Those few of you who follow my postings, you’ll be pleased to know that I’m travelling to Texarkana this week to celebrate the Foodeating holiday with my family. I’ll be there for a few days, but before I know it, I’ll be itching to leave town again. But not until I make my rounds and see a few of you. I’ll be giving you a heads-up when the time comes. If you’re desperate for some Shawn time, hit me up on Facebook. You know where to find me.
On an unrelated note, last night’s Dresden Dolls show was fucking phenomenal. It was the last show on their current tour, and they pulled out all the stops. Amanda Fucking Palmer and Brian Viglione were at the top of their form, and it was a joy to watch them play off of each other’s musical asides and hit all the right notes at the same exact time. If that’s not the musical form of simultaneous orgasm, I don’t know what is.
They played most of their hits, which was a treat, but it was the weird little covers they played that made the whole thing worth it; a few of the songs were lullabies told with musical accompaniment, some are from the historical cabaret canon including “Mein Herr” from the movie “Cabaret”. During the first of two encores, they played an incredible cover of Black Sabbath’s “War Pigs”, which gave me a new appreciation for the song and the craftsmanship that went into writing it. Sugar and spice.
What hit me most about the show was their inclusion of the audience. Not only was it OK to participate in the show by cat-calling and singing, it was compulsory (some girls near me knew every single word). They went as far as to pull 20-odd hand-selected people from the audience up to the stage to have them help perform “The Jeep Song”, and that was incredible. I wish more bands got involved like that.
It seems we, as a society, have lost our heritage of pub songs, work songs, and sense of being OK with singing in public, even if we can’t do it as well as the professionals. A travesty, really. But the Dolls do their best to remind us it’s OK.
“You motherfuckers, you’ll sing some day.”
Any chance your travels will take you up Fayetteville way?
Sadly, not really enough time, what with the family obligations and all. I do miss the home state sometimes, though, and I often consider the idea of taking a week to travel its hills to visit the old haunts and the ghosts of history.