Tiffany returns to the Mall + the return of Cibo Matto, the Pixies & more (Feb 2014)

Starting the year off right as I assure you that this will be the only blog entry you will see all year (from anybody) that will showcase The Little Mermaid & Brutal Juice in the same offering. And holy shit, we saw Tiffany perform at a Mall!

Brutal Juice/The Dangits/The Phuss – Jan 3rd – Lola’s Saloon – Fort Worth, TX 

I was still home for the holidays and felt like getting out of the house and I was flipping through the local alt weekly and saw a name from the past – Brutal Juice and they were playing in a few hours about 10 mins away. Ok, so this had to be the Brutal Juice from before right? It’s not like the kind of name that will be ever duplicated (& in the same city no less). Just to be sure, I text my friend Forrest who plays in the Phuss, who were opening and he indeed confirmed.

The last time I saw them perform (or anybody had the ability to….so I thought) was over 15 years ago and I was of barely legal drinking age.
They were stalwarts of this exciting time in the mid-90s when these punkish, but really chaotic bands (mostly from Denton) were experimenting with all types of sounds and imagery. They put out one record that was released on Interscope back in 1995 that was part of wave of hysteria of signings that first included the Toadies and then close-knit friends, Brutal Juice. I think the last time I saw them was at a backyard party somewhere in Denton.

Anyway, I head over there, excited to see them again and also there is no telling who I will run into that I also haven’t seen in as many years.
I see my friends the Phuss already on stage:

Followed by another great local band that I had been wanting to see again – the Dangits, who I booked last year at the Dallas International Guitar Festival.

Finally, I see whom I think I recognize as Craig Welch, the singer – I never got friendly with these guys back in the day (largely because I was young and honestly afraid of them haha) – He looks pretty much the same, instead of having less hair, he seemed to have tons more than what I remember.
By this time I think everyone who ever came into CDX, the Mom & Pop record store I worked at in the mid-to-late 90s is here – and ready.
The band starts and the place fucking explodes –

Not two songs in Welch leaps into the crowd, costing me a beer (& temporarily the feeling on one side of my face) just mayhem…….and just like I remember.
I ran into an old friend there that told me that not only are they recording a new LP but he’s filming a documentary on them. Can’t wait to hear the new music and see the film.

Tiffany Returns to the Mall – Jan 9th – Vista Ridge Mall – Lewisville, TX

So this is probably the strangest segue in history and surely the only blog entry to ever to feature both Brutal Juice and Tiffany

Tiffany Darwish, or if you grew up in the 80s like I did, simply Tiffany –  if you’re either an infant and or have never gotten your hair cut at a Great Clips, is famous primarily for three things:

A) Her 1987 cover of Tommy James and The Shondell’s I Think We’re Alone Now
B) A 2002 nude spread in Playboy.
C) A documentary about a pair of truly fucked up stalkers.

Though her popularity faded faster than a pair of acid washed Girbaud, Tiffany’s sort of kept at it on an E-list celebrity level by appearances in reality TV shows. I’ve never seen any of them, and I wonder how many among the 100 or so people crowding the lower-level plaza in the heart of the Vista Ridge Mall have.

Despite the proclamation of a 3:30 start time (Tiffany is set to begin “promptly” according to a serious-looking sign), Tiffany is late.
I wonder if she’s waiting until there’s a huge crowd —  amid the housewives excitedly chattering about how Tiffany was their first concert, there are a few couples in their 60s, kids of all ages, gays and lesbians, and of course, Weird 40-Something Dudes Who Like Tiffany.
One of these guys is right up front. He’s got on a green hoody and sports a mustache and Dorothy Hamill haircut shot with gray hairs.  he’s holding a vinyl copy of one of her records.

By about 3:45, there’s probably almost 150 people radiating outward from the stage, a platform elevated above the mall’s tiled fountain, , an assistant walks through the crowd distributing white, airbrushed Tiffany t-shirts and handmade I Heart Tiffany posters.

Some production guy with a Secret Service earpiece steps to the stage and informs the crowd that Tiffany will be starting soon, but that they’ll be selecting a few fans to appear, presumably with or near Tiffany, in a reality show being filmed in the food court up above. I can tell by the gasps and whispers around me that appearing on a reality show with Tiffany is an intersection of at least two specific fantasies shared by more than several people, but then the guy on stage goes, “And we’ll need you to be here until about 8 p.m.,” thereby crushing the dreams of everyone who had to be home before then because of a child’s bedtime.
By the time 4 p.m. rolls around, the anticipation is palpable,

And then Tiffany appears.

The people at the front and left of the stage see her first, walking from the shadows onto the stage, and the cheers ripple backwards toward the Best Buy. This is the first time she’s performed at a mall since the 1987 tour that bridged her journey from Star Search to the top of the charts, and as a performer, at least, she hasn’t really missed a beat. The crowd likes it well enough, even though she’s singing a single from her 2011 country album.
I live for this shit – My obsession of everything 1980s led me to finally see Tiffany who is synonmous with Malls, actually perform at one –
Whenever I occasionally see the video for I Think We’re Alone Now that shows footage of that famous Mall tour from 1987, I am remiss that I wasn’t there –
There is no place I would rather be ever in time or space than at a mall, somewhere in America in 1987 watching Tiffany perform.
This doesn’t quite reconcile that, but it’s the closest I am every going to get and for that I am satisfied.

The Mall Tiffany of 2014 performs five songs: the aforementioned Feel the Music, followed by the three singles from her debut LP, and Feel the Music again, because she’s shooting a video of it.

Afterwards we head upstairs as Jess & I are both starving and oddly those that have been selected for the reality show, along with their individual entourages, are all partitioned along one side of the food court – wearing laments made out of notebook paper that say Tiffany All Access – while Tiffany is on the other side of the food court (where we are) seated at the table next to us with her husband eating the same pizza we are like a normal person.

The Sword – Feb 15th – Gas Monkey Bar & Grill – Dallas, TX

Excited to be at this awesome, new outdoor venue that the dudes from Gas Monkey Garage own to see one of my faves, The Sword from Austin.
I knew I was going to get to see some old friends in addition to the band and I bumped into several, including the increasingly hermetic Ryan Buchanan.
Great to see him and we rawked all night –

The openers were the powerful and always great Big Business who serve as one half of the current live lineup of the Melvins.

I saw them in a prior life (for them as well as myself) as noise titans KARP about 20 years ago – But since then and outside of the Melvins, they have found the perfect resonance of intensity, melody and anarchy.

Then it was go time for The Sword

Their brand of nerd-baiting trad-metal—complete with songs about spaceships and adventurers on epic quests—always delivers, but at this point in the record cycle the band are so finely tuned, so tapped into the songs, that they take on a life of their own. The songs also encourage insane amounts of beer-pounding, so the sold-out crowd spent the better part of the set teetering between overzealous enthusiasm and oblivion.
The response was wild and oh so deserved—The Sword fly through their sets, banging out hit after hit with barely a pause for stage banter or applause. With four albums under their belt and a tour-resume that could fill an encyclopedia , The Sword know exactly what they are doing and its always a good time.

The Little Mermaid – Feb 16th – Music Hall of Fair Park – Dallas, TX

Here’s another good segue for you – Sat, Metal with the Sword, Sun a musical with my girlfriend & her sister.

Based on the 1989 animated Disney film, director Glenn Casale and his creative team have reworked the show from the original Broadway production, which ran for a little less than two years, beginning in 2007. For that stage version, composer Alan Menken and lyricist Howard Ashman added songs to their work in the movie (Glen Slater helped with lyrics for the stage version), and Tony Award- and Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright and Dallas native Doug Wright wrote the book.

Alan Mingo, Jr. as Sebastian and Steve Blanchard as King Triton in Disney’s The Little Mermaid at Dallas Summer Musicals
For this newest version, which is debuting in Dallas, they have added more depth to the characters and increased the audience’s emotional investment. The biggest changes come with design and visual effects. And for the most part, it works –

The basic plot is familiar to anyone who knows the original Hans Christian Andersen story or has seen the movie—and undoubtedly there are more of the latter, as the movie is one of the best-loved in the Disney oeuvre, and kicked off the animation renaissance. Ariel, a mermaid princess, is unhappy with life under the sea and curious about the human world. After saving human Prince Eric from a storm at sea, she falls in love and vows to be Part of Your World.

Of course, many obstacles await. A pact with evil sea Ursula robs her of her voice and she must earn Eric’s love or be condemned to captivity for life. One change in this production is that Ariel ultimately saves herself. It’s nice to see a Disney heroine relying on her own wits to realize her dreams.

As Ariel, the misunderstood mer-princess, Chelsea Morgan Stock sings beautifully and wins over the audience with her sweetness, curiosity and impetuous flights of fancy. Her Prince (Eric Kunze) is handsome and forthright as he captivates Ariel in One Step Closer.

The cast is strong throughout, with gorgeous voices and well-realized characters. Scuttle the seagull (Matt Allen) blunders and blusters, as sidekick Flounder flutters just behind his heroine Ariel. As Ursula, Liz McCartney steals the show every time she appears, complete with a tremendously tentacled costume, some electrified hench-eels and a booming belt voice. Her song, “Poor, Unfortunate Souls,” the first act closer, is a hilarious, bravura number that’s still funny enough not to scare the kiddos.

Ariel’s father Triton (Steve Blanchard), the King of the Sea, definitely benefits from the reworking of the book. Blanchard expresses vulnerability and sadness as he realizes that trying to stand in his daughter’s way will not keep her safe. He voices his regrets in “If Only (Quartet),” joined by Ariel, Eric and Sebastian all singing of the things they wish could undo. It’s a poignant number and the four voices blend beautifully.

In addition to character development, one major technical change stands out. Where the original actors playing fish and sea creatures got around on roller skates, Paul Rubin, who worked with Cathy Rigby on Peter Pan, now flies the major characters. They “swim” by swooping dramatically across a deep blue backdrop, tails undulating and sheer chiffon rippling.  It’s a lovely effect, generating open-mouthed wonder from the younger members of the audience.

The star-crossed lovers are reminiscent of Romeo and Juliet, but without all the death; but if that sounds serious, no worries—there is plenty of comic relief. Sebastian the crab (Alan Mingo, Jr.) is very funny as a sycophantic worrywart, but he’s even more fun when he cuts loose. The joyful “Under the Sea” number features Carnival-like feathers, headdresses and saturated colors that create a chorus of colorful sea creatures. John MacInnis’ choreography runs the gamut from zippy numbers like this one to gracefully swooping ballroom dances.

The scenic design by Kenneth Foy employs multiple scrims, flown in and out to represent various settings, while the underater world is highlighted by arcs of glistening bubbles, singing mermaids, flying fish and plenty of rousing dance numbers.

Cibo Matto – Feb 19th – The Mohawk – Austin, TX

Since I’ve been splitting my time between NYC &  Texas and in the last 18 months largely Texas, one of the things I’ve missed in NYC is that since Cibo Matto reformed in 2011 they have been playing alot of shows in NYC and usually with only a couple of days notice and usually in circumstances that I would want to patronize even more so than just them being there.

I never got to see them during their original run so I was grateful that by the time of the reunion I’m living in NYC and got to see several of those little one-off appearances and one actual full show.
But that was three years ago and besides those little pop-up appearances they still have been rarely seen and certainly nowhere outside of NYC

Finally they released their first LP in 15 years – Hotel Valentine (on Valentine’s Day appropriately) and it is as insane, innovative & future thinking than you could have possible expected. These girls haven’t missed a step.

I was in Fort Worth preparing for the upcoming SXSW Festival and had to drive down to do a walk-through for our venue for this year’s showcase and scheduled it around this show so I could see them do the new stuff live.

I arrive to a very packed & excited Mohawk (despite the fact that the door staff here are always total elitists pricks).

The girls attempt to start the show to a wall of screaming fans – most from 90s nostalgia, lots of young people who got into them after the fact and one thing most have in common is that they’ve never seen them live before.
I say attempt because as they took the stage and lead singer Miho Hatori was about to start her rap, it was evident that her partner-in-crime Yuka Honda’s equipment was not working or simply not setup properly. What started as a quick delay, resulting in a complete false start as the members somewhat embarssingly had to leave the stage entirely while the keyboard was replaced and a few other things were retooled.
Always in good nature they returned shortly after and lampooned themselves over the incident as the show began.