SOUNDTRACK: RHEOSTATICS-Fredericton, NB (April 8, 2005).
After a night of seeing the Rheostatics, how could I not go and revisit some more shows. This time from 2005.
I get a kick out of the shows that are listed in a town but with no club attached. I wonder how many clubs there are in Fredericton? Anyhow, this recording is really quiet, but it is quite clear, which is nice. The opening band was Grand Theft Bus, and one or two of the guys from GTB join on a song or two.
The show begins kind of mellow, with a slow (but really good) version of “King of the Past.” Dave is uncharacteristically quiet and even says he doesn’t feel like talking much.
Tim reveals that “Bad Time to be Poor” was written about Ontario MP Mike Harris. Someone is out of key and forgot to use a capo as the song starts.
For the 8 minute “Here Comes the Image,” they mix it up “if you think Dave on the drums is exciting, wait till you hear Tielli on the bass. and MPW plays keyboards and “excess.” Then they play “Pornography” which is about the pornogrification of the USA by George W. Bush (obviously) with someone stating “Fuck him” before launching into the song. They were so political that night!
Before “Alomar” some shouts “Adios Roberto Alomar.”
There’s a rather punky version of “Song of the Garden” and “Satan is the Whistler” proves to be sloppy but fun.
“Take Me in Your Hand” is a really delicate version with beautiful harmonies and no ending coda. Dennis from GTB plays a solo during “Legal Age Life” and the finale of “Fan Letter to Michael Jackson” opens with Tielli’s robotic voice processor and devolves into a rather vulgar version of the song.
All in all, it’s a good show, with the guys having a fun time with the openers.
[READ: September 7, 2015] “One Hundred Knives in the Air”
I enjoy Malla’s stories quite a bit. They are typically atypical as is this one.
Set in a grade school, the kids are all delighted to witness their guest performer, Jenny Balak, who is a knife juggler. (I love the idea that a school would bring in anyone whose sole juggling item is knives!). But more than simply juggling them, Jenny is able to keep one hundred knives in the air at a time.
The knives hover way up in the air like a cloud, as she somehow touches only one or two which seem to keep the entire group aloft. The children (even Yusuf, the one kid who can never sit still) are transfixed.
And then Jenny starts telling a story.
The story is about Gregory, the knife who could not cut. He felt really bad about himself, but the other knives were never mean to him. He just really wanted to cut, like his mom and dad. He even went to extra classes and had encouragement from his parents, but he just couldn’t seem to cut anything. Not a string pulled taught, not even a pat of butter.
As she is going on with the story, which is getting darker and darker, the cloud of knives seems to lose some of its buoyancy. Jenny even drops a knife (but manages to get it back aloft with a cool flick of her ankle). But soon enough, she begins dropping more and more–daggers, cleavers, butterfly knives–she is even cut by one.
And slowly the kids are taken out of the auditorium, as Jenny tries to recover. The only child who remains until the end is Yusuf.
Jenny tries to keep her composure and feels a bit bad about what happened, but Yusuf is amazed. And he runs up to her, full of adulation. But perhaps Yusuf has ulterior motives for his enthusiasm.
What really struck me about this story is that the story which Jenny tells, abort Gregory the knife, is never finished. And even when Yusuf asks her to finish it she says she can’t. I am shocked and delighted that Malla left this story in a story unfinished in the midst of her own completed story.
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