My First DVD Review!

And it's for my favorite band of the 80s!

A few weeks ago I was in the East Bay with my bandmate Alex Adler for what turned out to be the supposedly second to last Flash Gilmore & the Funbeatles Show. Before that historic night we took a trip out to Berkley where Adler picked up this fine DVD I have been unable to find since returning to Los Angeles.

We spent the two less eventful nights of that trip watching this DVD and it's bonus features and what a knockout. For a DVD it was not a bad competitor against Flash's jaw-dropping performance on "Earth Girl."

The general feature compiles live footage of the Pups at their commercial peak hot off their tour and the brothers' televised appearance with Nirvana and the subsequent album Too High to Die. Some are from big shows, other small, plus a lot of record store appearances, surprisingly. For every occasion the band lives up to its legendary status. In fact, these performances wiped any doubt I had that Derrick Bostrom was a worthy sideman to the Kirkwoods. His skill is clearly sufficient, though I hesitate to say equal to those virtuosos. These stellar live performances are interspersed with backstage tour videos that capture the trio's unique personalities and luckily slow down the relentless pace and unbelievable energy of the live shows.

The bonus features, though, are even better. We see an excited young girl interview Curt around the time of Huevos, memories from Derrick Bostrom, and a somber reflection on the band by Mike Watt, retelling his departed bandmate D. Boon's love of their music. However these are easily forgotten compared to an inspirational conversation between Cris, Mike Watt, and Flea essential for not just bassists but any musician with dreams. Almost as engaging is Thurston Moore's story of his first encounter with the Meat Puppets after fantasizing about the mysterious group from the desert. Every crazy thing you could imagine about the Pups is confirmed in Moore's account of what one must assume was their first trip to New York City.

The only clunker is the inclusion of the "We Don't Exist" video that reminds us just how bad some grungey 90s videos were. It's a shame as their other 90s videos are actually pretty good! The whole thing ends with a hyper performance of "Good Golly Miss Molly" that no fan should miss.

Best rock DVD ever.

If you looking for more here's a great recent interview with the Kirkwoods documenting their whole story.

John Maus/Geneva Jacuzzi/Holy Shit at the Echo 5/13

Probably nobody reading this has noticed I don't review shows often. They probably don't even realize it's been a very long time since I've updated. Either way, I felt this show needed to be reviewed immediately. Here's a little update too: I live in LA again and I am actually listening to new music and enjoying it! It's been a good year. So moving on...

Holy Shit was the performer I had heard the least prior to that evening. They were reduced to a trio due to a missing keyboard player. They had a cool style rooted, unsurprisingly in early postpunk/goth, particularly evoking the Cure. I am sure their records are pretty good but it was a pretty disappointing performance. While the three played well, particularly the drummer It really looked like they were not having any fun. Maybe the singer/guitarist a bit, but definitely not the bassist. He stood there as still as most of the goons in the typical LA audience with the presence (and disguise) of a man at least twice his age. He was so bland (and his instrument least audible) sometimes you forgot he was there. All that did was make you notice that the drummer didn't seem much happier. Good music, disappointing performance, but at least they were first.

In between sets a woman in shiny Arabasque disguise and black and white makeup lurked through the audience. I briefly feared it was a cougar (though perhaps not consciously) occultist who had taken a strong liking to me on Valentine's Day, but much to my relief and excitement it was Ms. Jacuzzi herself. She took the stage alone with only a small synthesizer to keep her company and immediately made me think that while I never got to see Kate Bush and Siouxsie Sioux at their prime I at least had this. Every aspect from her theatricality, to the lighting, to her voice and Moroder-esque atmospheres evoked my greatest dreams and fantasies. Several songs into the set she stripped over her excessive layers down to a more formfitting black ensemble and let down her majestic brown hair. Of course all the men in the audience who failed to observe carefully or do their homework before the show were now aware they were in the presence of perhaps the most beautiful woman in Los Angeles and moved up. I was stuck behind a goon of height comparable height who barely even moved to the beat. Typical Los Angeles, but nothing could ruin this. In fact it may have been a good thing as I probably would have been visibly aroused otherwise. If you like bizarre performances, great disco-goth, and agree that darkness should always be in the spirit of fun you cannot miss Geneva Jacuzzi.

Next we had the headliner himself John Maus. Where I had previously described the University of Hawaii professor as "post-outsider" I immediately dropped the "post" as soon as he took the stage. I have not seen any performances like this before, but when I think about it, that's surprising. He took the stage alone with just a microphone but with the presence of Ian Curtis and Arthur Russell. Basically it was like watching someone rock out to his own CD. Yet it was way more exciting than a lot of bands I've seen. In fact, most. The energetic Maus would often scream off the mic and beat his chest with said device just in case you forgot you were seeing something special. As awkwardly as the songs ended the set was relentless and the seemingly well-initiated audience was in full force for his classics like "Rights for Gays," and "Do Your Best." That being said I am sure I wasn't the only one a little disappointed with his format which naturally would have to exclude "Navy Seals." Of all artists I've seen John Maus was maybe the most excited I've seen and as a fan of his what more could you ask for?

Now, this could be part of the fact that the show was on Friday the 13th, but I know the initiated wonder about the absence of "Ariel Pink" from this review. Well all of us in the audience thought the same thing. Not only is he presumably that missing keyboard player from Holy Shit, but also the missing boyfriend of Geneva Jacuzzi. Not to mention his collaborations with Maus. While I am glad his assumed presence was not a selling point for this show it was still a sad blow to follow R. Stevie Moore having dropped out of the lineup. These men's attendance would have of course made the show much better, but anyone there has little to complain about.