seriously unspeakable title. I can't exactly run around town yelling "Suck It and See!" now can I? Despite this, it is indeed one of those albums where every damn song on the entire disk is a winner. Like the first time I heard The Strokes 'Is This It', The Libertines 'Up the Bracket'or every Beatles album that ever existed. If you don't own this CD, you should.

The band has matured and it's a beautiful thing. What other gems are forthcoming from these epic troubadours, pray tell? I bask in the possibilities. But meanwhile, I am quite happy to gaze up at the black treacle...as long as the Arctic Monkeys are playing in the background. [end]

SUCK IT AND SEE review.

Ah, that Alex Turner. He's laughing all the way to the bank at this one. But this album is so doggone good, I feel morally obligated to write a review about it. It's in the works now. So Check Back and See.

Ho'onua - "Hawaiian Pride" live in Kona 4/15/11

Kolohe Kai - Cool Down "live"

Roman sings "Cool Down" at the Mayjah Rayjah Friday night