Flanfire

Alro Guthrie will be performing at Alice's Restaurant on June 11. Ours - not the old one in Vermont which inspired a song and then a movie. That's a week after Toni Price graces the Alice stage. If you have not been out to eat Nina and Walther's cooking and enjoy the quiet countryside in Niederwald (Niederweird?), you had better get there soon or else you may have a long wait to get a place in the food line. We chowed down there on Sunday to our great delight.

Now to business. I am hereby republishing my February 3, 1968, review of Arlo's first concert in Washington, DC, that appeared in the Washington Free Press. This is not great writing - but you may get a buzz anyhow just allowing me to reminisce.

"I don't want a pickle .... I just want to ride on my motorcycle ... And I don't want to die ... I just want to ride on my motorcy ... cle."

Arlo Guthrie gets you involved. He tells of smoking, riding on cycles, getting busted in Rittenhouse Square Park, putting on FBI agents at Kennedy Airport, and of course of the incomparable Alice. You listen, you sing along, you laught, you applaud. And you go away thinking, "Man, that guy is great!"

He also plays (acoustic) guitar, sings straight folk ballads, and plays the piano. But the son of Woody Guthrie will move you with his humor, because he, like his father, can express the anguish and frustrations of his generation without being angry. He mocks law enforcement:
"Why do police guys beat up peace guys?" He prods the FBI: "You gotta be over 40 and in the force for 25 years to be THAT much of a bastard." And he urges everybody to sing loud:
"Remember, he's only five blocks away, and I want him to hear us." [LBJ in the White House]

Arlo is folksy. He is real. He is our own. And after hearing him talk and sing for two hours at Lisner Auditorium [on the George Washington U. campus], you begin to believe that you CAN get anything you want at Alice's, particularly if Arlo is with you.

So the night before we were down at Waterloo on Sixth and Lamar to hear Bonnie (Whitmore) and (Jamie) Blythe - and there was a reasonable crowd, including Jamie's family just back from a month away from their New Braunfels ranch and tired from weeding and working out at the garden festival. The gals will be back at Waterloo and will also be playing more Austin gigs, but not until Bonnie returns from a month-long escape to New York City where she will be playing in famous venues before the rich and powerful (we hope). Both had new songs to display as well as other originals and well done covers of some of the area's best and brightest women songwriters (and a few from out of town, too). They put on a good show that gets better. So go.

The night before was a little wilder - the Back Room for (drum roll) The Jolly Garogers, Lucid Dementia, and The Addictions. Bet you did not know the old Flanfire dude could handle the loud, the lewd, the lurid, and the labyrinthean? For those who have not seen the Garogers, it was amazing to see a guy closer to my age than birth jumping up high in the air and doing air splits while wearing pirate pants and a serious wig and pirate hat. But that's The Dread Pirate Stagedive (who makes Johnny Depp's pirate seem civilized). Fellow singer (and shouter) Captain Phleabag is huge and over the top - looks like Lunk (aka Sloth) from The Goonies. Twin leads Redbeard and Darenger also provide backup vocals, as does bassist Scurvy Dave Bloodbath Seagraves XVI. The band, which plays weekly at Treasure Island on Sixth Street, has gotten a whole lot tighter of late and puts on quite a show. High energy and loud - my favorite was "Calling in Dead (on Monday Morning)" - sounds like a true story. Folks, their website is also a scream, and they have gear that furthers their image as displaced marauders. This band is at least a one-time MUST SEE - and maybe you will like their music, too.

Next up (we did miss the earlier bands) was Lucid Dementia - a band led by 6-foot-tall Xenobaebe alien Luci - whom we understand is having neck problems but still showed up for her opening number, "Creep." This band describes its music as "Dark, Danceable, Orchestrated, Tongue-In-Cheek, Political Aggressive, Nihilistic, Mechanized, Manic Music." I will testify to all of the above, as I could not stop dancing for about half of their short set. Puppet master Sheldon Reynolds nearly a decade ago started this band, which merges industrial sounds with images of darkness (though Sheldon himself wore whiteface for this gig). Chanteuse Holly (compleat with black wings and black dress with fishnet stockings) has been Luci's (and Sheldon's) foil for years now - she pouts with the best of them. Female drummer Azil (her stage name) and guitar contortionists (that's their word!) uzeful and Lord Byron Payne are joined by newest member (and our pal) Ann Marie Harrop (queen of the dark) to fill the stage with sound, distortion, angst, and dry humor - but also a sadness that leaks out of hidden crevices onto the stage.

Lucid Dementia was just awarded Best Industrial/Goth Band by the Austin Chronicle SXSW Music Awards! Not only that, but they placed 4th best Metal band, 3rd best punk band, and Sheldon Reynolds won 2nd best Record Producer! They attended the much anticipated awards show last nite, and graciously accepted the award, with Luci in tow, much to the crowd's amazement, and the Austin press wonderment. And no wonder. They are unique in many ways, and well worth a visit. Next BIG show is Friday, the 13th of May, at Elysium on Red River - when the band promises a LOT of props and great ghoulishness.

Okay, so after all that, I was a little tired when The Addictions came on stage. But I did watch as they energized the crowd with their targeted song list and hot guitar licks. Folks who know Jason and Beth Richard and their longtime band mates have their own opinions as to whether this band is "as wonderful" as Quatropaw, but the simple fact is that this band is feeding their children and Quatropaw was not. Moreover, it is quite clear that the band members are fully enjoying putting on a show musically as well as with the stage pyrotechnics. I just want them to go all out - get some smoke, get some serious strobes, and maybe even get a rope ladder or whatever -- and play a little earlier in the evening.

Gotta go.