woohoos at 19 East; the Eye

Mabel and i spent the evening at 19 East with the bubbly Monique Rae and Bamboo.

Mabel called Monique Rae (woohoo--er, you had to be there) an uber girlie-girl (i added the uber in case you couldn't tell) early on, just as Monique took the stage, and she proved Mabel right in my mind by filling her set with 'chick-rock' things.

Bamboo were tighter and yet also more organic than the last time i saw them onstage. (i'm pretty sure i posted about that here, but google can't seem to find the post. go figure. maybe it was on me old blog. or maybe i imagined the whole thing. oh well.)

also funnier. and plain funner.

was only mildly disappointed that the one song they played from their upcoming album was a cover (Paul Simon's 50 Ways...which you can learn more about here, things like how the song was preceded by the Ohio Players' Love Rollercoaster and succeeded by Rhythm Heritage's Theme from S.W.A.T. as the number one single on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1976. or ignore that altogether and find out who 'shot' the uber cool Muse video i put up yesterday instead).

it was, after all, a really cool cover, and the band's arrangement brought to bear all the best things about their signature sound, imho. from that point, they just kept amping up the wattage of the whole place until, in typical Bamboo manner, they pretty much just stopped playing, ending with Masaya and its soulful bass solo by Nathan. no encores.

a note on that bass solo--just when i was starting to think Nathan could get real soulful on the bass after all, focusing on the play of his fingers over the fret board and even bowing his head and closing his eyes, someone from the audience makes some incoherent comment. his eyes immediately pop open, turn and fix on said audience member, and he says: Ha?--all without skipping a beat on his solo.

did i mention this band is brilliant?

loads of fun had. also chicken livers wrapped in bacon and cheesesticks. and three beers. great music all night. and some kid named Noel sitting right in front of us got real lucky. wonder what he'll grow up to be now? one suspects this may have been one of those nights that alters the course of one life for all eternity.

or not.

*

i've been searching on and off for a copy of Chrissie Hynde's version of I Wish You Love, which i first heard playing over the end credits of Stephan Elliot's film adaptation of Marc Behm's Eye of the Beholder. (ultimately flawed, most people hate it, but me, i love it. the book is surprisingly good as well. didn't even bother me that a car blows up for no apparent reason at the end of it.)

i used to have it on mp3, when Napster was still legally free. now i just browse blogger or surf the net for downloads that don't need a dedicated file sharing program.

at last, i found this site:

http://blog.sina.com.tw/8472/article.php?pbgid=8472&entryid=9921

i have absolutely no idea what's being said on that site, but now, hearing the audio tracks that automatically play when you visit the site, am starting to feel vague and sappy.

also, it has this link:

http://home.hanmir.com/~opart2/track/EyeoftheBeholder_IWish.rm

by which you can download a real media version of the song. enjoy.