Page 10 the Other Press Other Arts & Review Tuesday April 24, 1990 Fellows Are Insane Guys Young Fresh Fellows Rock Out to "Taco Wagon” in Vancouver last Friday Young Fresh Fellows with 64 Funnycars Town Pump April 20, 1990 by Tim Crumley Ya know, when you go out on a weekend, you expect to have a good time. That’s really a bad thing, because most of the time, you get disappointed by some such like that. What makes me happy is an event that you know in advance will be really fun. That no matter how many times you see this thing, you will have a great time, guaran- teed. I guess the Young Fresh Fel- lows are one of those kind of events. What I didn’t realize is how much fun the 64 Funnycars are. I don’t know how many of you go to the Town Pump, but whenever I’ve been there, the openers haven’t thing or another - the movie sucked, the band wasn’t into it, your ham- burger had botulinum, something been... well, let’s just say they haven’t been as original or as tech- nically proficient as one might ex- pect. The crowd usually responded in an equally cool fashion, so it ended up that the band would play, no one would dance, and the ap- plause after the songs had “when’s the headliner gonna come on?" written all over it. The Funnycars, in contrast, had the entire floor filled with jubilant dancing fools. The Vic- toria resident foursome play kinda Richman Pays His Dues by Tim Crumley Jonathan Richman has most certainly paid his dues on the music circuit. In fact, considering his career, he’s probably paid more than anyone. Richman brings his naive, whimsical brand of rock to the Town Pump this Thursday. But he wasn’t always perma-happy. He started his career in 1972 with the Modern Lovers, a band that is now considered one of the major influences to the punk era. In fact, the Sex Pistols actually do a cover of one of the Modern Lovers’ first songs, "Roadrunner". The Modern Lovers’ original lineup was quite formidable - in addition to Richman, band mem- bers included Jerry Harrison, now guitarist with Talking Heads, and Benjamin Orr, who went on to The Cars. They did a series of demos which were praised by critics as being.as dark and moody as the Doors once were, and got together with John Cale to record. But the band couldn’t make it through stormy times, and split. The company still released the demos as an album, and it stands as one of the most influential albums of the 70’s. Part of the tension in the band was Richman’s growing discontent with depressing songs. He wanted to do more upbeat songs, and the rest of the band didn’t - hence the breakup. Richman had to go his own way. The later part of the 70’s right up until now has seen Richman doing his own thing - mixing great rock ’n roll with some of the silliest lyrics ever heard. Legends have been created about Richman sing- ing the 9 minute version of "Ice Cream Man", a Patty Page-like tribute to the treat vendor; people have laughed and been amused by ditties like "Abominable Snowman In the Supermarket”, "I’m A Little Dinosaur", "Lonely Financial Zone", and so many others. Richman still manages to hang on to some of that seriousness, even though the middle-aged face still looks cherubic, and the sentiments are naive. For instance, his secular redoing of "Amazing Grace" shows something about his character, a eternal optimism that won’t quit. After being bumped from label to label for the last 15 years (critics’ respect hasn’t equated into record sales), and after dumping his band, Richman has toured alone the last couple of years, and has kept his fans assured that the music biz hasn’t got him yet. I hope it doesn’t. hia Crom ley Q. pop-oriented garage rock with a lot ot humour added. I don’t know any of their names, and hardly any of their songs, but it was hard not to like a band that opened the floor for requests and actually attempted to do the Star Trek theme. The drum- mer also plays a mean kazoo. After a pleasantly surprising set by the 64 Funnycars, it was time for the Fellows to entertain. And they did just that. Starting off with "This One’s For the Ladies", the title track from their latest record, they blasted through a good two hours of tunes, featuring both stuff from their latest album as well as material from the nostalgic past (I just had to use that word once), like "Get Out of My Cave", "Why I Oughtta", and "Elvis, Karen & Me". The covers of "Born Free" and "Sesame Street Theme" were neat too. The most fun about seeing the Young Fresh Fellows, though, is seeing them have so much fun. It’s completely contagious. New guitarist Kurt Bloch (formerly from the Fastbacks) never stopped jumping up and down all night. He was insane. Later on in the show he was throwing his guitar on the stage, hitting it, and holding it out so the crowd could play guitar and be insane too. The drummer, Tad Hutchin- son, has the wildest/stupidest way of playing drums I’ve ever seen. He has this "cymbal" of doom, a cym- bal attached to a tee flag from a golf course. When he hits it, it swings back, and he has to dodge this huge cymbal while playing the drums. And then he gets this sweater with a life-size Mr. T head sewn onto it and puts it on and drums and dodges. It’s just... incredible. The crowd was so hyped that everyone was slamming on the floor. Stage dives and everything you could ever imagine. I guess the best way to say it is this: I had so much fun I was drip- ping with sweat and exhausted. Is that entertainment or what? Fishing For Words The Tongue Angles By John Brugaletta by Nick Waldron John Brugaletta has a style of writing poetry that I find very ad- mirable. In his most recent book of poems, Brugaletta mangages to write a whole slew of poems that deal with meaningful topics, but are written in a very bizarre and straightforward way. This probably doesn’t make much sense so I'll elaborate. The images in Brugaletta’s poetry are humorous and strange. It seems that he creates situations and events that wouldn’t normally hap- pen and makes them sound like every day occurences. The fact that he deals with these events in sucha straightforward manner actually heightens the humour of the poetry. I love to read poetry that makes you think, but not poetry that pulls you out of the poem half way through because you hit something that really makes you think about it. Brugaletta’s poems keep you inter- ested through the poem and then you get pulled out at the last second. Then something from ear- lier on in the poem draws you back in and starts the brain up. I suppose the easiest way to ‘summarize Brugalleta’s work is to call it a socially conscious out- cry,covered up with colourful, ab- surd imagery that makes you laugh and then reflect on what you’ve learned. Go and look in book stores for this gem. I really doubt you’ll be disappointed. O’Connor incredible Sinead O’ Connor I Do Not Want What I Haven’ t Got Ensign/Chrysalis by Tim Crumley Sinead O’Connor’s new album, I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got, digs deep into her personal life, and the resulting songs are a rich herstory of events since her 1987 debut album, The Lion and the Cobra. O’Connor didn’t opt into the rock star lifestyle after achieving success with her first record. She instead chose to get married and have another child (she already had a boy). A lot of the album’s brighter moments deal with the reactions she has as a mother. This is especially true of "Black Boys On Mopeds", a tribute to Colin Roach, killed by police in racially questionable circumstan- ces. She writes: "And I love my boys/ and that’s why I’m leaving/ I don’t want them to learn any such words as grieving." Relationships are featured on this album. Most of the themes are dark, almost bitter recollections of lost loves. The music is sometimes soft, sometimes poppy, but always excellent. On "I Lay My Hands On Your Grave", a wild, kinda hip-hop beat mixes with a scottishy dirge for incredible results; "Last Day of Our Aquaintance" is a folky divorce song. It is incredible song writing. I Do Not Want... is an excel- lent album, and probably one of the picks of the year.