Review – Land of Talk at the Pyramid Cabaret, Winnipeg, July 1 2009

– text by Eugene Osudar

Land of Talk
came out drums
a blazing beating us
into dance trance,mission
first five songs
like brilliant sunshine
sight blinding
on oak floor
in an empty room
(oh John K Samson)

how can i see you?
oh, Mohawk Lodge

(i’m listening to the brilliant
Wildfires CD
by Mohawk Lodge as i write this)

Kenny Werner Quintet
there are gears and more gears
to every solo
played
there are depths
and layers
and intricacies
and delicacies
and power
unfathomable
unimaginable
until you’re sitting
in the middle of it
being devastated
for
my hour of it,
it was more but
i had a date with Land of Talk
and Boats

gears gears gears

there are so few gears
shifting
for Jean-Christophe
Beney
there is explosion
there is blaring
there is caring
passionately so

but finding the layers
finding the cake
to sweeten
the palette
for the bitter
for the sour
for the power
unleashing

finding the layers
finding the gears

shifting thought
s randomly speaking
in tongue
s
slippery divide
s
rawhide
Clint Eastwood
choose a side,
I choose Beauty!
and the Beast
on the free stage
Saturday and Sunday
to dance
the divisions away,

the right and the left
the black and the white
the shades in between
where are the colors?
the rainbows?
the light
in the darkness
that prevailed,

Kenny Werner
has no taste
for the human(ity)
waste
that America went
through
for so long
the lost Bush years
and before
Bill Clinton’s hot air
and pretty smile
(so little substance)
(so much pretense)

Obama holds
the promise
in his generous heart
to fulfill or not to?
is America ready to let go
and open?
itself to the beauty
of the world.

Kenny Werner on piano
Randy Brecker on trumpet
David Sanchez on sax
Scott Colley on bass
Antonio Sanchez on drums

(these are players
gorgeous and tasty
textures and layers
patiently, never hasty)

4 songs in an hour,

Kenny Werner’s CD,
The Lawnchair Society is
a commentary on Lost America
not paying attention
to the greed and evil sweeping
through
its collective
society

its collective soul

a curable cancer
beautiful answer
beautiful dancer

the songs:

New Amsterdam
13th day
Uncovered Heart
Inaugural Balls (dedicated to The Cushy Bushies)

a packed WECC house.

Boats
were brilliant during
an afternoon set
at Music Trader
O Happy Canada
Day,

i danced the entire set away
ecstatically

and later at The Pyramid,
there was a key difference

Luke’s cymbals
weren’t miked
apparently,
this is typical Pyramid
set,up

Boats are,
Boats are Fun
Explosive
Matt’s face nearly blows up
so red
and his helium
vocals
incongruously
your brain wonders how?
when you see him
talk to him

and the music
is dance
is Fellini!
it is Fellini
romping around
the chaotic streets
of Rome
night and day
colliding cymbals
motorbikes
and mini-skirts
hot-tease hotties
and cool boys
dragging cigarettes
that fall into laps
of extreme panic

(Luke’s cigarette
fell into his lap just before
the gig!)

(and that’s very Felliniesque!
cuz you can’t look cool
when you’re suddenly afraid
of setting
yourself
on fire)

Boats music depends on those cymbals
to ignite the fire of the dance
it’s the gasoline
to,

TV Scientist
Scenic Gorges
Summer Camp Versus The Fake Mustache Tree
Bird Week
Dream Of a Dentist
New Contestants
T-Shirt
Tinfoil
Pistols and Panflutes

40 minutes.

there’s a fire
works display
on the Pyramid’s
stage as snare
sticks rage
through the first
waves of pop
jewels all the cools
and birth
of a baby
first time auntie
lizzie
oh happy Canada
birth,day
land of talk
exploding
lights
and sounds
zingers
tinglers
missiles
to the heart
of indie rock
matters
shatters the peace
into the light
tripping
gripping your soul
rock n roll
again
purely
from the heart,

i’m the first dancing
and joining
the edgers
falling off the ledgers,
we’re diving
into the abyss
sweetheart
butterfly kiss,
oh darling,

give me back my heart attack!
some are lakes!
got a call!
summer special!
yuppy flu!

sea foam
death by fire
all my
1996
it’s okay
young bridge

it’s a tale of two
sets in the one

because after the first five songs
the delays begin,
the changing guitars
(stay the one)
the endless tuning
(rock n roll rarely is
in tune)
a false start
(it’s performance
that shatters)
a grinding
(hearts)
stop to the momentum
(exhausted)

the songs are wonderful
don’t misunderstand
but there’s no flow

until the encore again,
recaptured purity
furious
end.

happy canada day.