Inner Revolution (with obnoxious comments from Monkey in italics)

As promised, I'm writing a few on the Adrian Belew gig last week (finally). I first became aware of the guy when my dad brought home what was the second McKinnon family compact disc (the first being Led Zeppelin IV)(Your dad was some sort of early technology adopter. My dad didn't even have a microwave until well into the 21st century). Paul Simon's Graceland. (My dad's copy was on vinyl, which made the liner notes easy to read.) I consider this one of the most important records in the development of my musical appreciation. I seem to recall The Joshua Tree and Graceland being the records that flipped the switch in my noggin which made me realize the difference between actual quality and fluffy bullshit. I still appreciate fluffy bullshit of course (we're seeing Def Leppard tomorrow, front row center thanks to a hookup with the radio station)(excuse me but I think you just referred to Def Leppard as fluffy bullshit. My inner twelve year old is flipping you the bird), but those two records in particular caused me to realize pop music had real artistic value. I started digging into my dad's Beatles, Who and Kinks records soon thereafter.(Because you had started to smoke pot.) I had a shitty acoustic guitar within the year.

Adrian was on Graceland. At the same time we got the disc, there was simultaneously an interview in Guitar World with him and Robert Fripp.(You really are a music nerd. Are you aware of music trivia at the 506 on Sundays? It's generally too hard for us normal folk.) I had no real awareness of Talking Heads or King Crimson (especially KC) at that time. That didn't happen until college, when I actually began to markedly improve on bass (resulting from the embarassment of playing in the basketball band and sucking out loud in front of 15,000 people at the SWC finals) and became interested in "difficult rock" (I loathe the prog nomenclature)(And so you use it endlessly). Two years later I was in a band with my oldest friend. A year after THAT Peanut Gallery was delving into abject stupidity. Race you to the end of the song was the motto.(And perhaps drove your sexual habits?) Cramming as many time signatures as possible into a three minute pop song was standard practice. We worshipped Rush and Genesis and The Police and Talking Heads, but were playing with our egos (as a brief aside, no band should ever wear capes and write 40-minute long songs, regardless of intent or talent)(as another brief aside, what besides ego are most bands playing with? Their geniune need for creative expression? Puh-leez). Then came the rock opera, effectively the bane of the group. The Feldmans (The Corey Feldmans?) followed a year later, which was a direct response to PG in that our goal was to get together a few times a week, get drunk and write ridiculous, self-effacing/self-referential prog rock (there it is) anthems. There are specific moments on the ensuing recording that could very easily be lifted directly from Moving Pictures, but in a laugh out loud sort of way. Laugh out loud if you're 100% geek, I suppose. (We know.)

During that period in the late 90s/early 00s, I was practicing a lot.(Are we already referring to the late 90s/early 00s as "that period?" That period was 8 years ago. Strange.) Not necessarily expanding my understanding of theory, but more my vocabulary. I got into the Heads (and Tom Tom Club), Bowie (finally), Minutemen, back into Pixies and Pavement, Guided By Voices, various post-rock outfits like Sea and Cake and Three Mile Pilot, Queen, Elvis Costello and Elton John (John Deacon, Bruce Thomas and Dee Murray are probably three of my favorite bassists; so melodic and supportive, but totally distinct in their styles... and regardless of the fact I play like an Entwistle obsessed, adderall laced chipmunk). The bulk of my 20s was spent flushing out the cock-rock vernacular and replacing it with substance and quality.("Flushing out" might be a strong way to put it, "repressing" might be more appropriate.) Maybe that's a bit pretentious to say and most likely impossible to achieve, as I am still known to drive away from work with Open Up and Say Ahhh... on the iPod and my outstreched arm flipping an unrepentant fuck you to The Man. I digress. (Thanks for supporting my point though.)

ANYWAY, Adrian Belew is a major component of that effort. I have nothing but respect for anyone able to forge a career in creativity without sacrificing personal principles. Whether those principles are getting laid and fucked up (a la Motley Crue)(all bands are better before they get sober) or writing and performing music for the sake of writing and performing music, the fact remains it's accomplished without denigrating whatever it was that urged them into that line of work to begin with. What I particularly appreciate about Belew, aside from his individualism (you have a man crush), is his sense of melody and songcraft. So may times I hear someone say his music is maybe what John Lennon would be writing were he still alive today.(Wait, how many times have you actually heard that?) I suppose stripped of the perfectly twisted guitar work - yes. Or maybe Adrian would be performing with Lennon, providing it. They seem cut from the same cloth. Count in the Tony Levin connection, and I s'pose (uh, are you in that much of a hurry there, Shorthand McGee?) it's not beyond the scope of reality.

To my mind, Belew exemplifies that iconic sort of modern-media artist, the Kubrick or Warhol or Prince, who is just creatively relentless, but populist.(Your master's degree just paid off.) How does one live like this? That constant output, all within the public eye. (I'm pretty sure the Benjamins are a constant source of motivation.) I know for a fact creativity isn't the sole element of those people's successes. I know plenty of creative people who don't do shit. Who sit at home waiting for something to happen to them, waiting for someone to recognize the power of their genius.(Amen.) There's more to it than creativity, obviously. Self promotion, conceit, work ethic, awareness that an audience exists for whatever it is you have to say (although Rush has an exceptional philosophy on the role of the audience in the creative process, I'll refrain from discussing here as I know most of you bastards loathe Rush) - components.(Loathing Rush does not a bastard make.) And like anything, if you become bored the art declines and you eventually just... stop. Or you resent success and those who established it. Jaz Coleman. Kurt Cobain. Et cetera. (You have time to write out et cetera, but not "suppose?")

ANYWAY, while I started this post as a review of the Belew show, I quickly realized it's been years since I've written a rock show review and had lost track of my goal by the second graf.(HAHAHA!! Graf!! Oh, Mittens. You are seriously warming my heart.) I apologize for the sophomoric ramblings, then. I do want to say that seeing Adrian play with, well, kids... kids half his age... siblings Eric and Julie Slick... who can easily hold their own against the best in the business, probably walk all over them actually, motivated his performance to a different level. He's always good, certainly, but everyone seemed to enjoy this gig more than the last go-round. Not that the last go-round was lacking, but that this one was looser and kookier. Ask Crimson fans - it's universal he's the best part of the show. Fripp has a stick up his butt... I should stick to writing about cars.

I should really be writing music.(And music reviews (that was not a cynical comment)). We (Wallpaper Thieves - http://www.myspace.com/thewallpaperthieves ) now have about 30 or so idea recordings from recent rehearsals, and I have a half dozen or so almost completed songs that need some tuning up. The band is going well, and shows like this one drive us with inspiration and a bit of hope. Brandon and I are slowly becoming a fairly formidible guitar section, and Ken remains the best drummer I've ever played with, regardless of the fact he no longer wants to play drums. Vocals and the damned Moogs are the biggest obstacles now. Albatrosses. With the Torch Marauder connection, we're hoping out premier gig will be sheer insanity. Good, bad, I'm the guy with the gun.(What does that mean?) As long as it's memorable. My dream is to play Run to the Hills or Aces High with Torch on vocals. That would rule.

Gonna learn the Oberheim parts for Rush's Signals now. Monkey, you can kick me later.(Done.)