I Just Read About That…

SOUNDTRACK: DAVE BIDINI-The Upstairs, Sydney, Nova Scotia (July 26, 2007).

After the Rheostatics broke up, Dave Bidini did a solo tour and then wrote a book about it.  This is that book.  And this show is from the mini-tour he did as promotion for the book.  I don’t know too many details about this tour.

I wrote notes about these shows before I read the book (which I recently found and tread).  But I’m going to leave in some of the notes I took about the audio portion for posterity.

I gather he was in town to promote his book and was invited to do a few shows as well.  So these three shows from the Rheostaticslive site include a short reading from the book and then many songs.  This show has two readings and 8 songs (and runs over an hour).

He opens with a description of the book and the tour of china with a band they called the Rheos Not Rheos.  They were asked over and over to play The Beatles.  They played at the Sculpting in Time café.  Dave hung out with the Chinese singers Dirt Star and Airbag (who were also in a cover band that played Radiohead).

For the music, it is just Dave an his acoustic guitar (and a tuner). He plays three Rheos songs “My First Rock Show,” “Me and Stupid” and “Horses” (to much applause).

He plays four new, solo songs “Song Ain’t Good,” “The List” “The Land is Wild” and “The Ballad of Zeke Roberts.”  All of these would appear on the debut Bidiniband album which would come out in 2009.

“The List” is a diatribe against Canada: Tim Horton’s, Stephen Harper,  Zack Werner, and Chad Kroeger.  He says that it was inspired by taking a close look Tim Horton’s bacon and wondering just what it was.  And the mention of Chad Krueger gets a big reaction from the crowd.  The Zeke Roberts song is about a Liberian singer who was killed.  “The Land is Wild” is about Bryan Fogarty, a hockey played who died (it’s not the most upbeat concert I’ve heard).

There’s an extra song “Moncton Hellraisers” (you can watch a video of this one).

He ends the show with second reading and there’s a drunk guy who keeps shouting and interrupting.  I feel bad for Dave, but he handles it well—different than a rock show obviously.  This section involves meeting a TV show producer (of a show called Super Girls) and the Chinese version of the Spice Girls (who sing for them).  He also mentions going to an all night record shop and finding a copy of the Toronto band The Diodes.  He plays their song “Tired of Waking up Tired” for the employees.

If nothing else, this book will introduce you to a lot of little-known bands.

It’s interesting to hear him in such a casual setting.  He sounds good and the audience is really responsive.

[READ: November 5, 2015] Around the World in 57 1/2 Gigs

This book chronicles Dave Bidini’s solo tour after the Rheostatics broke up.  He explains that it was Tim Vesely who wanted to break up the band (no doubt inspired somewhat by Dave and Martin’s harsh critiquing of the songs Tim wanted to submit to their final album 2067).  Nevertheless, Dave was devastated and angry and unsure what to do, especially since they were planning to gig China for the first time.  So he decided to do it himself.  A world tour unlike any other.

He scheduled a few gigs in Finland.  And he decided to invite his friend Alun Piggins along.  Piggins has been in a number of bands and has released several solo albums.  He seems notable for being a little crazy (with wild hair).  And I automatically respect him for making this album cover.  When Dave asked Alun what to do about being a solo artist (Dave hadn’t really played solo before).  Alun gave him some comforting advice and then said that with his band The Quitters, they would play “our loudest song then tell the crowd, “‘Thank you and fuck off.'”

The two would play separate shows on a double bill and occasionally duet on Rheos songs. They decided to tour Finland.  They flew into London and were only staying for 24 hours.  He wanted to try to get a gig before they left for Finland.  They scored one at the last minute in the Maple Leaf Tavern (which had never staged a live show before) and was themed in Canadian kitsch.  He talks about one man bands like Bob Log III “probably the superstar of all one man bands” (his song “Boob Scotch” is surprisingly straightforward).  He says he spent most of his 35 minute set worrying an doesn’t recall too much about it.

Then they set out for Finland.  First stop Hämeenlinna ( enjoyed typing out all these Finnish towns).

There’s a very funny section about flying Ryanair and getting shafted for being over the weight limit (he reads this in the third of the three shows).  He mentions the Finnish industrial band Cleaning Women (who play with found objects rather than instruments) and the now defunct Finnish prog band Kingston Wall.

They spend a lot of time with their guide in Finland (who is quite a character).  At one point he says that his favorite hockey player is Wendel Clark and since Dave had written a song about Clark, he considered it a good omen.

Dave and Alun play on a bill with two other artists, Eero Raittinen, once considered the Elvis of Finland.  He says that the Finns were respectful and quiet, clapping along when necessary.  He says this was both good and terrifying.  He felt bad when he resorted to playing Stompin’ Tom Connors, since that was a Rheostatics go to encore song, but they  all really got into it when he played “Bud the Spud” and he realized that although it was cliche for him it was all new to them.

They moved on to Tampere, a pleasant mid-sized city.  Dave says that the Finns love the tango, but that they made little original music until the 1990s.  It was then that the Finnish bands really started experimenting.

One of my favorite sections of the book is when he talks about classic rock radio and really sums up what I hate about it too.  He says that the Finnish radio station was pretty free form, playing a bunch of unexpected Stevie Wonder songs whereas back in Canada and the US

all such stations repeated songs over the course of their programming days, as if to suggest that there haven’t been enough good records released over the past four decades to keep a playlist fresh.  …  I concluded that these playlists are filled with songs that you or I never have to hear again; songs that should be forever banned from the radio; songs that, when you hear them, make you want to get out of the supermarket as quickly as possible…. Classic rock or oldies radio steals precious airtime from vital new bands…  In the right hands, retro radio could probably be a great thing: music junkies dipping into the fourth track on side two of that Great Album by the Great Neighborhood Band that no one outside of Your Town has ever heard of.

The crowd in Tampere really gets into it.  And then the duo are off to Helsinki, Finland’s capital.  He inserts a very funny story about the guys from Ben Folds Five doing something very vulgar to the food in Everclear’s dressing room because they did not get along well (Ben Folds fans have to look this up), as well as some other funny touring stories.  For this show they actually open for Cleaning Women (which doesn’t really match well–and didn’t really go over very well).

On the way to their next show in Jyväskylä, Dave mentions the musician Sirkus Kosmonautti, and electronic guy who sounded great.  Then the drove to Joensuu to have a sauna (a Finnish ritual).

From Finland, the guys traveled to Russia.  They were warned by people (especially the Finns)  about underhanded people in Russia (although Dave had been there twice before).  He does have a brief passport scare (some drama in this story!), but all works out okay.

He gives a really interesting (albeit brief) history of music in oppressive states.  he mentions the Swing Kids (about whom a movie has been made) in Hitler’s Germany and how a similar rebellious move happened in Russia by kids known as Stilyagi who took American names and danced in secret.  Then he says that The Beatles exploded everything in Russia.

I also enjoyed the way (like me) lost interest in the Beatles in high school and then found them again later.

They played only one show in St Petersburg before heading to Moscow where they played at a club called Chinese Pilot.  It did not go well although Al stated “it’s the shitty gigs, the ones that you have to fight through, that count the most.”

They flew back via New York where they played (and stayed) with Chris Brown and Kate Fenner.  He has a funny story about Anton Fig and an even funnier story about the Rheostatics opening for Sophie B. Hawkins (what?) and a disastrous time when the Rheos were the backing band for Jane Siberry (and they did not get on well at all).

After a stay at home, it’s time for Dave to head to China.  The tour was going to be billed under Rheostatics name since they hadn’t officially broken up.  But rather than even try to so anything together, Dave assembled a band called Rheos-Not-Rheos which consisted of Dave, Al, drummer Jay Santiago and guitarist Dwayne Gale.  This was meant to be a full tour of CanRock in China, so on the bill would be a guitar prodigy named Jordan Cook, a grunge band Stradio, a jazz band the Shuffle Demons, as well as the rock bands Sons of Maxwell and the aboriginal band Forever.  It would be called The Maple Rhythm Festival.  Dave talks at length about how he got along (or not) with the others.

China was a surreal experience because the Chinese had very little exposure to rock n roll.  They played in Pudong (which Dave reads about live) a small city and they were received very warmly.

Then they went to Shanghai (Dave reads aloud about massage parlors in the next show).  Things went south in Shanghai–the band fights (over Rush, of all things) as they watch a band who has been playing the same hotel for decades and he wonders why his band had to break up.  This leads to hilarious stories of intra-band fighting.

They moved to Suzhou where the audience was seated on a grass pavilion very far from the stage.  But after much playing, Dave and the boys got them to loosen up some.

In Changsha (a small city of only about six million people) he says that the most respected bands are cover bands (which is why they are asked to play the Beatles so much). Original musicians, like the band that he watches and enjoys Ice, Fire and Rain are looked down upon.

The CanRock tour did not go to Beijing, so Dave booked some shows there himself.   And the most interesting part of this section is his wandering around later at night and finding out of the way places where he and the band stayed up super late singing and drinking with the locals.  This is where he met Dirt Star and Airbag.

On his return to Canada, he decided to play where he had never played before–Gananoque in the Maritimes.  There is so much music there that Dave is pretty much outplayed.  Then it’s off to Newfoundland where they play at the house party of a huge Rheos fan who says sagely if the Rheos don’t break up how can they have a reunion?

The final section of the book concerns Dave’s trip to Africa.  This is a much darker section, in which Dave visits some refugee camps and learns a lot about the plight of the people of Accra in Ghana.  When he finally plays, the crowd is vibrant and fun since music is such a big part of their lives.

Then off to Buduburam to Africa’s largest Liberian refugee camp.  This is a pretty harrowing tale.  And he learns of “Zake Roberts” the inspiration for the song “The Ballad of Zeke Roberts” (not sure which is the real name.   Mostly the people of Buduburam danced and sang for him.

Then it was off to Freetown in Sierra Leone where he meets two young rappers, Barmmy and Lus, who have a great rhythm and try to be political amidst all the nonsensical pop of Africa.

The final chapter concerns the Rheos’ final gig at Massey Hall in March 2007 (a recording of which is available on Rheostaticslive in all manner of formats). It’s a pretty emotional story and I’m glad it was documented.

Bidini is a great reporter–looking for the unseen, trying to do things that are off the beaten path, being somewhat naive and yet rather opinionated.  It’s a fun journey to places I’ll never go.

I don’t know who this book is really meant for–Rheos fans obviously–but it’s also an interesting look at touring and especially at touring in unusual places.

For ease of searching, I include: Hameenlinna, Jyvaskyla