Furthermore, I have (for the time being) changed the blog settings so anyone can comment on the blog, regardless if they're registered blogger members or not. I'll leave this setting this way, but at the first sight of spam advertisements for penis pills and energy drinks, I will be putting the old settings back.
But anyways, today I will be writing about: Novelty Acts.
The above picture is from the June 12th, 2009 Bootlegs of the Untitled Band/Bassfishing show at Sacred Grounds Coffeehouse in San Pedro. Aforementioned in a previous blog, Bootlegs of the Untitled Band is my brainchild project, and that's me in the orange spacesuit. (I was originally inspired by Paul London to wear one, but it's slowly developing a life of it's own with what I've been doing.)
This particular photo is my new band, Bassfishing. ("Bass" is meant to be read bay-se, like the instrument and not like the fish. That, itself, is a reference to The Wizzard from Tim and Eric's Tom Goes to the Mayor.)
At any rate, if you were to see this at a coffee shop, what would you think? Please be honest. If you were to see a bassist in a ski mask, a DEVO-reject on rhythm guitar, and La Parka wearing his casual clothes wielding an electric, what would be your reaction? It's certainly different.
What do you expect to see at coffee shops? Or better yet: what do you expect to hear when someone pulls out an acoustic guitar? Well, I'm not sure what you expect, but I certainly know what I'd expect. There are three schools of acoustic guitar players: the school of "Bright Eyes" Conor Oberst, the school of John Mayer, and the school of Jack Johnson.
Before I continue, I want to just point out that I'm not going to detract away from their talent. They certainly do things with the six strings that I'd never dream I'd ever be able to do in my entire life. However, I'll admit that I'm not a fan of Bright Eyes and John Mayer. I can understand the appeal of a tortured songwriter who has a painful time telling his stories, but something just doesn't click when it comes to Oberst's music. It's just a little too melodramatic for my tastes. As for John Mayer, I'm sorry but he is too "adult contemporary" for me. I think he's a good guitar player, but y'know, that isn't everything to me when it comes to being music I like. As for Jack Johnson, well, I actually think he is pretty good. His music is pretty fun. He's certainly not an influence of mine, and not something I'd listen to daily, but I can honestly say I like Jack Johnson.
But regardless if I love or hate Jack Johnson, John Mayer, and "Bright Eyes" Conor Oberst, there's no deny that there's this horrible saturation of this type of singer-songwriter, especially at coffee shops. It doesn't matter if it's a girl or a boy singing, they generally tend to emulate one of these type of performances. And believe me, if there's anyone who would know, it would be me. In the Southern California Area, I've been associated/performed at: Nuart Cafe, Portfolio Cafe, Java Town, Cup of Jo, Sacred Grounds Coffeehouse, the It's A Grind in Lakewood, and the It's A Grind along PCH in Long Beach. I share the stage with with these modern-day dramatists.
Between the more typical singer songwriter types and the guy who's been known to wear costumes and shout songs about "Alpha Snails," who do you think is the bigger draw? Who do you think gets the better critical acclaim?
It's honestly the age old battle between comedy vs. tragedy all over again. I'm certainly not saying my whole act is centered around humor, but I tend to be more on the comic side than the tragic side.
I've been called a "novelty" act before by some guy claiming to be a record producer. I've been given weird stares by more "serious" acts. I really want to know: who decides who has emotional depth and who doesn't?
What's with the suppression of comedy? How often do we hear: "I used to think Jim Carrey was lame, but I found out the man could act. He can do serious roles!" Everyone loves to laugh and feel good, but we're more likely to react to a sad ending, as opposed to a happy one. I always hear about good books being the depressing ones; it's always the one's that are "heart-breaking," "haunting" and "emotionally shattering." I'm always told my appreciation of the "novelty" band Ween is shared with thirteen year old kids who'll eventually grow up and reject their fandom.
Apparently, I'm certainly not "artistic" without some earth shattering, tear-jerking aspects. At the June 12th show, I played a "straight" show. It was a friend's idea, and I took it to consideration. I played a 13 song set with no gimmicks, no "stand-up comedian" stage banter, and I restrained myself from moving too much with the flow. It was an interesting approach, but it certainly felt like performing music with a straight jacket.
I had an epiphany that night, and I realized that the problem isn't with me. I shouldn't have to creatively change myself for anyone, because what I feel is natural when I perform is true, honest, pure, and raw expression. I'm certainly not saying I can't be serious. Some days I'll feel like being goofy on stage, and on other days, I don't. I shouldn't consciously dictate what I should do. Does anyone dictate how they breathe?
The problem is the mentality of rational and pain. Our great logical minds have set the paradigm to be that we must think and analyze, and of course, this leads to pain. Logical minds expect life to play fair and for everything to make sense. We don't want to experience and enjoy things; it seems too easy to do so. We are all subconsciously masochists who want everything to be intricate and technical, so we can get everything down to a science; to say everything fits appropriately with labels. We don't like this idea of life being mysterious, but rather our egos want to say we know everything. We want to be able to proclaim: "I've got you figured out" and "You're predictable." Everything has to be "intelligent," and comedy is rarely ever seen as a "smart" art form.
And so, a simple minded baffoon on stage become a "novelty act." I'm someone that the logical minds think are predictable. Truthfully though, I believe that you can never predict the mind of a fool. The fool is only a fool because someone called him a "fool," and the label comes from being "different." [Of course, I'm not saying one should be just pure comedy over tragedy, because that's when you'll get the true sociopaths. However, I think I'll address this in a later post.]
I truly do feel that Ween are spiritual brethren to my work. Does it bother me that they haven't achieved mainstream success? It's been 6 independent albums, and 10 studio albums. I certainly want them to have bread on their table. I don't wish anyone to starve in the world. Of course, I think generally, nobody takes them seriously.
The 1997 album The Mollusk is one of my favorite albums, but from start to finish, it is quite hilarious. The opening song "I'm Dancing in the Show Tonight" is a showtune-esque number, with a chamber of morphing voices. Another notable song is "Ocean Man," which has been used for a Honda commercial, as well as The Spongebob Square Pants movie. The song most people state as the most out there on the album is the stomp on the floor, "knee slapping" romp that is "Waving My Dick in the Wind." Needless to say, the album is forty minutes of good times.This isn't to say the band doesn't have its serious moments. The final track on The Mollusk entitled "She Wanted to Leave" is probably one of the few songs that literally had me bummed me out for days. The opening song to the 2000 album White Pepper called "Exactly Where I'm At," has lyrics that really punch you to the gut: "I'm all staged / It's all an act / I'm really scared that I may fall back on the abstract / It'd be exactly where I'm at." And of course, these are all songs that would be considered "emotionally deep," had they not been written by Ween.
There is hope because Ween is one of those kinds of band that has always changed their sound. They've done an album of country tunes, an album themed around the ocean, and an album of Beatles-esque pop. On top of that, while they are considered to be with the indie and alternative scene, they've been known to cover songs by hard rock musicians such as Led Zeppelin, Motorhead, and even Van Halen. On top of that, they've had a great underground following that supports them through and through, showing that it is still rewarding to be uncompromising and express who you really are. Their fans tend to appreciate all aspects of them.
It might not quite be the mainstream, but there is an audience out there that doesn't think of them as just a "novelty" act.
In closing, I leave you with two things. First, here's the infamous 30 second jingle that Ween did for Pizza Hut:
"Where'd the Cheese Go?".
"Where'd the Muthafuckin' Cheese Go At?".
If you haven't figured out, the later is the explicit remix.
I honestly think that had they succeeded in getting that song to be used in a commercial, it would've been as memorable as those old, creepy Quiznos subs advertisements.
Secondly, here's the music video to one of my favorite Ween songs, "Even if You Don't":
It's directed by Trey Parker and Matt Stone of South Park fame.
Photos of Bootlegs / Bassfishing taken by Roderick Apellanes at the Sacred Grounds Show. June 12, 2009. His photoblog is here:
Raving_Musashi..
The photo of Jim Carrey is from his role of Lloyd Christmas from the Farrelly Brothers film, Dumb and Dumber. (1994.)
I stole the photo of Ween from old-wizard.com's "
Top American Bands.."
All I can say is that people, for some reason, find it incredibly hard to just laugh and have a good time in life. Your shows that I've gone to are brilliant; You deadpan some jokes to mixed responses, you get some funny looks, but on and under the surface it doesn't seem to bother you. You're a brilliant, underappreciated writer, and your music shows it. The world loves the melodramatic, but you're right in refusing to let it dictate your style.
ReplyDeleteThank you, very much. (Y'know, I think I have an idea who you are, but I'd rather not make a wild guess and look like a douche.)
ReplyDeleteLife can't be just all comedy, but I think most people are look at their lives and see things as: 80% tragic, and 20% comic.
That's at least my guess.
I'm more of a 20% T/80% C person myself. But yeah, I think that's probably a good guess of what people see in their lives. The bottom line though, is that people just need to cheer the hell up.
ReplyDelete