<<<--- Guitar God alert! No, not using a zoom lens.
Funny. The last time I blogged was following the Morrissey show and here I am back again after the Johnny Marr concert at Portand's Aladdin Theatre last night (in between I did go to Richard Hell's book reading at Powell's Books. Richard was not a member of The Smiths, the legendary band in which Marr and Morrissey were members for just five years that turned into a legacy.)
The Marr concert came after just one day's break following the three day (aptly named) Bender Music Festival which was held at The Star Theatre. Bender is for people who don't like tents and port-a-johns so... people like me. Technically that is not what it is for. Its really a coming together of the punk, garage and a tinge of good kinds of weird drawing bands from all over the country and an awful lot of locals. I met lots and lots of people and am finally starting to see some of the same faces which makes me happy. Here is the band I think I liked the most (with a very sweet lead singer tho I don't want to blow her cover) The Blood Types (Portland.)
Before I could so much as catch my breath, the next thing you know one of the world's greatest guitar players, without whom no independent band would likely exist, was right in front of my eyes sounding and looking like a bona-fide, oh my god, this is a rock and roll star putting on an oh my god, this is a rock and roll show! He was brilliant down to every aspect down and probably performed the most perfect set list I've ever witnessed. He deftly mixed the old with the new with no apologies for none were necessary. It was “This is me. These are my songs.” The encore was Marr and his band doing The Clash's I Fought the Law, Electronic's Getting Away With It (Marr's band after The Smiths broke up) and, of course, The Smiths' How Soon is Now during which I turned my head to see the crowd behind me. I could see about eight guys with their hands in the air, bittersweet smiles on their faces, singing “So you go and you stand on your own and you leave on your own and you go home and you cry and you want to die.” Capturing the human condition in its beauty and in its ugliness, in its reality, its glory and its pitfalls is to me what makes art great art. Certainly the proof is in the pudding as it were seeing as that song is about 30 years old and it still moves people. Somehow still though, it seems less depressing when Marr sings it. Perhaps therein lies the secret behind their break up tho who am I to say? I'm just glad they happened at all. And, yes, because Marr used to live in Portland before returning to Manchester, a few people I met had some fun stories to tell about their brush.
Just before he came on I tapped a guy on the shoulder as I was pretty sure I recognized him from Twitter. And just as I am trying not to freak out a stranger one of my earrings decides to commit suicide and goes flying across the floor. No time to recover before my very full glass of wine goes splashing onto my sleeve and all over my hand ( It was only my second glass!) I wasn't sure which thing to fix first! I went for the sleeve. Luckily his camera didn't get wet. Colin McLaughlin who shoots for Stereogum (among others) got these fine shots that he said I could share, presumably if I don't spill anything on them. You can see them here.
After the concert I was chatting with some musicians at my new fave rock bar when one said " Oh, I should have gone to the concert" I said "Yes, you should have because if not for The Smiths the rest of us wouldn't be here" (as though I'm the boss of everyone.) And I consider that to be a very important fact of life moreso than death and taxes.
Thanks for reading. Witness the first time I ever shot a whole song at a concert. I think you will enjoy it as its VERY beautiful and please, if you love you, go see Marr when he comes to your town and write me to tell me how awesome it was. At least follow him on Twitter and find the picture from the show the security guy took because 1) its cool and 2) I'm in it if you can find me.
