CONCERT REVIEW: MIKE WATT & MISSINGMEN IN PEDRO

What You'll Find Here: Music, Movies and Me

Since May 1976, I have written in journals. When I have nothing particularly resonant to say about my own inner turmoil, philosophic ramblings, sexual peccadillos or whining on about the state of the world around me...I have always fallen back on reporting the cultural time consumption that takes up in inordinate portion of my daily goings on.

In the 40+ years since my first concerts seeing Children's Symphony presentations on Sundays at the Pasadena Civic or The Hot Jazz Society's monthly Dixieland romps in an old meeting hall on the edge of the L.A. "River" across from Griffith Park, I have been sold heavily on the magic of live music. As Neil Young so aptly put it, "Live music is better bumper stickers should be issued."

Growing up a few orange groves and canyons length away from Hollywood also contributed greatly to my family's addiction to movie going. From the time I was a small there were weekly trips to the drive-in theaters that dotted the landscape, or the local Temple theater for the Saturday matinees. Once in a while we'd drive the 12 miles into Hollywood and see something in one of the magnificent old movie palaces like Grauman's Chinese, the Egyptian, The Pantages or later the Cinerama Dome. My dad loved Westerns and War movies, as if he didn't get enough shoot-'em-up as an L.A. County Sheriff in his day gig, my mom adored musicals and comedies. My brother and I loved them all.

At SDSU, I played in my first gigging band and began booking concerts on campus as part of the well-funded Cultural Arts Board, kindling for my future life in and around music.

So it's not surprising that my first jobs out of college were working in local video rental places (which were all the rage) or managing a couple of Sam Goody record stores in Mall's on the East Coast where we marveled at the new CD format and sold the first home computers and video games (yes Commodore and Pong and Atari).

So these are really just extensions of all of those journal entries talking about the great new movies I was seeing and LPs/CDs I was listening to.

Though iPODS/iPADs, apps, smart phones and downloads now make music and movies accessible in your own pocket, there is still nothing like sitting in front of a stack of speakers with a room full of people swaying to music created before your eyes. Nor is there anything that works quite so well for me to escape the real world and all of it's pressures just outside than two hours in a dark theater, absorbing the stories flickering across that wide screen as they pull you into their world.

But a really good taco runs a close third...

Monday, September 26, 2011

CONCERT REVIEW: MIKE WATT & MISSINGMEN IN PEDRO

Where: TriArt Fest, Ports o' Call, San Pedro, CA
When: Sunday, September 25

Mike Watt + The Missingmen with Norton Wisdom at TriArt Fest 9/25/11. Photo by Skipper Jeff

You know, I been hooked on the thud staff since I heard the MINUTEMEN for the first time back in the early 80s, saw the Ball Hog or Tugboat tour date in Philly at the Troc and many firehose and Watt shows since. But digging into his third punk opera, hyphenated-man (clenchedwrench) has been a brain shank of wondrous weirdness. Every time I tackle it again something else resonates wildly. As one who was a longtime BoschHead and near the same age as Watt this concept really feels thumpy, close to chest bone.

photo by Skipper Jeff

"This is based on the little creatures in Hieronymus Bosch's painting. The songs are the little creatures," Watt explained to fans in the parking lot of the TriArt Fest just after he and THE MISSING MEN finished their first local performance of the opera in Watt's long-time home town of San Pedro, California. Pedro is the working class town at the port of Los Angeles where Watt has been a leader of the local music scene for two decades now. He's staged shows to help raise funds for a community p.a. system shared by the local punk bands and performs free whenever he can generally on bills that help draw attention to the phalanx of talented bands from Pedro and surrounding beach communities.

Read Uncle Ray's essay on hyphenated-man

NY Times review and Watt spiel here.

This was my second live exposure to the full hyphenated-man. I'd been tingly when I heard Watt was heading out for the 51-gigs-in-52-days tour this past Spring. I was only able to grab a ducat for the 2nd show of the tour on March 11 in Echo Park but it was worth the haul down the hill. That gig was pumped and miles fun if a tad clammy so early in the trek. The vibe was deep, the fans crunchy into it and the Echo as always a great spot for a gig. And check out the vids of Le Butcherettes -- a crusher opener. You must catch this band too. Wild energy and muscle tight.

Yesterday, Watt + The Missingmen commandeered the second day of the free TriArt Fest on the lawn at the south end of the Ports O' Call village Pedro. Thanks to Greg Iberra and peeps the fest was typically econo with a simple canopy over a slab of concrete on the lawn at the end of the Ports O' Call shopping village on the waterfront. A handful of vendors of handcrafted wares, CDs and buttons, a handful of old metal folding chairs, two portable construction light rigs and the community p.a. Even the volume level of the music was amazingly controlled compared to the usual high test spleen shaking of the usual bar and hall scene. You could carry on a conversation within ten feet of the stage while still hearing every note. Not the usual ferocious punk face peeling assault. Not lessening the impact of the music much but keeping the non-festers from recoiling. Consequently there were families picnicking, shoppers and after-dinner strollers stopping by to check out the commotion and fans surrounding the stage digging in deep.

We missed Saccharine Trust (I was cranky at that) but heard The Last before Watt launched the whole of hyphenated-man shortly after 7pm. The 45+ minute piece of music flowed powerfully, much tighter than at The Echo. The roadwork paid off heavily. A few lyric babbles but all smiles. This is difficult shit to spew out. Fast and complex. Pedro's own Raul Morales was especially torched on drums, so sharp and propulsive playing for the pack. Tom Watson's guitar punctuations synced perfectly with Morales machine gun delivery and Watt's thud was pervasive, the homey crowd was right there with them. Two little girls waltzed together on a platform behind the stage area and Norton Wisdom's provocative real-time paintings behind the band were propelled by his familiarity with the material and band and his ability to shred the moment into spontaneous liquid vision.

Underground Railroad To Candyland closed the fest with a scorching set in the cool fall evening. Perfect Pedro day.


photo by Robert Francis 9.25.11

Buy hyphenated-man here

A photo gallery from Skipper Jeff (unless noted) from the TriArt Fest...

Raul Morales & Tom Watson

art by Norton Wisdom from Watt set 9/2511 (photo courtesy Norton Wisdom - find him on Facebook)

Skipper Jeff and Watt

Watt, Tsau & Bsau

Watt & Wisdom

econo dash

Below is the entire opera from the national tour in the spring. This show is from April 23rd at the Complex in Salt Lake City, UT. The 47th of 51 gigs in 52 days. Ball hog AND tugboat. No prisoners.

Follow the lyrics here.

Also shovel through Watt's tour diary and dig into Watt's Hoot Page and podcast: the Watt from Pedro show! ...

Buy hyphenated-man here

pt. 1: arrow-pierced-egg-man > hollowed-out-man: