Though the current project started as a series of posts charting my grief journey after the death of my mother, I am no longer actively grieving. Now, the blog charts a conversation in living, mainly whatever I want it to be. This is an activity that goes well with the theme of this blog (updated 2018). The Sense of Doubt blog is dedicated to my motto: EMBRACE UNCERTAINTY. I promote questioning everything because just when I think I know something is concrete, I find out that it’s not.
Hey, Mom! The Explanation.
Here's the permanent dedicated link to my first Hey, Mom! post and the explanation of the feature it contains.
A Sense of Doubt blog post #3021 - REMAIN IN LIGHT - TALKING HEADS - THE CONCERT
A Sense of Doubt blog post #3021 - REMAIN IN LIGHT - TALKING HEADS - THE CONCERT
And so, I went to this concert.
It was a pretty good concert, though there are some things to report.
When I discovered that Talking Heads keyboardist/guitarist Jerry Harrison was touring with a funk band and Adrian Belew of King Crimson, who toured with Talking Heads in 1980, I was flabbergasted.
I had to go. And so I bought a ticket immediately.
Yes, a ticket. No one who I knew wanted to go with me.
Also, it was a week night. A Wednesday. At the Crystal Ballroom in Portland, which is standing only venue.
Billed as the REMAIN IN LIGHT tour, probably because it was going to be held in 2020, the 40th anniversary of the album but was delayed due to the pandemic. Remain in Light was the album that Belew toured with them to promote, music that producer Brian Eno advised them was "too dense to perform."
If I have to pick one, Remain in Light is my favourite Talking Heads album. It was my first Talking Heads album, and like David Bowie's Scary Monsters and Super Creeps, it was foreign to what I was used to that when I first put it on my turntable, I took it back off again. Both albums. Unlistenable. Like noise with lyrics. I did not know what to make of them. My journey to love the music did not even last a full year. I document the story about Bowie and Scary Monsters and Super Creeps, here:
After all, this is how we learn things. Sometimes it starts with rejection with discovery and acceptance to follow. Such was my path with these albums, and now they are my favourites.
Needless to say that when I saw a concert billed as if Harrison, Belew, and a funk band might play THE WHOLE ALBUM, I was in -- all in.
Of course, that's not what they did, and that's one of my problems.
I didn't really expect them to play the entire Remain in Light album. The general public wouldn't get it. The general public has never listened to that entire album.
And in the modern world in which streaming has brought us to a song-by-song level, much like the single-release, 45-RPM A and B side, albums are less of a thing on which people expend their listening energies. There are still vinyl nerds and still music fans who like the idea of the album as a storybook thing, a specially-selected arrangement of songs, an artful and intentional conception with themes and complexities and histories. But that's not the attitude of the general public. Lots of people cannot even name the song titles that they listen to let alone the concept of the album on which the song appears.
And so it was no surprise to see a mix of hits. I knew that casual fans would go home unhappy without "Psycho Killer," "Take me to the River," and "Life During Wartime." I was surprised that they did not play "Burnin' Down the House" in lieu of "Slippery People," the only song from the Speaking in Tongues and the hugely popular Stop Making Sense, tour, album, and movie. I was NOT surprised that there was nothing from the post-Stop Making Sense albums. I like them. But I am a nerdy super fan.
They did play many of the songs off Remain in Light, so I wad reasonably happy with that part of the set list, but more on that in a minute.
A couple of weeks before the concert, I learned that I had a very important job interview the next day.
Could I still go?
I had planned a day off for the day after the concert as it did not even start until my bed time. I am often going to sleep, quite literally, lights off falling asleep at 8:30 p.m. Sometimes earlier.
My friends and family were split. Most of my family said I couldn't go to the concert; I needed sleep the night before such a big deal. The others, many work colleagues, said I should go; after all, would I sleep much the night before anyway?
I made a deal with myself. If I felt adequately prepped and awake enough, I would go.
I was more than prepared. I was VERY prepared.
So, I went.
I got there early and found space on a bench and made new friends (though we did not exchange contact information): Barry and Jim. I don't know what Jim does or did (he said he was unemployed), but he lived or lives in Eugene. I wasn't sure. On the other hand, Barry claimed he was just a dentist but turns out he is executive director of the Oregon Dental Association. So, I could probably find him and thus Jim. Barry became distracted by another friend of theirs, Laura, who arrived later. Jim and I really hit it off.
Amusingly, as we discussed music, Jim told me he had been listening to King Crimson's Disciplineon the way here. So, I mentioned one of my standard things, an in joke with old college friends about that album, from "Thela Hun Ginjeet," an anagram of "heat in the jungle."
In the song, Adrian Belew is on the streets of London and has run-ins with "criminals" (apparently Rastafarians) as he makes a recording about crime on the streets, the "heat" in the jungle.
At one point during the confrontation with the criminals, he says "so, I unplugged my shirt."
Jim had never heard that line before, so I was pleased to share something new with someone with so much experience with music as they both told me many things I did not know as well, such as Harrison had been in the band Modern Lovers with Jonathan Richman.
Anyway, what's the one song that they played from Discipline? Yup. "Thela Hun Ginjeet."
Also, before the concert, I spotted one of my students from last quarter with her parents. Turns out that I was the reason that they were there. I mentioned buying tickets in class. She went home. Told her parents who were huge fans. Magic.
That made me feel really good and was a singular reason I was glad that I went.
After much pre-concert discussion with Barry and Jim, I could not stand the suspense. Would the funk band open before the main act? Would they play Remain in Light in its entirety and then extra stuff? Would there be a lot of solo stuff, such as Belew's "Big Electric Cat" or tracks off Harrison's first and best solo work The Red and the Black, such as "Slink."
I recently posted the writings of Post-Punk Monk about that album, here:
That's when I found the Nippertown review I am sharing below, that they funk band would open, and that there was one Harrison solo track ("Rev it Up"), one King Crimson track ("Thela Hun Ginjeet"), and a good sample of the tracks from Remain in Light but not all of them.
Worse, foiling my plans to leave early, they had chosen what is arguably my favourite track from the album (or at least fave dance track), "The Great Curve," as the encore.
Could I stay for an encore?
The parking garage where I parked was set to close at midnight. The show was set to start with the opener (if on time) at 8:30.
Sigh.
I stayed. Though I did leave after they played my favourite part of "The Great Curve" to beat the crowd, which is also why I didn't get Barry and Jim's numbers. Jim has a boat that he takes out on the Columbia. I may have to track down these guys. Okay, I made an attempt.
As for the show, I was a little disappointed.
The openers and backing funk band Cool Cool Cool were pretty great.
The show itself was disappointing.
Vocals were hard to hear throughout.
The guy who was trying to channel David Byrne (pictured below in the flowered shirt and glasses) did an admirable job, though handicapped by the vocal sound levels not being high enough, though acoustics may have been the culprit.
I did not like the arrangements of many of the songs, which went on far too long, such as "Rev it Up," which is a great song but not for what seemed like ten minutes but was probably less.
One of the most disappointing changes was the re-orchestration of "Born Under Punches" so that it did not start with the drum beats and "HA!" cry of the album. Bad choice. That's a signature moment.
I wanted more singing from Belew.
Harrison was fine but his vocals were often lost.
And the set list was strange. As I mentioned previously, I was not surprised to see "Psycho Killer," "Take me to the River," and "Life During Wartime" on the list.
I really like "Cities" from Fear of Music, and I was thrilled to see the first cut from that album, "I Zimbra" on the list.
But I could have done without "Drugs," which seemed on the list simply because of its title and content and how it would play to the audience same with "Slippery People."
But then I would have traded "Slink" and "Big Electric Cat" for those two and most of the audience would have no clue about those songs, except for enjoying them as great songs.
Still, I am glad I went, if only to see my student and her parents and to meet Jim and Barry, who I hope to see again.
I held myself strictly to only FIVE photos from the large photo gallery at the review copied below that you can access from the link provided.
These are good photos.
The ones I took are not.
Though I might as well share my selfie before going inside:
The FIVE PHOTOS I chose from the professional gallery at Nippertown.
Although they didn’t play that particular song, Jerry Harrison and Adrian Belew were certainly “Burning down the House” this Wednesday night at Empire Live. The Talking Heads keyboardist and founding member, and the mercurial guitar slinger (best known for his work with Zappa, Bowie, King Crimson, and yes, Talking Heads) are re-creating (mostly) the 1980 tour that featured the then new Heads album, “Remain in Light.” Although Harrison is the only former member of the band from that period represented, Belew did appear on that tour as a guest guitarist.
Photo by Claude Sawyer
So, I thought I had the concept down; no material post “Remain in Light” to be played, right? Well, they cheated a little, slipping in “Slippery People” from 1983’s “Speaking in Tongues,” so I guess they coulda played “Burning Down the House.” Whatever. No matter.
What the packed crowd did get was a fabulous set of the propulsive sinuous funk with a side order of weird that the Talking Heads specialized in. Music for the head and the hips. 14 songs (5 from “Remain”) that seemed to delight the band as much as the audience. It was great to see the musicians having fun on stage as they locked into each groove, smiles in abundance. Belew sprayed scalding solos throughout like a deranged whammy barista slinging hot Joe in a Starbucknaked coffee house. Harrison calmly switched from keyboards to guitar and back, eyes often closed, blissfully into the soundscapes being created.
One King Crimson number was tackled, “Thela Hun Ginjeet” (an anagram of Heat in the jungle, now ya know) and the fact that it meshed so seamlessly into the set tells you all you need to know about the massive influence Talking Heads had on the Belew period of Crimson compositionally.
Photo by Claude Sawyer
And what a band! Augmented by the incredible bassist Julie Slick, from Belew’s power trio, and percussionist Yahuba Garcia-Torres, the rest of the backing band was actually the opening band, Cool Cool Cool, doing double duty.
Now I knew nothing about them prior to the gig, only that they were a 7-piece unit formed when a band called Turkuaz had broken up. When they took the stage for their opening set, I was pleasantly surprised. Far from a noodling jam band, CCC are a dynamic and energetic funk outfit fronted by two terrific singers, Shira Elias, and Sammi Garett.
Photo by Claude Sawyer
The rest of the band are Josh Schwartz on sax and vocals, Michelangelo Carubba – on drums, Craig Brodhead – on guitar and keys, Greg Sanderson – on sax, and Chris Brouwers – on trumpet and keys. All sensational. All with a confident and assured stage presence that transmitted powerfully to the audience. Their own material was sophisticated slinky pop with a funky twist. I closed my eyes and could have been back in a London club in the 70s, listening to blue-eyed soul outfits like Kokomo or Cado Belle. They were that good. Marvelous stuff. The fact that CCC could then switch to handling the Talking Heads material so effortlessly in the headlining set was a testament to their talent—definitely, ones to watch.
A fantastic show. “Once in a lifetime?” I hope not.
A proud Londoner born and bred, Mark has lived and worked in the Capital Region for over 25 years. A self-confessed "prog nerd", he maintains that his life was changed upon hearing "Close to the Edge' and "Foxtrot" at the age of 14. Along with his wife and 2 daughters, the major loves of his life are Arsenal Football Club and Belgian beer. Oh, and not forgetting Delilah the dog.
- Bloggery committed by chris tower - 2305.27 - 10:10
- Days ago = 2885 days ago
- New note - On 1807.06, I ceased daily transmission of my Hey Mom feature after three years of daily conversations. I plan to continue Hey Mom posts at least twice per week but will continue to post the days since ("Days Ago") count on my blog each day. The blog entry numbering in the title has changed to reflect total Sense of Doubt posts since I began the blog on 0705.04, which include Hey Mom posts, Daily Bowie posts, and Sense of Doubt posts. Hey Mom posts will still be numbered sequentially. New Hey Mom posts will use the same format as all the other Hey Mom posts; all other posts will feature this format seen here.
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