Monday, November 30, 2009

Waffle Fries Perkins in Loveland

So I just got back. Oh Jesus.

1) The Place
The Paradise

2) The People
The most unremarkable bunch of chaps I've ever met. There was no theme about them. No clearly defining features. Just a bunch of people. They clapped when they should've, they sang when they should've (albeit a few behind me really shouldn't've).

3) The Performers
Up first was Dave Godowsky. Although he claimed they had an album finished (which they'll send out to chippies who give them their emails (I am a chippy)) based on the one-minute verse-chorus-outro style they employed, I was led to believe otherwise. Regardless. It was decent folk music, but not really anything to write home about. This isn't home, by the way, so it's okay that I'm writing about it.
Bowerbirds continued the slow train to sleepyville with a painfully long, painfully slow set of music that would nicely suit alt-car commercials and little more. I could do without.
And then, thank God, appearing from the corner in the distance, came the Men in Dearland, who preceded to approach the stage from the audience after making a tour of the venue. The trumpet, slide trombone and drums were a bloody gift. Elvis Perkins, closer to seven feet than six, closer to 100 pounds than 150, slithered up to the mic from the traditional backstage, and what transpired next could only be called A Very Satisfying Set. Behind tiny glasses and a (quickly weakening) voice that warbled between a crooner and a folker came mostly new stuff (...In Dearland) but, a few covers from the Sacred Harp and some oldies and some off of the Doomsday EP.
Highlight:
It's just our fella up there, beard dripping with sweat, once-slick hair drooping in his face. "It's your turn to tell me what to do. What do I do next?" followed by a chorus of 'While You Were Sleeping' (and the requisite Freebird, as well as one for 'My Sharona' that he (almost) obliged)) to which our little hero replies "I don't think I could survive that one right now."

AND THEN DURING THE ENCORE HE PLAYED IT. OH. Poor guy shooting up chloraseptic like it's binaca and he's got a hot date. Poor guy turning the mic to us so we can fill in where his voice has failed him. When the boys all bowed and left (and then returned. and played. and then left again) we all understood, I think, that Elvis really had put all his everything into it, and when he left he wasn't coming back. He couldn't.

And we were okay with that.


Again, I'll attach music (particularly the Sacred Harp tracks. Holy god (no pun intended) those were good) when I get to my own laptop.
But for now, just appreciate how bloody good EPID is:
Elvis Perkins in Long Hair Land - Weeping Mary

Until then,
Stay madly in love with a man 13 years your senior,
-WF
Or more, actually.

Edit: Turns out, Dave Godowsky (now performing under the name John Shade) really does have songs that short. In which case, he totally gets props. The record's pretty good, if a wee on the short side. So props John Shade/Dave Godowsky, I dig you. I would like to know about the name change, though. Bit of a mystery, him.

John Shade - Kingdom Come
John Shade - Lullaby
Bowerbirds - Human Hands (LITERALLY THE ONLY BOWERBIRDS SONG THAT DOESN'T FILL ME WITH BILE-RIDDEN RAGE)
Elvis Perkins - While You Were Sleeping

No comments:

Post a Comment