Do Wot Ya Like – March 24th, 2001
by Bing Futch
“blurdark” Great greetings from Orlando, Florida – hopefully you’ve been busy laddies and gentlewomen, doing what it is that you Do and doing it with something resembling self-satisfaction. Because when it all boils down to the hopping spit of an unattended pot of water, at least take joy in the vapors, it means you’re still alive.
The four artist dressing rooms at Hard Rock Live! are located underneath the stage; each one decorated in kitschy representations of different eras in rock ‘n’ roll. The 50’s room is a flashback of pastels, atomic couches and deco tiled tables while the 80’s suite next door boasts white tiger rugs and sinfully ergonomic furniture cast in metal flake luminesence. The somewhat sterile 70’s domain perhaps best reflects that era’s perplexing ambiguity, leaving the spacious 60’s room as the most earthy spot in the building. Its ornate area rugs and handsomely carved wooden tables and wall decorations are charged with a rebel spirit – it’s a room to fight over if there are four bands on the bill.
“hardrocklights” March 15th saw a powerful line-up of THROE, CIARA, KIVA and UNFISTED, a thick crowd represented deep into the evening and a delightful time was had by all. That is, except for a few underage drinkers who were dutifully removed by HRL! security. Backstage, the staff hums with professional verve. As the first bandmembers arrived, a pre-show catering roll-out delivered sandwiches, sweets and drinks to the green room. Unfortunately, negotiating the lower corridors of the expansive venue is a trick for the uninitiated – several hopelessly lost musicians spilled out of the elevator and began a comical Keystone cops routine as activity swelled. There is an unbounded energy that floats off of those who are about to rock. Combine that with any number of intoxicants and kick back on an angular sofa, they should pay-per-view the shit that goes on while the house is still closed to the public.
“hardrockcrowd” UNFISTED hit the stage at 8:45 p.m. and the already respectable numbers began to mill forward. The band’s hard-hitting melodic metal shone through despite guitar tone issues and a high-maintenance mix. Popular opinion seemed to lean in the “unfavorable” column for the band, more out of dislike of their performance rather than style. Their heavy grooves inspired some heartfelt head-bobbing, but hardcore fans noted the group’s lack of rhythmic unity and relatively timid approach to vocals. Drummer Eric Martinez said afterwards, shaking his head, “it was too fast.”
The face-glazing pulse of an on-stage adrenalin rush is a feral beast. Sometimes it kicks your ass in a frenzy of disorientation. As long as you smile as you stumble about in a daze, everyone thinks it’s part of the show.
“kivahardrock” When the curtain parted on KIVA, there was a dynamic shift in the atmosphere of the music hall.
Lead vocalist Dave Martin, bearing a passing resemblance to Anthony Kiedis, strutted front and center and began getting aggro with the young-ish gathering. The quartet, rounded out by drummer Jeff Raines, bassist Rick Scheid and guitarist David Himes, presented a sonic assault that chugged relentlessly until a mosh pit finally erupted, sending crowd surfers up and over the security barrier at the front of the stage. Scheid, who formerly slung bass with O-Town hempers Forest Orange, happened to be celebrating a birthday and had his bare ass smacked 21 times by the lovely Echo on-stage, much to the delight of the predominantly male audience (he’s actually 29.) Guitarist Himes (also editor of Connections Magazine) was in a gleeful state after the band’s solid set, proclaiming happily “it don’t get much better than that.” Indeed, word in the crowd equalled this: KIVA would be a band to see again.
“ciarahardrock” The serious question on many lips at the halfway mark was “how the fuck do you pronounce the next band’s name?” CIARA lead singer Moira named the band after her sister (pronounced “keer-ah”)
and has had to endure the many butcherings of the group’s moniker along with numerous personnel changes that have been an unending source of frustration for the three year old group. Tonight however, they threw down a rejuvenated gauntlet of fist-pumping, booty-shaking rock ‘n’ roll that had the mostly Misunderstood & Angry faction unsure how to respond. Not really moshing music, but once the pubescent set got a good look at little diva Moira as she gyrated and danced in front of them, moshing apparently became a lesser priority. The band was working with a brand new guitarist and their re-workings of old stand-bys like “Believe” sound fresher and more sharply defined. Now, if manager Ed Sanford can just get the band to dress up a little more, they’d be a full day’s admission plus accomodations. “I know,” the tireless promoter said as he edged through the thick groups of people by the merchandising tables. “I’ve talked to them about it, the idea is being resisted.”
Not that it mattered a feather or a fig to the gracious gathering, who showered the blissed-out rockers with much love and applause.
“echothroe” Penultimate showmen THROE let everyone get a gander at the empty stage while ominous samples unspooled and red laser lights jacked down from various angles on high. One by one, the band walked on-stage and began to kick the roar into gear as lead singer sXe Joe hunkered in reverse towards the audience, his back attracting the attention of red laser pin-points.
Fun stuff. As he turned, black light X glowing on his forehead, the lasers gathered and formed a nucleus of whirring blurs on his brow. The crowd cheered and the lights arced brightly as the band slapped down the first heavy beat. This is the part where those on the outer rim of the mosh pit made quick and easy decisions about their proximity to the roiling nest of elbows and jackboots. After their breathless performance, the heavy-heavy rhythm kings found time to chill with friends and fans by the propaganda pushers.
Downstairs in the dressing rooms, UNFISTED’s 50’s dig has been empty for awhile and some girls from Hard Rock corporate circulated amongst the bands, asking questions and taking pictures for the Hard Rock Live! web site. The band’s are respectful of each other’s sets, making sure to go out front and catch at least some of the other performances before descending back into the quartet of happy rooms where happy things are done by happy people, getting their groove on and their hash on, their beer on and their afterglow mojo running at top speed. Some had to work in the morning, but those that didn’t continued onwards to places where the feeling finally laid to bed early the next morning. There’s just no cure for a really good self-satisfaction high.
Plenty Of Dirt To Go ‘Round
Ironically, while Ink 19 was unrolling a brand new (and busy!) online shop-front with plenty of new features and freshly updated material, I was off dancing madly about in the technicolor muck of my life. The divorce has been like a sandpiper chasing a wave, or perhaps a wave chasing a sandpiper. Neither the bird nor the indecisive water mass ever seem to be truly in control of the situation and they perform a silly ritual of advance and retreat, advance and retreat. And so it goes and so it goes. Longtime readers of this column will know that my wife is a brassy gal – a sexy vamp with a predisposition for getting naked when drinking. Our relationship crumbled under the pressure of a pregnancy that neither of us expected (medically, it shouldn’t have) and the peripheral fall-out of adoption arrangements and the emotional side-effects of giving a child up.
“bingchibaby” The baby was born on February 27th, 2001 and was immediately whisked into the grateful arms of two beaming adoptive parents. Chinesa and I are just looking forward to having sex again. There will be surgical procedures which guarantee that surprised do not occur a second time, for there will be enough surprises borne out of psyches to contend with. We both are too selfish and self-centered to balance each other out properly, like a Yin-Yang on a sloppy spin cycle. While in this cocoon of continuation since, I’ve mused upon everything as it relates to everything else, trying to pull down some perspective. The point at the center of each circle that turns in time on this planet. Hearkening back to what I inscribed earlier in this text about self-satisfaction, when the golden final straw falls and it goes down in a way that you never expected, there is still your Self. You who existed before and You who will be when it’s all over. And if you’re blessed, there will be Them and Us and We, but the will of a human is a circuitous thing and there’s only room for one point in the wheel. To get two or three, even seven cogs all cruising along together is a difficult trick. Especially if the other cogs are family.
“lutherbreak” During the time that my wife and I surged back from the beachhead of divorce, it became news to me that not a few Orlando bands had called it quits and in effect, annulled their respective marriages. THROCKET LUTHER has a questionable future ahead of it these days as bassist Eric Webster has left the group citing “irreconcilable differences” with brother, guitarist/lead vocalist Joe Webster. “We were cruising towards it slowly but surely,” said Eric shortly after performing his final show with the band at Sapphire recently. The two brothers have an easily combustible relationship that was only further exacerbated by the normal wear-and-tear that takes place within the engine that is a band. The bald, bespectacled bass-man says he still wants to play, citing ex-CLUJ singer/keyboardist David Gibbs as being someone he’d like to work with. Meanwhile, the other Lutherans, drummer Matt Meyers and newly acquired guitarist Ralph Ameduri are stewing in limbo until something definitive is staked into the earth.
“stevetyson” The long-running institution that was BRING BACK JOEL came to an end recently, surprising – considering the huge amount of promotion that the band had been doing. Standing on a downtown Orlando street corner with Precious frontman Steve Garron, BBJ singer/guitarist Tyson Deines didn’t seem worried. Shocking news from the VON RA camp is that long-time drummer Dave Tinny and bassist Stone have been released from duty in the popular O-Town group. Word on the streets is that lead singer/guitarist Vaughn Rhea fired the two after being advised to do so by prospective label suits. Don’t know whether it’s true or not but it’s likely that Rhea’s desire for a deal got more intense after brother Dave “Boo” Rhea left bass duties with the band to pursue an open spot in major label hitters Dust For Life.
Whether part of a unit or not – in the end, we all tend to do what we wanna, do wot we like. And a few brave and noble types will deny themselves in order to rise above the ordinary and sacrifice in the ultimate act of love and devotion. But honestly, most of us want what we want and get what we get however possible. It’s a primal need and concern – and perhaps karmic reality will show that “instant karma’s gonna get you” and when you least expect it, your self-centered circle is at the bottom of a barrel looking up at ass-cheeks.
But when it’s all said and done. You still have one. And that’s enough of a cylinder to fire on. Hey, have a fancy week. The pilot’s seat is warm again and the stick feels right in my grip.
“bfsig”
