Baltimore - Saturday, July 18, 2009
Stop the presses! It was under 90 degrees and there was a BREEZE at Artscape 2009, automatically making it the best festival in recent memory, even if maybe the musical acts weren't as big as in years past and the parking challenges were the most daunting ever (not surprising given that the Otakon anime event brought an additional 25,000 people downtown to the Convention Center and surrounding environs). So my girlfriend Amy (who loves food and jewelry, which are always on plentiful offer at Artscape) and I ventured out this balmy Saturday to take it all in. Our highlights from Artscape 2009 follow...
Parking is always an issue at Artscape!
We didn't even go near the Mount Royal Tavern - my immune system was still on the mend with a Summer cold following last week's stomach flu, so I couldn't even think about drinking - so we stayed towards the Charles Street side of the festival, and it was a happening scene what with all the DIY vendors, art cars, Midway exhibitors and that free stuff flea market in the Charles Theater garage.
Yes, this year's Artscape theme was definitely "Charles in Charge," as the event continued to move eastward and upward towards the Charles Theatre and the Station North/North Avenue corridor (the latter our latest attempt to create a new artsy Sowebo community in Northeast Bawmer - Norebo, anyone?) .
DIY Section @ Artscape
Charles Street and Mount Royal
The DIY section was home to hip and talented crafters, like Catherine Wang of Motobus...
...who was my fave vendor in the DIY section of Artscape 2009. She belongs to the Etsy community. To check out some of her neato stuff, visit her Etsy shop or her website at motobus.com. below are some of her buttons (which exhibit a Japanese minimalist style)...
Lovestruck Bon Jovi Bunny:
"Shot through the heart and you're to blame/You give love a bad name."
and postcards (whose colors and clear lines remind me of Adrian Tomine's graphic novels)...
I bought a bunch of Motobus buttons for Amy because she loves little accessories, plus one of the buttons depicted what looked like a cartoon version of her! I also picked up a Motobus coloring book because I work with a 50-something woman who still likes to play with her crayons at lunch.
It was also damned good to see Spoon Popkins hawking her Damn Good Doormats in the DIY section of Artscape. Hers was the first familiar face we encountered.
Spoon says: "I believe the entrance to your home should reflect the individual person inside." Her 100% coconut fiber doormats have a latex backing keeping the mat firmly in place and feature Baltimore motifs, like clipper ships, Mr. Boh and our stupid "Believe" motto. But I like the one with her French Bulldog Pierre (below right) best.
As Spoon says, "Pierre reminds me to be neat when I enter the chateau."
Spoon's Damned Good Doormats are available through her Etsy shop; see also her popkinportraits blog.
Right next door to Spoon's tent was Diane Kross' "Cutesy But Not Cutesy" stand, featuring her handmade plush cyclops monster dolls.
Diane Kross' "Cutesy But Not Cutesy" monster dolls
Like most of the DIY vendors' wares, you can buy Cutesy But Not Cutesy monster dolls online at Diane Kross' Etsy store. See more of Diane Kross' work at her dkoss2 blog, flickr page or www.plushteam.com. Or follow her on Twitter.
Watch Diane' animated film "Monster Compilation" on YouTube:
This stop-motion mash-up of her toy creations was made in collaboration with animator David R. Popolow of Right Brain Animation.
Our last stop in DIY-land was the Bunny Butt Apothecary because, well, there is nothing like the smell of a rabbitt's rectum. Sme say. (Actually, it's an organic soap shop, and the soaps do smell pretty nice.)
The delightfully smelly Bunny Butt Apothecary
Brewer's Art: The Opera
Also pounding the asphalt on Charles Street was an opera troupe hawking some production at...the Brewer's Art, of all places! (Blogger's update note, 9/30/09: the troupe is the Baltimore Rock Opera Society and its production of Grundlehammer has since been moved to 2640 Space.)
Safe to say, any time you see people wearing anthropomorphic headgear with horns - and you're not in New Orleans during Mardi Gras or watching a Kenneth Anger experimental film - it's a good bet it has something to do with opera.
The lead diva was especially eye-catching (and potentially eye-gouging!) - luckily my girlfriend was by my side to ensure that I didn't get too dangerously close to the action:
Double D-Cup Diva strikes an operatic pose
A closer view with my opera glasses
Whew daddy! Those ample areolas were made for lung-burstin' arias!
Art Cars
We then made our way up towards Penn Station where the street was lined with Art Cars. Beatles fanatic Amy was naturally drawn to the Yellow Submarine art car.
Contemplating car-jacking, Amy looks for
the keys to the Yellow Submarine art car
Amy inspects the Mondrian Art Car.
Or was this the sedan version of the Partridge Family Bus?
"Look schveetie," Amy says, "This Jag matches
your bedsheets - except they're clean!"
The Leopard-skin art car had a tail
Slim Pickens would have enjoyed saddling
up this rocket-propelled ride in "Dr. Strangelove"
The interactive Paint Me art car;
look for the sequel Wash Me car next year!
The Rock and Roll VW Buggy
The Flower Garden art car
I was glad to spot Harrod Blank, the cowboy hat-wearing art car documentarian (and son of acclaimed documentary filmmaker Les Blank - who shot the legendary short Werner Herzog Eats His Shoe) who is most famous for Wild Wheels (1991) and the follow-up doc Automorphosis (2008), which he screened outdoors in the Charles Theater parking lot at Artscape 2008.
I was ecstatic to see that the Automorphosis was finally available and eagerly plucked down my cash for an autographed copy. I liked this sequel even better than Wild Wheels. The doc featured world-renowned spoon bender (and Michael Jackson's psychic pal) Uri Geller and his fork-and-spoon-covered “Peace Car,” Howard Davis’s “Telephone Car,” and religious folk artist Leonard Knight, who painted his vehicles as well as most of an entire mountain in the desert as a testament to his faith. But as Brett McCabe wrote in the Baltimore City Paper, "the movie's most compelling figures are its ordinary citizens: the German immigrant who loves hamburgers [Hamburger Harry], the golf player who turns to the copper in pennies to alleviate his arthritis, the severely burned stock-car racer who started collecting horns so as not to become a hermit, the patriotic World War II vet, and the simply unstoppable 'Spoon Man'." Especially moving was the Frederick, MD woman with throat cancer who built an art car as an emotional outlet for her travails (as a bonus, the woman was at the screening with her daughter and seemed elated to be the center of attention from well-wishing fans who came up to her afterwards). Blank's "Camera Van" - the world's only van carpeted wall-to-wall in cameras and rigged to catch the candid expressions of people everywhere - was also on display:
Harrod Blank's "Camera Van"
After seeing the art cars, seeing a festival organizer riding around on a two-wheeled segway paled in comparison; still, small children (and my child-like-sense-of-wonder girlfriend) were amused, as shown below.
Nothing screams "machismo" like a Segway Cowboy
"Look, segway!" Amy exclaimed (she also gets excited whenever she spots a squirrel, bunny or cardinal).
"Wow," I responded, underwhelmed.
The Midway: A Bridge Too Far
We then slowly slithered our way through the human clusterfuck gathered on the Charles Street bridge to reach the Midway, where there were lots of imaginative little conceptual art exhibits by area artists and musicians like the Human Foosball Game and Bunniette's Symposium. I don't know why, but this year it just didn't wow me. I mean yes, very nice, very nice, and all very labor-intensive works, but I had more fun looking at the crafts on Mount Royal and the lower Charles Street DIY section. More lasting, I guess, than these look-at-me/interact-with-me installations.
Camera Obscura
Abiku's Tiny Rave
The Human Foosball Game
DJ Steve Santillian of More Dogs provides the beats for the Human Foosball Game
"Look, bunnies!" Amy exclaimed outside one such stall, something called The Bunniettes Symposium.
Bunniettes Symposium
You could ask the bunnies a question. Or not. Amy, for one, was transfixed by the wonder of inanimate bunnies with alleged mystical powers. Or maybe she was just eyeing the pail of raw carrots there. We were both getting kinda hungry.
The only highlights for me were the crazy Christian proselytizing on the bridge (or was he really a Conceptual Street Performer commenting on our nation's swing to the extreme right?)...
Midway Preacher: Christian loon or Conceptual Performance Artist?
...and the break dancers breaking it down outside the Metro Gallery:
I could do this in my sleep back in the day...
...but maybe not this!
I saw Dan Van Allen doing something on the Midway Clusterfuck, but there were so many humanoids going this way and that - plus the agitation of that manic street preacher polluting the airwaves - that we couldn't get near. Safe to say, I'm pretty sure Dan Van was topless and doing something (writhing?) on the ground. (I just hope he wasn't break dancing...at his age that could be dangerous!)
A massive throng of humanity was gathered on jam-packed Charles Street as we jostled our way past the Midway toward The Charles Theater...
...until, just outside the Charles Theatre and Tapas restuarant, we spotted the biggest trend-to-date of 2009: hooping. Yes, the thing kids used to do for fun is now a big deal with adults. It's already supplanted roller skating as the discerning hipster's latest aerobic/sports craze.
Amy, who always corrects me when I call 'em "Hula Hoops" ("They're hoops!"), has two hoops (one for home plus an adjustable "travel hoop")! She was very impressed by the chick in blue slacks -"She's really good! She even can hoop around her neck" Amy commented, referring to an advanced hooping technique so dangerous even adventure-junkie David Carradine steered clear of it. See for yourself in the video clip of the woman's Watusi-worthy whirling below:
The Charles Theater Parking Lot Flea Market
Flea Parking in the Charles Theater Garage
As we wended our way past the hipsters and hoopsters gathered outside the Metro Gallery we noticed that the Charles Theater Parking Garage had been transformed into some sort of flea market - only it was more like a "Free Market" Flea Market, with most items coming from the Baltimore Free Store (www.baltimorefreestore.org) whose motto is "Take what you want, give what you can."
I saw a lot of people taking, but none giving (other than the Baltimore Hostel, which offered a tour of a sample hostel room set up inside). This is what the scene looked like inside:
There was also some guy dressed up as a Crossing Guard holding a stop sign. Ah, conceptual art; can't get enough of it.
I must say I was impressed with the selection of old vinyl records on display for the taking and made sure I got in the "take what you need" spirit by helping myself to one. Buried behind some Jackie Gleason Orchestra LPs with the cool glamour gals and cocktails covers, and a tempting The Partridge Family Sound Magazine album (I already have it or I woulda picked it up!) was my score of the day - Allan Sherman's For Swinging Livers Only! (1964) record, which was in great condition. The title is, of course, a play on Sinatra's 1955 Reprise LP Songs for Swingin' Lovers!
I love Allan Sherman! I still have my Milton Bradley "Camp Granada" game ("It's a game that should be gotten/About a camp that's really rotten!" - a board game based on the lyrics to Sherman's most popular song "Hello Muddah, Hello Faddah," whose medley in turn was set to Ponchielli's "Dance of the Hours") and a subsequent Google search determined that this album, which contains the Dr. Demento fave "Pop Goes the Beatles" (set to the tune "Pop Goes the Weasel"), is currently out of print on CD (as well as vinyl, needless to say), so I was doubly happy to find it.
On the way out we noticed some Log Lady chopping wood. I have no idea what that was about - was she giving away free matchsticks as part of the free/flea theme.?
Looking at my watch I realized we had had to get a move on if we were gonna stop down at the Inner Harbor for what was billed as a CD Release Party for my old band Thee Katatonix's "new" CD, Thanks Hon: Thee Katatonix 30th Anniversary (yes, Adolf Kowalski has kept the dream alive since 1979!), before heading over to Pier Six for that evening's concert event, "BSO Plays the Music of Queen" (Amy's favorite band). Plus we had to get some food in our growling stomachs.
Passing the Charles Street Food Court to our right, we saw yet another new-fangled fad, the bicycle-powered Smoothie stand, Wheel Good Smoothies.
Juice Jockey takes a Smoothie Ride
I had seen this before, at the Waverly farmer's Market. The basic idea is, you mix your own smoothie organically (without using electricity), by hopping on a bicycle - in this case a "pony" bike! - thus burning off some calories to justify the calories in that otherwise healthy shake. Check out the demo below:
Abercrombie's Beef: The World's Best Hamburger
Amy and I were so hungry by the time we passed the Bed & Breakfast-cum-restaurant Abercrombie Fine Food and Accomodations on Biddle Street across from the Meyerhoff Symphony Hall that we abandoned our original idea of going to Dukem for Ethiopian tibbs ("What if the service is slow and we have to eat the tablecloth?" we exclaimed) and plunkered down at their outdoor grill where $10 got us two fat hamburgers. I'm not much for red meat and this was only my second burger in the last two years but lemme just say, it was transcendent. The best burger I've ever had, thanks to that topping of Havarti dill cheese drenched in that zingy green chimichurri sauce (a mixture of vinegar, garlic cloves, parsley, and red pepper flakes).
Abercrombie's chimichurri burger: to die for
I can see why TV gourmand Rachel Ray stopped here on one of her "Tasty Travels." Unfortunately, I think Abercrombie only cooks 'em up once a year for Artscape; otherwise their high-brow menu reverts to its rather pricey $25 bucks and up entrees. Oh well, there's always next year!
Sated, Amy and I now had enough energy to walk down to the Inner Harbor so we could see our old schoolmate (she went to Dundalk High with him, I went to Towson State University with him) - and my former bandmate - Adolf Kowalski, who was holding court at the Marriott Courtyard at Camden Yards for a "Meet and Greet" event celebrating the 2009 release of the Thanks Hon: Thee Katatonix 30th Anniversary compilation CD on UK Spud Records. (To read my full review of this impressive release, see my blog post "Still Katatonic After All These Years.")
As we drew near the Inner Harbor we passed throngs of wildly costumed, sword and sabre-wielding, mask and facepaint-wearing, pink- and blue-haired teens with swag bags coming to and fro the annual Otakon Festival at the Convention Center. I gritted my teeth and told Amy, "I used to like going there before they started charging $65 just to get in the door, even if you just want to go for one day - even if all you want to do is go into the dealer's room and buy things!" I hate that Otakon charges money to get into the dealer's room. I mean, you're there to spend money, yet it costs you money that could be going to the vendors to get in there. It's like a Las Vegas casino charging you money to come in and blow your money (instead they invite you to come in by offering gamblers gratuities such as free drinks!). Arrrrgghhh!
As we neared the Marriott, Amy was practically hobbling, poor girl, as we had walked a long ways for her brittle knees. I tend to walk briskly - a former Jewish girlfriend once told me "You walk like a New York Jew in the Garment District!" and I took it as a compliment (hey, I'm from Bodymore, Murderland - you gotta walk fast if you wanna last here! Fast enough to outpace a speeding bullet!) - and forget how much mileage I take for granted, while Amy was ready to plop down on a hotel room bed for some R&R.
Katatonix CD Release Party
After some confusion and running and running around, we realized that the Katatonix event was actually being held in a third floor hotel room where head Kat Adolf Kowalksi and his girlfriend Patti Jo Jensen (sister of Baltimore Turd Czar Chris "The Plumber" Jensen) were holding court with a mouth-watering assortment of culinary delights and libations (Jack Daniels, National Bohemian and the finest snack fare from Utz, Cheetos and Doritos).
Adolf says "Hey hon, it's been 30 years!"
"Who'd a thunk it?"
Adolf's first words to me were, "Look at you man - how'd you end up with my old body?" Adolf's filled out over the years, but back in the day he was skinny as a rail, with his shock of jet black hair accounting for most of his weight. It's funny too, because looking back I still had some baby fat in my drumming days (hey, I was still living at home and getting Mom's home cooking, what can I say?).
When we told Adolf about all the creatively coiffed and costumed kids we passed outside the Convention Cnter, he replied, "That's where my daughter is! She's been there all day. In fact, she made a Jap anime music video for my song 'Crown'!"
Here's Ms. Kowalski's "Crown" music video (wonder what the source anime was?):
Thee Katatonix, "Crown"
Nice, but I told Adolf I prefer the new "old" Katatonix video clip that Richard Taylor (who's been working forever on "the Marble Bar documentary") recently posted on YouTube, a live Marble Bar recording of our old setlist standard "My Son the Gynecologist" from when the Kats were a three-piece with Mr. Urbanity on bass, Big Andy Small on the skins and Adolf on guitar. Wish there were more vidos from that early '80s period.
Katatonix @ Marble Bar: "My Son the Gynecologist"
When we told Adolf that we were going to see the BSO play the "Music of Queen" that night, he reminisced about the Queen concerts he saw with Amy back in the '70s when they were still in Dundalk High. Adolf commented that back then, he always thought Freddie Mercury looked and dressed Way Gay, but given the Ziggy Stardust, Glam Rock, New York Dolls mascara-and-tinsel aesthetic of the day, attributed it to being part of the rock star experience. "We just figured, this is part of what the band looks like!" Freddy Mercury fooled The Living Legend Adolf K; go figure!
"Well, not everyone can look manly like you, dressed in nylons" I replied, remembering our debut performance when Adolf appeared in fishnet stockings and mascara, dressed like Tim Curry's Dr. Frank-N-Furter in The Rocky Horror Picture Show, as shown below:
Rocky Horror Kowalski
Also on hand were original Kats fans Damon the Roach and his missus and our old Towson State University pal, Al Erzersky (aka "Formerly Fat Al") and his three kids. Al used to come up onstage dressed as a rabbi whenever Thee Katatonix performed "(I Sure Miss My) Foreskin" and slice off pieces of a baloney stick attached to a didlo Adolf would pull out of his pants. Fans enjoyed catching the discarded meat (a good source of protein!) that would be flung into the crowd.
Adolf packed the meat;
Rabbi Al carved it up
Al went down a checklist of old friends and acquaintances from college days, but sadly many of them are long gone - as in forever. The "He's dead" and "She's gone" countdown was a little depressing, but made us feel lucky to be able to still be there in that little hotel suite.
Al's kids were getting restless to leave and Adolf and Patti Jo were getting ready to take the light rail up to see Cake at Artscape, so Amy and I pleaded with Al to give us a ride back to my car and spare Amy's porous knees from much pavement pounding. Fitting six people in his car was a stretch, so I had to plop Amy (blessfully petite!) on my lap in the backseat next to Al's little girl, who let me play with her blue-maned (it was Otakon, after all) My Little Pony. "Smell her hair," she said. I did and was pleasantly surprised by the lovely fragrance (mental note: buy an odor-cutting My Little Pony to put in my bathroom).
Killing Time in Fells Point
After Al dropped us off at my car, we decided to stay downtown and kill some time in Fells Point before our last stop of the day - the BSO/Queen concert at Pier Six that night. That meant grabbing some coffee at The Daily Grind and browsing through the CDs at Soundgarden, where I made my second - and greatest - musical score of the day: a used import copy of The Bonzo Dog Band's Cornology box set (which, like the Allan Sherman record, also looks to be out of print).
I love the Bonzos! Before punk rock appeared on my radar in 1978, it was left to my well-worn copy of The History of the Bonzos (1974) LP to get me through the Seventies musical landscape (OK, I was a Deadhead for a while there, too, before I gave up certain habits). I even took the title of my first radio show on WJHU "Tubas in the Moonlight" from a Bonzos tune (it appears on what is arguably the greatest Bonzo platter after Gorilla, 1969's Tadpoles), though the indie band Death Cab for Cutie trumped me by taking their name from a tune that appears on the Bonzos debut album (not to mention in the Beatles film Magical Mystery Tour). Cornology represented the whole ball of wax - all five Bonzo Dog Band albums: Gorilla (1967), The Doughnut in Granny's Greenhouse (1968), Tadpoles (1969), Keynsham (1969), even the (pretty bad) reunion album Let's Make Up and Be Friendly (1972), whose best number "The Strain" was about taking a shit. The set even includes some of their early neo-vaudeville singles, like "My Brother Makes the Noises for the Talkies," "I'm Going To Bring a Watermelon To My Girl Tonight," "Alley Oop," and "Button Up Your Overcoat." Ecstacy Bruce, ecstacy!
If you've never heard the Bonzos before, do yourself a favor and check them out. Though madcap frontman Vivian Stanshall later penned some tunes with the solo-era Steve Winwood, narrated Mike Oldfield Tubular Bells, and hung out with fellow loon Keith Moon, the band's most famous member is probably pianist/songwriter Neil Innes, who penned their only charting single "I'm the Urban Spaceman" (produced by Paul McCartney under the pseudonym "Apollo C. Vermouth") and went to create The Rutles (and portray the John Lennon character "Ron Nasty") with Eric Idle. The Monty Python connection dates back to the Bonzos being the house band on the BBC comedy show Do Not Adjust Your Set, which featured the talents of (the pre-Python) Terry Jones, Michael Palin, and Terry Gilliam. As the Cornology liner notes so succintly capsulize them:
"The Bonzo Dog (Doo Dah) Band began life as a surreal musical act which drew its repetoire from novelty songs, particularly of the 1920s. From there it was a short-step to satire as the group embraced the 60s' underground scene while scoring a hit single with 'I'm the Urban Spaceman'. By 1968 they were mirroring rock's traditions, but with a genuinely incisive style which blended crafted pop melodies, visual gags, robots, children's comics and sacred cows; lampooning, cajoling and burlesque-ing all the way. They were part of the new-wave of comedy which spawned 'Monty Python's Flying Circus' which but having tired of the pressures now exerted upon them, the group broke up in March 1970. Its individual members have since pursued a variety of projects including The Rutles and 'Rawlinson's End', but it seems they will be forever tagged 'former Bonzos'. [Especially Viv Stanshall, who died in a 1995 fire in his home but whose legacy lives on thanks to the 2004 BBC Four documentary Vivian Stanshall: The Canyons of His Mind.] It's not such a bad testimonial."
Indeed.
Unfortunately, I am a Freak Magnet, so while I was perusing the Cult Movie DVD section, some guy I had never met before started giving me his unsolicited appraisals of every title on the shelf. At first I thought he worked there and was trying to be helpful, but it soon became apparent that he was an oddball Dan Clowes character who had emerged from the pages of Eightball comics. "The Schoolgirl Reports series is very kitschy German sexploitation from the '70s, very much like Jess Franco's lesbian vampire flicks but with less eroticism, blah blah blah."
I swear this cartoon character was
following me around Soundgarden!
"Thanks, I know," I replied, startled. "I have lot of these; you're preaching to the converted." I literally had to move away from the DVDs to get away from him, only to discover that he was now shadowing me in the CD racks, where Amy was looking through the latest Queen reissues. Once again I heard his droning voice, pontificating "That's a later Queen record when they got into the disco sound..." WTF? Jeezus, I thought, is he looking over our shoulders? "We gotta get outta here," I whispered to Amy. I hate unsolicitated solicitations, be they the Jehovah's Witnesses that fill my mailbox with junk mail about the end of the world coming soon (or knocking on my door, dressed in their Sunday finest, whenever I'm in the shower!) or crazy customers at work that come in to tell me all about the latest conspiracy theories (like the Time Machine Man who insists that the U.S. Government, the King James Bible and some demon god named Mordak have been sucked into a time tunnel resulting in an apocalyptic catastrophe that's coming soon - "Thanks for sharing that heads-up" I wearily responded after determining his indisputable insanity).
We were running late for the 8 p.m. BSO/Queen show anyway, so I frantically motored through the gridlock of downtown Baltimore traffic to get to the closest parking garage near Pier Six...ready to hear the epic sounds of Queen.
BSO Plays Queen
OK, so we're sitting inside Pier Six and while I'm happy for Amy because she loves Queen, I get kinda melancholy looking around the crowd and realizing that the Baby Boomer-Classic Rock demographic is far from glamorous - or even interesting like the Otakon kids. It's a sea of gray hair (where there is hair remaining!), double-chins, pot-bellies, Polo-shirt-wearing men, and non-erotic, sensibly-attired (i.e., non-slutty) women (e.g., no low-cut blouses, thongs or tramp stamps visible). I quickly resign myself to tonight's demographic and its lack of eye-candy.
This is after all, about the music of Queen. Admittedly, though I actually owned Sheer Heart Attack, I was never a Queen fan, finding their music to be kinda cheesy and overblown, and thus perfect for the stadium rock playlists of radio stations like 98 Rock. I especially loathe their ubiquitous sports anthems "We Will Rock You" and "We Are the Champions." But I have to admit I rather enjoyed this show.
Right from the start, it became obvious that this was really a rock band covering Queen songs with backing strings and horns courtesy of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra rather than a BSO interpretation of Queen with vocals and some guitar thrown in. (This became clear when, initially, you couldn't even hear the orchestra over the sturm und drang of the electrified instruments!) The rock band was never identified by name and I suspect they were thrown together at the last minute just for this performance - after all, the gig was originally supposed to be the BSO playing the music of Pink Floyd (which also would have been interesting). The bass player was later identified as a Baltimore local, in fact.
Brody leads the band and BSO Orchestra
But the band was hot, with a Hispanic guitar player who looked like a pint-sized Gene Simmons of KISS, a metronomic drummer and the star of the show, singer Brody Dolyniuk, a Las Vegas-based frontman/pianist whose regular band Yellow Brick Road specializes in classic rock covers (a massive repetoire that includes Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, The Who, Rush and, yes, Queen!). (Younger audiences may also know him from his vocalese turning up on video games like Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock and the new Konami game Rock Revolution.)
Brody Dolyniuk of Yellow Brick Road was
up to the challenge of "Ready, Freddie, Go!"
The whole show was put together by guest conductor Brent Havens who is known for adapting rock music for symphony orchestras, including the "Music of the Doors", the "Music of Pink Floyd", the "Music of the Eagles," and the "Music of Led Zeppelin", which he performed with the BSO at the Strathmore in Bethesda, MD last year.
"When Brody came out to audition for the show we knew immediately that he had something special,” Havens said on the BSO's web site. “He not only knew the music but he had clearly listened to every aspect of Freddie's performances. His inflections were spot-on and even the wailing rock sound had that Freddie resonance. Clearly, there will never be another Freddie Mercury, but close your eyes and listen to Brody, and you're going to get something very close."
Freddie Mercury's shoes are pretty big to fill, but Brody was certainly spot-on as a replacement. I can't imagine anybody who sounds more like him (certainly not the decidely un-Mercurial Paul Rodgers!) or who sings more in Freddie's key. Brody even got singled out by Singer & Musician magazine for his ready, steady Freddie act. I'm surprised he wasn't in the UK theatrical show We Will Rock You that played the Dominion Theatre in London for eight years before hitting the road overseas. On top of it all, Brody has a easy-going manner that translates into a natural rapport with the audience.
Amy kept me abreast of all the songs and what albums they were on from the opening "The Game" (from The Game, natch!) on through the ballads Freddie Mercury wrote toward the end of his life like "These Are the Days of Our Lives" and "The Show Must Go On." All the hits were included, with the possible exception of "Radio Ga-Ga," highlighted by "Somebody to Love Me", "Stone Cold Crazy", "Fat Bottomed Girl", "Crazy Little Think Called Love", "Another Bites the Dust" and the crowd-rousing "Bohemian Rhapsody" (middle-aged people actually put down their beers and clapped their hands!). Amy was somewhat surprised that three numbers were selected from the Highlander movie soundtrack, including "Who Wants to Live Forever" and "Hammer To Fall" (which is found on the CD The Works). ("Who Wants To Live Forever" was cited as being from Highlander, but it actually only appears on The Miracle album.) A highlight for me was seeing a guy in front of me pull out his lighter and wave it to and fro! Ha - not a sight you see everyday at the symphony!
Brody and his bandmates clearly knew and liked the music they were playing, and there was no attempt to dress up in costume and mimic the stage antics of Queen.
"This isn't about me donning a mustache and prancing around," Brody told the audience at one point. "This show's all about the great music of Queen."
It worked. It worked very well. Amy certainly approved and a few days later was very excited to have added Brody Dolyniuk as her newest Facebook friend (check him out at http://www.facebook.com/brodydolyniuk). Also see Brody's Facebook page to see more photos from the Pier Six show.
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