Moving On, For The Love of Fuck

"...even the Clippers, who may be the Clippers, but once they start winning, they're suddenly from Los Angeles." --King Kaufman, remarking on Jack Nicholson's appearance courtside during last night's playoff game.

Item: Lost is altering its episode schedule:

"If you haven't heard yet, Season Three of LOST will have NO RERUNS! Yes, I said NO RERUNS! No repeats.

"Now, after you get done cheering, bite on this: The new schedule features the first third of the series starting in its regular timeslot for seven consecutive episodes, then there is a THIRTEEN WEEK HIATUS! After that, the series marches to the end of the season with NO RERUNS!" --The Tail Section.com

Refraining from saying anything that rhymes with "my hold foo go," though, strictly, it's not 24's non-stop season. Already, people are whining about the 3-month break in action, but fans of Battlestar Galactica can do that in their sleep.

Anyway...

On May 5th, in celebration of a close friend's birthday, I gamboled my way into the Showbox a number of hours early (assuming I'd have in/out priviledges, foolish me), only to find myself chained, for all intents and purposes, to the immediate vicinity for two and a half hours before the first band played. Note to Seattle music venues: If you insist on opening the doors two hours early, let people meander away. Otherwise, be smart and open your doors an hour early instead.

That constitutes the most negative thing I have to say about the evening. Considering the gamble that venturing out to see live music in the larger venues can be, this is pretty impressive in and of itself.

Mind you, by the time the opener, Celebration, started, I was in a fairly shitty mood, having stood in a corner of the house right lounge for over a couple of hours listening to inane conversations, while birthday boy had trouble getting there. Looking at the line up (someone doubling up on guitar and organ, a drum kit, female lead singer), having them start and listening to the singer's first few notes, it was too easy to mumble to myself, "everyone wants to be the Yeah Yeah Yeahs now."

And then the song switched gears, and I told myself to shut up. Just because both YYY and Celebration share an association with the headlining band, doesn't make these guys frickin' posers.

These fuckers can move. To be more exact, these fuckers can make you want to move. Unfortunately, by "you" I guess I don't mean your typical Seattle crowd, who are notoriously movement-free when it comes to music.

Is there such a label as aggressive dance? No, that's a misnomer, even if the songs both rock and are dance-worthy. And the singer's voice is not at all like that of Karen O's.

War, the last song of their set (and obviously a protest song, when each chorus ends with "We've. Got. More. Guns. Than. Any. Body!"), was about 7-8 steps away from contained chaos that night; the singer smashing away at a cymbal with a tambourine, drummer keeping a tight dance beat going, the organ plumbing the depths of their sonic barrage making my chest reverberate, and a couple of guys from the headlining band adding noise...There was discernible movement in the crowd in front of the stage! OMG, Celebration managed to get Seattle moving!

I was convinced. This will be a future Sonic Boom pick up. It's easy to be jaded anymore.

Now, I don't know why I've been skirting the fact that the headlining band was Brooklyn, NY's TV On The Radio (touring to support their next CD, due out soon), but watching them brought up many a thought...

The Showbox's leash at least extended to the sidewalk out front, which is where I stood, smoking, as Adebimpe and Sitek approached the entrance. On their way, this college aged white kid comes up and congratulates them on being the most important thing to happen to rock music ever. Adebimpe thanked him and walked on, as the kid kept on saying "seriously, most important...ever!" at their backs.

Obviously a kid hoping to get backstage somehow, or maybe he was being sincere; in either scenario, it seemed to amuse the band. "Are you guys ready for the Kick Ass Rock Show?" Adebimpe asked, laughing. Once the audience hooted appreciably, they kicked into a hard version of Wrong Way; taking claim of the Rock label, while aware enough to poke holes in the claim.

I can relate with their situation; a group of black men, specializing in experimental music, somehow the rock label was attached to them and here they were, performing in front of a sold out crowd of people largely comprised by white folks. I'm not saying that this is what they were thinking, but it's likely that the thought passed fleetingly at some point during the tour.

But, are they Rock? They use elements of rock, but they also touch upon gospel, doo wop, dub, and who knows what all else in creating their sound...And I guess they could represent the next step in this music after Radiohead; just like the Yeah Yeah Yeahs would be the step after The White Stripes...

More interesting for me to think about was the scene earlier, with the college kid, how this translates to the evolution of rock music, and the role of the black musician in said evolution.

I mean, Rock is a lot like Jazz, in the sense that black folk created it, and after a while it became a predominantly white concern; if ya follow. Only, what took Jazz four to five decades to complete, Rock managed to do in about 15 years (much longer, however, if you include the Blues as part of Rock's heritage).

After the 60s, the number of black rock acts that hit the mainstream are few and far between, but of these, just about every one of them could be called influential. Jimi Hendrix (I mean, come on), Fishbone (not just responsible for making ska accessible to most white UStians, folks; they've had several phases, and most of them fruitful)...Living Color, in a sense. Though, with only one album that made an impact, you can't really say that they're all that influential.

Has there been anything since? (I'm not including Hootie, because Nellis Rock is not real Rock; Lenny Kravitz, who can be fun, but has only been rehashing old sounds for the bulk of his career; or the violinist from the Dave Matthews Band, because, hello, Dave Matthews, what other reason do you need?)

Almost forgot about Prince, which'd be tantamount to a cardinal sin. Also, Aerosmith would not be the obnoxious frat band they are now if it weren't for Run-DMC; and without them, I don't think we would've gotten Rage Against The Machine, the first of the rock bands to adopt a rap delivery system. Public Enemy teamed up with Slayer, but like Run-DMC, you can't really call their ouvre "Rock." Dirt Bombs, which led to the White Stripes.

Slim pickings, though if you have anything you'd like to throw in or remind me of, please do.

All this is moot, as it's still too early to tell, and who the hell am I anyway? But I do think TVotR have more than a fair shot. Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes, is a hell of an auspicious first album, that rare combination of accessible and challenging that I haven't heard/felt in this genre since OK Computer. Which would easily place them amongst the very influencial, not just as black musicians. They are, however, as vital to Rock as the other African American standouts mentioned above.

Just my $.02.

Whatever. The show was, indeed, Kick Ass. I'd heard that their last show was very sequencer oriented, with them obsessing over every mutation until the right groove was found for them to move on. I was kind of hoping for more of that (as that kind of thing impresses the hell out of me), but instead I was treated to an energetically raw and harmoniously haunting show. The new songs fit right in, but I doubt they'll sound the same on the CD, if their treatment of the familiar songs is any indication.

Thanks for indulging me; the blog and I needed a palette cleanser.--TBO