I'm not sure what I made of this, not sure what remains.
Not sure how much of what I felt is down to a whiks of meer and bixy; a pint of Red Ale and 2 halves of lager, each with a whisky (one of them a disturbing Japanese). Oto's excellent barman recommended lager with the shorts! His proposition is that the cleanness of the lager leaves the whisky's whiff and tastes. The Youth of Today. I still think whisky is better with bitter but - to my amazement! - the lagers were both delicious; one as light as lime, the other as filling as honeyed pancakes. Cafe Oto has a great bar and barman.
This link and Youtube clip give a run up to the gig.
With a good mix of alcohols sloshing in my system, the r'n'b elements in the music were enjoyable. But even at the time, the singer seemed more significant as a stimulus to the musicians than he was interesting in himself. David Thomas (Pere Ubu) acknowledged that he was delivering "routines" - some were read, some remembered. The acknowledgement came in a way that suggested to me he realised after delivering his lines as fresh, as if spontaneous, that he'd done them in this house before. His was some form of mannered theatre, even a little laboured (flourishes of a hip flask, ex-wife jargon). Eventually he was comic if not actually funny (though the house laughed), but like an affectedly sour Garrison Keeler.
It's a touring production that'll be round again.
I'd rather have heard more of the musicians. John Edwards is a bass player who's been a part of all 4 of the gigs I've heard at Oto and I'd love to hear him in a drum duo, with a violin/piano trio. Chris Cutler, the drummer, and Edwards did stout work between them and were more the mesmerisers than the vocals (words were commonly unintelligible anyway).
A grand night out but with a rock/r'n'b aspect which the alcohol seemed essential to and at 4 am I got up to find aspirin.
Not sure how much of what I felt is down to a whiks of meer and bixy; a pint of Red Ale and 2 halves of lager, each with a whisky (one of them a disturbing Japanese). Oto's excellent barman recommended lager with the shorts! His proposition is that the cleanness of the lager leaves the whisky's whiff and tastes. The Youth of Today. I still think whisky is better with bitter but - to my amazement! - the lagers were both delicious; one as light as lime, the other as filling as honeyed pancakes. Cafe Oto has a great bar and barman.
This link and Youtube clip give a run up to the gig.
With a good mix of alcohols sloshing in my system, the r'n'b elements in the music were enjoyable. But even at the time, the singer seemed more significant as a stimulus to the musicians than he was interesting in himself. David Thomas (Pere Ubu) acknowledged that he was delivering "routines" - some were read, some remembered. The acknowledgement came in a way that suggested to me he realised after delivering his lines as fresh, as if spontaneous, that he'd done them in this house before. His was some form of mannered theatre, even a little laboured (flourishes of a hip flask, ex-wife jargon). Eventually he was comic if not actually funny (though the house laughed), but like an affectedly sour Garrison Keeler.
It's a touring production that'll be round again.
I'd rather have heard more of the musicians. John Edwards is a bass player who's been a part of all 4 of the gigs I've heard at Oto and I'd love to hear him in a drum duo, with a violin/piano trio. Chris Cutler, the drummer, and Edwards did stout work between them and were more the mesmerisers than the vocals (words were commonly unintelligible anyway).
A grand night out but with a rock/r'n'b aspect which the alcohol seemed essential to and at 4 am I got up to find aspirin.
Incredible but true.
Comment