September 2008 (PDF) - Antigravity Magazine
September 2008 (PDF) - Antigravity Magazine
September 2008 (PDF) - Antigravity Magazine
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COLUMNLOCAL MUSIC<br />
LIVE NEW ORLEANS<br />
SONGE ENRAGED<br />
by jason songe jason@liveneworleans.com<br />
MAELSTROM: SONGS OF STORM AND EXILE<br />
You know what gets the girl at poetry readings? Comedy and levity. After sitting through diaryridden,<br />
overly earnest poems, laughing is like breathing after tumbling in an undertow.<br />
At a stand-up open mic above Lucy’s about two months after Katrina, I remember<br />
cringing when a comedian told a joke about the storm. I enjoy irreverence, but still, it was<br />
too early. When I could laugh about the storm I was still wary of songs and writing about it<br />
because of possible exploitation (George Bush’s Jackson Square speech) and middle-of-theroad<br />
schmaltziness (Cowboy Mouth’s “The Avenue”). This trepidation has precluded my<br />
consumption of most storm-oriented music and writing, though I enjoyed the classiness and<br />
subtlety displayed by Rotary Downs and Big Blue Marble when dealing with the subject. I’m<br />
a little ashamed I still haven’t read the accounts of Josh Clark and Chris Rose.<br />
Three years after the storm comes “Maelstrom: Songs of Storm and Exile,” a set of<br />
poems inside Jealous Witness, a new poetry book by Andrei Codrescu, local essayist,<br />
translator, novelist and columnist. This book was easy to pick up because by the time I<br />
read the poems I’d already been disarmed by the comedy inherent in most of the song<br />
versions of the poems. With the book comes a twenty-one-track CD, a collaboration<br />
between Codrescu and the New Orleans Klezmer All-Stars. Every track contains<br />
Klezmer music. Some are new storm-oriented instrumentals, some are readings of the<br />
poems by guests, and my favorites are the readings by Codrescu. No matter how cool it<br />
is to hear or how good Coco Robicheaux, Alex McMurray, Ivan Neville, or John Boutte<br />
are at interpreting his poems, there’s nothing better than hearing the author himself,<br />
especially when he sounds just as off kilter and smart-ass as the music behind him.<br />
On “Married Men’s Girlfriends:” “She’s in Houston I’m in Philly/o how it kills me to be<br />
here with my wife’s large family.”<br />
On “The Army, National Guard, NOPD, and FEMA Tantz:” “Look at them crouching<br />
ready for combat/ who they gonna combat who they gonna combat.”<br />
On “The Army, National Guard, NOPD, and FEMA Tantz:” “How quickly they forgot<br />
how they didn’t want a Wal Mart here”<br />
Codrescu also laments, whether it’s the absence of the mayor, the inability of helicopters<br />
to take pets, growing mold, or the disappearance of the middle class. In these poems<br />
Codrescu is a great observer, noting the resilience and kindness of humanity and how status<br />
and grudges slough off us in times of tragedy. These poems celebrate life. I wish my favorite<br />
poem wasn’t a downer, but there it is, anyway. “New Orleans Limbo” is a treasure and a<br />
heartbreaker. Since I believe they were written in 2005, the poems can feel like yesterday’s<br />
news, but they’re still a great document. Do I even need to say that my previously stated<br />
trepidations would be unfounded when concerning these poems? Codrescu has heart and<br />
tact to spare.<br />
Could there have been a better band than the Klezmers to back Codrescu? It’s a real<br />
treat to hear new compositions by Jonathan Freilich, Glenn Hartman, and especially Rob<br />
Wagner, who I’ve developed a jones for since he stopped his regular d.b.a. Mondays. Helen<br />
Gillet provides cello on a few songs, and I’ve got to hand it to drummer Dave Sobel for<br />
being extremely inventive and seemingly playing just the right thing for every song. He<br />
knows when silence can be better. The musical highlight of the album is Freilich’s tearsoaked<br />
guitar on “Gone, But Forgotten.” I’d have guessed it was Brian Stoltz until<br />
I heard his feverish strumming midway through the song. I guess he can play anything.<br />
RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE @ LOLLAPALOOZA, GRANT PARK,<br />
CHICAGO, 8/2/08<br />
This may sound gross, but it’s a fair barometer of how much Rage’s show at<br />
Lollapalooza moved me: I haven’t sweat so much at a concert since Gogol Bordello<br />
played Twiropa in 2004 or 2005. When I got back to my hotel, I was superrelaxed<br />
and had a natural high going, probably because of all the toxins I got out.<br />
Maybe it’s melodramatic or naive of me, but it really felt like the world began and<br />
ended in that field Saturday night. Nothing else mattered, and if this was going to be<br />
my chance to exorcise my personal shit and also lend my voice to a social and political<br />
dissent that Rage so intelligently and powerfully espouses, I wasn’t going to just stand<br />
there. I was alone, so I didn’t have anyone to worry about or protect, and I was far enough<br />
up in the crowd that everyone next to me were surefire fans. I spent most of the concert<br />
airborne, and I gotta say that I inspired a few people around me to get into the show more.<br />
I didn’t know from the beginning how good the show was going to be. Maybe I’d enjoy<br />
the show but be less than blown away, like I was at Voodoo. Luckily, the band was tighter in<br />
Chicago, and they were angrier, which the crowd ate up in appreciation. All I can say is that<br />
I’d love to see a Rage show the morning of the presidential election. That’d be nuts.<br />
Something I noticed was that Tom Morello was more animated than usual, carelessly<br />
windmilling his body around. Awesome.<br />
Only two songs came from Evil Empire: “Bulls on Parade” and “People of the Sun.” I really<br />
wanted to hear “Tire Me.” Oh, well.<br />
It’s eerie how Rage’s lyrics are still so relevant today:<br />
Continued on Page 37...<br />
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