Thursday, March 11, 2010

Pearl Company last night...

Jean-Paul De Roover was back in town last night, at the marvelous Pearl Company. A group from Vancouver called City of Glass opened and did a Coldplay thing. Not bad, a pleasant hour, well, apart from the downer lyrics, and the failed amp. They said they were going to Long & McQuade today to throw the amp through the window. That'd be a sight to see.
J-P was excellent as he demonstrated what one guy with a lot of loops and effects, and unlimited imagination can do. The thing I like most about him is his sense of melody. It's not all abstract art...there's real structure to it.
I bought a copy of John "Drumbo" French's book Beefheart: Through the Eyes of Magic from the man himself, and it arrived in the mail yesterday. It's a honking big book filled with dense print and pictures galore. Memories from everyone who was there, and great stories. Over 800 pages means I won't be reading it at bedtime, it's too heavy to hold up! But I will spend quite a bit of time with it, the excerpts I've previewed are fascinating. And don't forget Mike Barnes' biography of the Captain; or Zoot Horn Rollo's Lunar Notes; or Kevin Courrier's Trout Mask Replica written in the 33 1/3 series.
I watched Paris, Texas the other day. The new Criterion Blu-Ray is a tremendous transfer, and includes a wealth of extra stuff. Even interviews with Ry Cooder.
The Patti Smith book, Just Kids is a good read, and the DVD Dream of Life makes a great complement to it. And you might as well go all out an pick up her compilation CD set Land and you'll gain a new appreciation for Patti!
Going home to listen to some new Jimi Hendrix music. I'll let you know what I think.
See you!