Neko

A week ago, Matt and I lived up to the Austin "live music capital" reputation and spent the evening with that soulful Neko Case at Stubb's BBQ. It was a great night for an outdoor concert. Aside from the wonderful 70 degree weather with overcast skies, the soft dirt ground made it not too painful to stand through the opening band, Shearwater. It turns out these guys are local favorites and although I didn't seem to quite catch their musical vision, I was totally compelled by this guy's performance.
Can you guess by which "guy" I was compelled? I'll give you a hint. Had he not been playing clarinet in a sleeveless pleather shirt I would have sworn he was missing from the 1988 filming of Willow. He must have been Madmartigan's stunt double. One way or another, he had presence. No matter how many veins surfaced in the lead singer's neck from wailing vocals, or how mysterious the bass player tried to play herself off as, I could not divert from the Willow man. I am still not sure whether or not it was a positive or negative fascination with him. Matt would call this "The Mime Effect"; it is so odd that it is nearly upsetting but you simply cannot take your eyes from it.

Willow man played all kinds of instruments from drums and clarinet to even a dulcimer for one song. When he hammered out that thing, he closed his eyes in some Transiberian kind of trance and his hairy bare arms and head acquired a blue halo-like outline from the back light. It was like unintentional performance art. I really don't know how to describe it. It was creepy-weird maybe transcendent kind of beautiful? Hmmm...I'll just stick with a confident "Mime Effect" description.

And Neko? She was beautiful (in a non-Mime Effect kind of way, of course). She really was beautiful. When she came out with her bright red hair and kelly green sweater, it was all I could do not to decide then an there to quit everything I was doing to play guitar and learn to sing something great. Sigh...I suppose the next best thing to being being a indie babe with powerfully haunting vocals is to promote research literacy in a library. I have to admit though that it was hard to remind myself that when I woke, up on less sleep than I should have gotten, that next morning and go to work.