Show Review: BLEACHED, Colleen Green, Cold Showers & Cathedral X

Show Review
2011 San Diego Music Thing
Abe Vigoda
BLEACHED
Colleen Green
Cold Showers
Plateaus

Chasms
Cathedral X
@ The Casbah in San Diego

   Have I mentioned how much I hate reading show reviews from two months ago?  Here's an idea- if you can't get your shit together to put up the review within a week- don't post the g** d**** review.

  Last night I went to the Casbah to check out the Art Fag/DREAM Recordings Showcase.  Local luminaries were on hand: Jo Jo from Heavy Hawaii, big Tim Mays himself, Blaque Chris, Robbie Butler- it was, as they say, a star-studded affair.

  Rolled in to the end of the ridiculously early PLATEAUS set.  Gentleman Jon Greene could not have been happy.  I heard they recently put pen to paper on the Art Fag Recordings deal for the full-length LP, so everyone has that to look forward to.

   COLD SHOWERS:  This band is amazing- strong song writing, accessible sound and professional level musicianship make for an intoxicating gothy pop blend.  I can't find the lead singer's name at the moment- but he also is/was the founder/owner of I Hate Rock and Roll Records, and it's my understanding that he's folding that label and will be partnering up with Craig Oliver at Volar Records to create some sort of indie super label.  I guess we're all just waiting to see who will put out the debut lp. Looks like they have booking lined up, so it should be a go- can't wait to hear the full length- oh and if someone at Mexican Summer is reading this post can you send me the 5 Cold Showers 7"s I bought and paid for two months ago? Thx.

      COLLEEN GREEN:  Colleen Green struggled through technical difficulties (equipment based) but delivered a brief set of winning tunes that gave clear evidence as to why blogs (such as this one) have dubbed her "AMERICAS SWEETHEART" and a "CANT MISS WIN."  Personally, when I see her perform I'm reminded of the brazen confidence of a Dirty Beaches with the catchy song writing and vox of Dum Dum Girls.  The one person pop act is perfectly suited for this age of mp3s and financial collapse, and with dates on the road opening for Dum Dum Girls and Crocodiles and an EP slated for release on Art Fag Recordings the same month, I would have to say that the stars have alined and Colleen Green is ready for take off.  Oh, and all you dbags who were hanging on the patio during her set?  You fucking suck- except for Robbie Butler- because I know he goes to all the Colleen Green shows.

    In all honesty, I get the same feeling watching Colleen Green that I had when I watched "before" versions of Best Coast, Dirty Beaches and Dum Dum Girls: This is an artist with demonstrated national viability.

    CATHEDRAL X:  Cathedral X is a local act that played in the DREAM LOUNGE last night- I think they are one of two acts slated for releases on the new DREAM RECORDINGS imprint run by Art Fag Recordings honcho Martin Orduno.  Wife and I were talking about Prince Rama right before they started playing, and it's funny- because they actually reminded both of us of Prince Rama.  Cathedral X is a three piece- male drummer, female singer (who performed a) under a sheet and b) in a see through skirt with a g string underneath.) and then a third performer who was spasming and twitching like a monster out of a Japanese horror film.

   The singing was wordless or close to it, with the vox looped through a series of pedals to give the singing a unique sound.  The drumming was non-typical- it was probably the drumming that reminded me most of Prince Rama and then there was a backing Ipod track.  Unlike Prince Rama, which is firmly grounded in Hindu chanting, the points of reference for Cathedral X were harder to pin point.  Clearly there is some kind of performance art influence and I think probably if/when I see them next I will either ask directly.  I'll tell you this much, I'd watch this band a million billion times before I'd sit through five minutes of a set from a conventional blues-rock four piece.  Bottom line, I'm in for Cathedral X.

 BLEACHED: For me, Bleached was the headliner of the night.  I've managed to miss the live show about six times already in San Diego (and once in Palm Springs) so I was ready to see, in person, what the fuss is all about.  Jen Clavin's sister plays guitar in both Bleached and Cold Showers, and Bleached is rounded out with a drummer and bassist who looks like he escaped from the Soft Pack.  Bleached had their manager, Scott Hopkins from Rainstorm in attendance, and throughout the set I tried to figure out how a guy who used to work for Velvet Revolver landed Jen Clavin's new band andd... I don't know.  He does seem to know his way around the music biz.

    As for Bleached themselves, I was, unfortunately, underwhelmed- particularly considering the performances of Cold Showers, Colleen Green and Cathedral X.  It sounded to me like Bleached is covering ground last covered by the Donnas- sneering 70s style guitar rock, and I'm not sure that's what I want/need from the ex-lead singer of Mika Miko.  Certainly, Bleached is going to have no trouble getting in front of audiences, but I'm not sure whether it will sell.  I've been kind of disappointed by the 7" sales figures I've seen- although the Art Fag Recordings physically 7"s sold out in a week and a half, the digital sales are flat, and I'm not sure why.  People should be going bananas for that shit.  It's a puzzler, and bears more investigation.

   Don't get me wrong- Clavin's star power and Bleached accessible sound should get them a knock on the front door of the castle, if not inside the castle itself.

    The turn-out was respectable if not incredible.  If I could make one suggestion it's that Bleached/Plateaus on tour together would be a formidable combination.

  I will be appearing at the San Diego Music Conference today at 345 PM.  

The Mother Fucking San Diego Music Thing Is This Fucking Weekend

          Here are some final last-minute details for those of you eager to catch my appearance at 3:45 PM on Saturday, September 10th in the Mississippi Room at the San Diego Music Thing Conference.  I will be appearing on a panel moderated by Josh Feingold, down there at Song Publishing, and my co-panelists will be:  Justin Pearson, Jello Biafra & Scott Simoneaux.  Today I learned that Alternative Tentacles just agreed on a distribution arrangement with Revolver/Midheaven- so we've got that in common.  The subject of the panel will be "The resurgence of indie labels."  I'm glad I pulled the late afternoon panel this year.  I'm going to keep the quiet to avoid being humiliated in public!  You might want to attend just to see if I get put in my place.  Here's a thought, you could come with a question that makes me look like an idiot.  And then video tape me being berated/humiliated?  I'm just trying to think outside the box, here.

    On Friday, September 9th at the Casbah:

ABE VIGODA
BLEACHED
COLLEEN GREEN
COLD SHOWERS

IN THE DREAM RECORDINGS LOUNGE

CHASMS
CATHEDRAL X

  ALL GRAVY, MY FRIENDS...ALL GRAVY.

How Audiences Invented Artists

BOOK REVIEW
The Pleasures of the Imagination:
English Culture in the 18th Century
by John Brewer
p.  1997
Farar Straus Giroux

   It's simply a fact that English Culture in the 18th century created our modern ideas about Art and Artists.  The 18th century is the time in which the idea of "high art" developed, the time when the modern traditions of literature, art and theater were established, and, most importantly, the time in which wide swathes of people in England gained the time and money to indulgence their fondness for "leisure."

   Recognizing the 18th century as an important time in the development of modern art is one thing, understanding the role it actually played is quite another.  Critical perspectives on the 18th century are often shaped by later developments distorting the vision of the critic- most especially the Romantic inspired cult of Artist as genius, and 19th century Marxism.  Brewer's The Pleasures of the Imagination serves as a stern, contemporary refutation of many mushy headed ideas about the development of Art in Modern society.

   Brewer's method is to survey 18th century developments in the Arts, in England and tie them to pre-existing and developing institutions in order to demonstrate what came before the explosion in Artistic activity during the 18th century.  The main sections of Pleasures deal with the rise of the novel, the development of 18th century painting, and the arts of "public performance": theater, opera and concert music.  After his survey of artisitic development in the 18th century, Brewer turns to the relationship between the center and it's periphery (London and the other area of England) in order to show the way in which "city culture" developed outside of the city.

  Perhaps the theme from Pleasures that would be most astonishing to readers of this blog (or perhaps not astonishing at all) is the manner in which, in all art forms, the AUDIENCE preceded the ARTIST.  Take the novel- a 18th century English invention if ever there was one.  Literature existed in 17th century England, but the novel did not.  What happened?  Well, at the end of the 17th century in London, there were people who made their living printing and selling books- let's call them "booksellers"- there were also people who made their living writing- let's call them "hacks."  During the first part of the 18th century, there was explosive growth in the population of London itself, and a corresponding rise in demand for printed matter: sermons, almanacs, information about public affairs, poetry.

   The early novel writers were ALREADY involved in the world of literature.  For example, Brewers uses Samuel Richardson, who might well, along with Daniel DeFoe might be considered the "inventor" of the novel.  Richardson was a succesful printer, who wrote his first novel at the age of 50.  The result, Pamela, was a work that Richardson knew there was an audience for- he knew because he made books for them.  Likewise, DeFoe was what you would call a "hack" and his early novel's were sensational in the vein of the criminal biographies and adventure narratives that people were already buying.

  Thus the novel, at it's very inception, was perceived as something that people should want to buy, and the audience for the novel already existed- they were just buying other forms of literature.  Once the value in the novel as a new form of literature was perceived by writers, they wasted no time establishing a secondary body of literature that we call "criticism."  Most of this criticism happened among writers themselves, with an uneasy and unclear relationship to the larger, buying, "public."  This pattern of development- happening early in the 18th century- was to occur again and again through the 18th, 19th and 20th century.

    Certainly, painting offers an even broader, more distinct example of Audience preceding Artist.  At the beginning of the 18th century, painting was something that, for Englishmen, happened in Italy, two hundred years ago.  Contemporary English painters were of little regard, and they were certainly not the peoe ple who decided what painting was worthwhile.  This task- the task of discrimination and of what we call "taste" was the province of the "connessiour" and later, the "collector."  Beginning in the 18th century, more and more wealthy English gentleman (and fewer ladies) took the Grand Tour, where they travelled to Italy with the express purpose of cultivating their artistic tastes. 

   They returned to England, and acting like the powerful players in Society they actually were, went about disseminating their views about Painting in private and in public.  This took the form of clubs, journals and partnerships with the government to share their taste with the population.  All of this activity only gradually let to domestic painting being recognized as "worthy" on a level with the Renaissance masters, and even by the end of the 18th century, it was a battle that was far from over.  18th century painting is an example of an at times artist-less Audience and it provides a neat counter example to the more common pattern of working artists developing a new artisitc genre for an existing Audience.

    Finally, Brewer comes to the "performing" arts- Theater, Opera and Concert Music. Here, the argument of Audience preceding Artist is easy to make, simply based on the manner in which these forms were slaves to Audience opinion (even, when in the case of Opera, the audience was an audience of one: The King of England.)  Indeed, the great successes of 18th century theater and concert music were men (Garrick and Handel) who created works of art that had huge secondary associations among the wider population.  Garrick was the man who created the "cult" of Shakespeare, Handel the man who created the music for 18th century church going Britons.

  In all areas, the idea of the detached Aritst, living apart from society in some sort of self-imposed isolation is showng to be a false ideas propogated by romantic theorists of the 18th and 19th century.  False then, false now- without the Audience, Artists don't exist.

London Guardian on David Lynch and Pop Music

LONDON GUARDIAN