Thursday, August 22, 2013

The End is Near: Get it While the Getting’s Good…


It had to happen sooner or later, of course, that the summer would end, and that life would resume its typical humdrum course of ‘normalcy,’ as if summer were more of a carnival show than a respite, more of a vocation than a vacation, since huge sums are made and squandered in the business end of summer—traveling, resting, relaxing, recreating, and procreating, or working at it, anyway. 


You better include music in that list, too, since festivals are a major part of the pop music experience, what with the demise of the record industry these days.  In fact it can be hard to find an American band in the homeland during the summer, since there is so much more money to be made overseas, especially in Europe.  So this is like the Christmas retail season for an American band, in which they can make half the year’s income. 

What… you were thinking that there are a plethora of bands over in Europe singing in German, French, Spanish, and Portuguese?  Not much.  And those are the major languages.  Actually outside of the UK and Ireland I can pretty much count all the classic rock acts in Europe on one hand, actually on one mano negro: Manu Chao, who’s great, of course; and… ABBA, if you’re into bubblegum; and… Russia’s Mumiy Troll (who most Americans don’t know); and… Bjork, if that’s classic yet; and… and… Nina Hagen, maybe?  You remember that song “100 Red Balloons,” right?  Did you know it was written by one Carlo Karges (no relation)?  Ich bin ein Berliner…  From there you go quickly downhill into B-bands like Scorpions and Cranberries, each of whom scored a couple of mainstream mediocre hits (and did well in Thailand BTW).  Then there’s Swedish death metal…     

It’s not so easy in England, either, though they’re holding their own. The best stuff is not coming out of London, AFAIK.  Follow the money.  Good roots-rock needs low rents to nurture it, I guess.  High-rent places tend more toward trance and dance it seems, electronica and DJ’s and such, whether by chance or choice, I don’t know.  That’s cool, too.  Of course the biggest non-Anglo act ever is Bob Marley and the whole Jamaican scene, though that’s a rare case. 

And then there’s Mexico’s Mana’, an even rarer case, and hardly known outside of Latino countries.  Thank God for world music, which tends to transcend all the star-making machinery behind the popular song.  But it’s too bad third world musicians are having such a hard time traveling nowadays, what with visa problems and such.  Persevere. 

This weekend will be another good one for tunes in LA, with multiple quetzales, fusion flamenco, straight-ahead jazz, Austin/Iranian setar and Ghanaian reggae heading the list.  That’s Quetzal Guerrero at Levitt LA tonight with his hyphenated-Latino eclectic mix, then plain Quetzal at Levitt Pasadena Saturday night with LA/Jarocho son and more.  And the Bay Area’s LoCura gives flamenco a much-needed makeover (beyond the sound of ten hands clapping) out in Pasadena tomorrow night.  For more about them see here.

Saturday will be tough to choose, with Justo Almario at LACMA, Iranian/Texan Fared Shafinury at Grand Performances downtown, and Ghanaian Rocky Dawuni doing reggae.  Rocky’s really good, BTW, and I’m not a huge reggae fan, but I owe him an extra nudge, having once taken a cheap shot at him.  Always suspicious of PR rap, I even asked my cab driver in Accra, Ghana, if he’d heard of Rocky.  He said yep.  Go, Rocky.  All of this is free.  If you want to pay a few bucks then the FYF fest at the LA State Historic Park sounds especially good on Sunday.  Not only will MGMT be one of the headliners, but Omar Souleyman from Syria will be there.  He’s wild.  His country is dying.


Next week will be tougher.  The season is ending, organisms are dying, systems are shutting down, and I’m clearly not ready for it.  I don’t want summer to end, and I don’t want to grow up.  My ‘permanent record’ back in school daze used to say that I was a model student until spring came along… every spring.  Some things never change, I guess.  I’ll have to get creative for next week.  Stay tuned.






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