Saw Mick Harvey last night...

[Kramer Ferrington III.]

So anyway, last night I went to see Mick Harvey play at a place here in Milan.

 

If you don't know who he is, Mick Harvey is the guy that does a large part of the music and the arranging on Nick Cave's records. If you don't know who Nick Cave is, then that's a pity.

 

Anyway, it was a really atmospheric, "after hours" type set. I'd describe it as "smoky", but smoking's been banned in public places 'round here.

 

There was Mick H. on accoustic and the occasional bit of Telecaster, the guy out of Gallon Drunk on organ and tinkly guitar and a drummer. It was really magical stuff and Harvey turned out to be this friendly, genial bloke.

 

And then there was the audience.

 

I really can't understand people that talk at gigs. Especially after paying a good 25 dollars to see someone. But anyway, there they were nattering away about their holidays and about what buggerlugs at the office had told so and so.

 

Had it been a metal band, I wouldn't have cared, 'cause I wouldn't have heard jack but this was stuff that depended on shifts in dynamics and so on.

 

Had they been a kid at GC I would have told them to shush, but there were about 200 of them so I decided to try to live with it.

 

Anyway, one bunch of guys who must have got the wrong gig, kept on yelling at Mick Harvey to "hurry up" ("horry up, meek").

 

At one stage MH accidentally kicked a water bottle over and the water got very near a powerboard. So he stopped playing while he moved everything to a safe distance. It was a very small gig so there weren't legions of roadies to help him.

 

Anyway, these guys keep yelling and finally, MH looks at them and says "If something is worth doing, it's worth taking time over it. No point rushing into things like some 'entertainment' arsehole".

 

They shut up for a while and then when they started up with the "come on" stuff, he said "'Come on' is what Lleyton Hewitt says. This isn't some fucking tennis match".

 

I felt really bad about the whole gig, what with the heckling and all. I really wished I could have walked up to MH and apologized on behalf of the human race or whatever.

 

But there were those big metal barriers in the way and security guys and so on. And I had to come to work the next day so I didn't feel like hanging around till God knows when just to apologize to a stranger over another bunch of strangers, so I just caught a cab home.

 

On the way home, the cab driver was playing that horrid, repetitive keyboard music. The kind that repeats itself 39,472,902 times in three and a half minutes, so as to make up for a lack of a memorable hook.

 

Anyway, that horrid keyboard music sort of overwrote the fantastic music I heard at the gig and because the keyboard stuff was so putrid, I've forgotten it already.

 

I really don't know what to make of the whole experience. Any comments?

[Caevan O’Shite]

Reminds me of the time I caught Los Lobos opening for U2 (Los Lobos was faaar better, U2 was lame by comparison), and ignorant dolts in the audience were yelling, "go back to Mexico"... Then the same said ignorant dolts cheered and danced around in a we're-in-an-MTV-moment frenzy when The Lobos played a spot-on rendition of Richie Valens' "La Bamba" (which they had performed for the film). Then it was back to "go back to Mexico" again... The band took it all in stride, though, and put on a great performance; David Hidalgo got a particularly beautific tone from a Strat with (vintage?) Danelectro "lipstick-tube" pickups in it, through a "red-knob" Fender "The Twin"...

 

U2 was 'O.K.", but kinda boring if you weren't overly susceptible to showbiz hype, and Bono seemed pompous and phony to me. The Edge played well enough, however, and had a nice tone all-around.

[fantasticsound]

Some days you just can't win, Vince.

 

Sorry to hear a show you were obviously psyched to hear was ruined by ambient noise and hecklers.

 

I was house mixer at a small, Nashville institution called, The Sutler. Every once in a while I'd mix a show where regulars were less than quiet and the talent was quiet. Some places just don't suit quiet performances unless the place sells out for the show. I mixed Bill Frisell in the same space and the audience was dead quiet all night.

[fantasticsound]

Hey, K, if you haven't heard it, I suggest you check out a children's album Los Lobos did with Lalo Guerrero (legendary Mexican-American folk musician the Smithsonian named "a national treasure") called Papa's Dream. It's a story, concept album with Lalo providing narration and Los Lobos providing music. It's a lot of fun.

 

Also, I loved David Hidalgo's minor guitar and vocal contributions to Paul Simon's, All Around The World or The Myth Of Fingerprints, the last track of the Graceland album. Great stuff!

[Caevan O’Shite]

(Veering a tad off-topic on your thread, Vince)

 

Yeah, that Paul Simon tune was good, including David Hidalgo's guitar-work. And I've read of that Papa's Dream album, though I don't think I've heard much from it; a little, somewhen... I've got How Will the Wolf Survive and (my favorite of theirs) Kiko; used to have a casstte-tape of the later one with "Mas y Mas", was it called Giant Head or something?

[Noodlesbad]

I feel for ya, Vince.

I saw the Rolling Stones in August, and the guy behind was being a major league idiot. Fortunately the Stones play at sufficient volume that for the most part I couldn't hear him when they were actually performing.

I did however, hear him yelling "ENCORE!!!" while they were actually playing the encore. What a moron.

Fortunately, for the most part Ottawa audiences are fairly respectful when it comes to shutting up at the right moment. I saw Keren-Ann on a sidestage at the Ottawa Bluesfest, a fairly low-key peformer, and even the punk rock kids waiting for the significantly noisier acts that followed her didn't make a fuss. (Although on reflection I should probably expect more rudeness from drunks in their twenties than folks too young to buy a beer ...).