slim's was packed. there was a buzz in the crowd. it was like the whole city knew
this would be the first official headlining of todd at slim's.
after two loathsome opening acts, OH appears in quite the definitive outfit. a
turquoise, marine-patterned sarong with a spaceman vest striped in thick blue, red
and yellow. the shoulders were flared, a la healing space outfit. with todd's recent
weight loss and roger powell in the house, it almost felt like a utopia show from
1979. [editor's request: where is this vest from?]
no opening raps, no disclaimers, no bullshit. todd grabs the greenie and quickly
starts "#1 LCD". a slow, methodic chant builds into an uncontrolled jam at the end;
with todd resembling a teenager in his garage, his parents gone for the weekend.
lose your mind.
the black acoustic gets tuned for "one world". another controlled, dynamic
performance, turning to townsend toward the end. the last sing along has us
clapping in time above our heads. i see faces i know.
i notice how good everything sounds at the first line of "there goes my inspiration".
the crowd shuts up as todd opens his soul to us. the voice even keeps up with the
great mix. d'amico thinks it's heartfelt. so do i. my reason for creation.
a rap about cover tunes has the audience yelling requests. todd starts the opening
chords of "you've got to hide your love away", then tells us how much he thinks it
sounds like 'one world'. everybody sings for this beatles favorite. the spot-lighting
of the crowd during the chorus makes me feel like slim's is the center of the
universe. gather round all you clowns.
the "fascist christ" demo works it's way well into the guitar solo. this production
exercise becomes boring and redundant after i hear how the mac sounds through the
mix. my attention wavers after the 'gray salute'.
todd launches the enhanced 'meat' of the record and picks *three* toons to start us off:
"temporary sanity" is so right on. great lighting and great sound makes me feel like
last week's shows were a warm up for slim's. todd nails the rap with lots of
clearly illustrated gesturing. it was common sense.
"family values" loosens up the crowd. i notice the difference between santa cruz and
san francisco dancing. perhaps the size of the metropolis is directly proportionate
to the amount of space required for people to dance within. hence, some senseless
arm-waving spills a few drinks.
"beloved infidel" causes a few angst fans to protest at first. it *is* difficult to
come down from fam vals so quick and so hard into the trance this toon puts you in.
a telling gesture manifests itself when todd closes his eyes and brings his hands
into center during "where are you hiding now?"
todd cuts the video to the piano camera shot for "viking song". *the* most funny
moment of the show is when todd looks up to the left at the camera and gives it
this goofy face. WotT gives todd a horned 'knut' doll in lieu of the absence of horns.
but there was a cause, but there was a reason.
"compassion" is flubbed! my last review called out the compassion phenomenon
of virtually no flubs. however, tonight's version is just butchered. sorry,
kids--don't
try this at home. you'll get no judgement from me.
"free, male & twenty-one" is uneventful and uninspiring. i see how this song
divides the crowd: those who dislike it stand with arms crossed, rolling eyes.
those who dig it sing the chorus really loud like germans in oktober. i'm vpre-occupied watching todd's fingers on the video screen. or, something just as dumb.
todd is holding the black acoustic when the bossa nova rap begins. i have not seen
jesse tonight, so we are intrigued by what will follow. some unfamiliar
strumming leads to "i saw the light". todd gives credit to jesse during the guitar
solo, and i miss the santa cruz version. those who were there know it was even
better then tonight's. then a feeling hit me oh so strong, about you.
"m/bd+b/m" finds todd breaking a string early on in the toon. he defers quickly to
the greenie for the remainder of the extended blues jam, and we get another visit
from that jammin teenager in his garage. i'm seein double, sometimes triple.
phase II of the CD-e has todd reconnecting a flaky monitor cable feeding the SHARP
projector. "the individualist" and "tables will turn" are solid and typical. 'tables' in
unusually pumped, though. todd leaves the stage and everyone with a shot of
adrenalin. when will i learn?
the first encore starts with "can we still be friends", as boring and cliche as it
always is. i notice the sound up front is as good as it is in the back of the club, and vhow bad everyone in the crowd sings. before you know, it's all gone.
todd passes up a shot of tequila as he launches CuBase "black and white". the crowd
is again pumped, thrusting fists in the air. the sound of the green guitar with
CuBase is relentlessly crisp at 12:30am. a musical inside a movie inside a dream.
the second encore has todd looking as fresh as the first song. CuBase is still
running, so he saves CPU cycles with "worldwide epiphany". it is here i realize todd
is ready for china. this is the last roundup.
todd prolly flubbed 'compassion' so bad because he was practicing "hawking" all
week. deliberate and perfect finger work had me hooked. this was the best hawking
i've heard since japan. i can't believe it's real.
what a great todd show. for those of you who were there, you know what i mean.
you guys in japan and china are in for a treat. for those of you who weren't at slim's last night.... bwah ha ha! :O
if the chinese could see me now
romo