Recent gigs

[allynh@calder.berkeley.edu (Allyn Hardyck)]

Scraping Foetus off the Wheel / Negativland @ I-Beam, SF, March 10

Well, this was something of a disappointment.  But not because of the
opener:  Negativland was great, proffering their twisted tech view
of their home (suburban Contra Costa County) in a mass of tape loopings,
editings, videos and 3 Casio CZ-101s.  The members of the band wouldn't
look out of place working for Zehntel.  "(squirt) (squirt) I'm using my
409 to clean up this sloppy mess!"  Their latest album features a small
packet of genuine lawn clippings.

But Foetus' stage act was not up to the level of his albums.  It was
understandable that he wouldn't be able to reproduce everything live, but it
ended up reducing to him, a mike, and dry ice.  (And distortedly over-loud
backing tapes.)  He came out in leather jacket (soon shed) and pants,
shades, and a baseball bat.  We've seen this swagger before.  "D.  E.  S.  T.
R.  O.  Y.  Des-TROY!  ALL!  GIRLS!"  (swish)  (swish).  Yeah yeah.
After 20 minutes of this, he collapsed on the stage and disappeared into
the fog.  Did not play "The Only Good Christian is a Dead Christian."
On stage, Billy Idol revisited.  (What's happened to him anyway?)

The Fall / The Nuns / The Catheads @ The Stone, SF, March 14

Oops - came into the club a little early, the Catheads hadn't played their
radio hit, "Golden Gate Park" ("even the cops are cool") and weren't that
interesting (no in-out privileges at this place, I forgot).  Yeah, that PiL
video, lots of laundry and dried leaves and flailing.

The Nuns - this was that seminal late 70's SF band?  Well, they did "Suicide
Child" so I guess so, but as someone said, "Never trust a guitarist with a
Flying V."  And they never did turn off the blue light on the female
keyboardist.

Well, a large percentage of the crowd (non-punks) decided that the Fall was
suitable music to slam to, so I got a mass of woefully out-of-place-looking
people on top of me much of the night, who I gleefully reasserted my
equilibrium against.  Only songs I recognized were "Lay of the Land" and
"2 x 4" (encore) (I don't have the new album).  Not much on audience contact
are they?  Brix did occasionally say things to an apparent friend at the
edge of the stage.  That was the only time any visible emotion was
displayed by a member of the band (she smiled), except when someone leapt
onto the stage, weaved about it, and dove off the right side near her
(the crowd neatly peeled back and he hit the floor with a satisfyingly
crunchy sound), at which she registered cool contempt.

"Keep your hands inside the ride at all times"

allyn