saturday night II; the music

(photo by Marina Chavez)

There were two opening acts on Saturday night, which comes to either one or two too many opening acts. I know I’m grumpy about openers and that’s no doubt either ironic or hypocritical because one of my favorite bands, the Tarbox Ramblers, were discovered as an opening act. Hey, even the sun shines on a dog’s… The first openers Saturday night had somewhere between six and eight members which is huge number for the third-ranked band on a ticket, whatcha get paid for that? $500? At least they were local so not too much financial stake in traveling to the show.

I want to throw some ideas out on the second act, Emma Pollock. (I expect a vast number of hits from Pollock google-rs and supporters.) She was a founding member of a Scottish band, the Delgados, and is now touring in support of her first solo album. As written and performed, her music isn’t at all anything that interests me. It falls into the category of droning, “noir-ish”, some-kind-of-sound that I don’t much like – a lot like Interpol (more angry hits from their fans coming.) Anyway, after three or four songs she called out someone from the wings “to join us for some of his songs” – at least that’s what I think she said. Out bounds a guy who looks like a combo of Jack Black and Jeff Tweedy armed with only a tambourine and my favorite instrument – the shaky egg. The band, at this point, actually jumped to life and the next two or three songs were fantastic simply due to the addition of a tambourine, a shaky egg, and side-stage guy harmonies. After this all too brief probation from droning, he gathered up his sheet music (for a shaky egg?) and disappears. Cue a few more droning songs. Thankfully, our mystery side-stage genius pops out for a few more songs and essentially talks me down from the ledge. Come to find out that my savior is Kurt Dahle, New Pornographer drummer. That’s probably what it says on his business card.

The Pornographers were stellar. All nine or 10 on stage made amazing music and my admiration for A.C. Newman’s ability to write, produce, and get everyone on the road is only enhanced by the show. He’s the drive behind the group and they’ve been top-notch for all four albums. The two female members of the group warrant input. Neko Case (her again…) has been with the group as a vocalist since it’s inception and what I learned is that her voice is even more stunning when measured against the band and other singers. Obviously her vocal ability is legendary, but when performing as a solo artist you often forget just how good she is – there’s nothing to stack it up against when it’s just her. She’s staggering when blasting into a song, as the lead or harmony, when with the Pornographers. The other member that caught me eye was Kathryn Calder who plays keyboards and sings background vocals. She is also slowly stepping in to fill Neko’s role since there’s a general belief that this is Neko’s last run with the band. Calder is another great singer and instrumentalist who may be the most lively and enjoyable member to watch during the shows – great show duds and lots of dancing.

Did I just say “general belief” when discussing personnel in an indie band that few people even know? General belief makes it sound like some deep political debate; “there’s a general debate on the timing of the Iowa Caucus…” What a fool I am.