Feb. 15/06 Recap

"You do look glum! What you need is a gramme of soma."

Aldous Huxley.

Soma was the imaginary drug in Aldous Huxley's 'Island.' I grew up on Huxley Avenue in Burnaby, except that it was named after the Victorian scientist Thomas Huxley, not the Bloomsbury writer Aldous Huxley. How do I know this? Because it was an English scientist neighbourhood; the next street over was Darwin, and the one after that was Halley.

And this ties into the Supper Show in that the band introduced a new tune tonight. The new song rhymes with 'soma,' but some (ie. one) band members are dissatisfied with the title, and are lobbying to have it changed.

Of course, this can be a tricky issue. I once played in a band (perhaps I still do ) for which I wrote a song called 'Reefer Girl.' The title came from an old pulp novel (one of my favorite sources for song titles), and was a tribute to a couple of people from my past. One of my musical compatriots took exception to the song's content. There was a heated discussion, but in the end I did change it, as I discovered a new pulp title ('Hotrod Sinner') that was more syllablistcally compatible with the riff.

Pause.

Super Robertson returned from California in an energetic mood, engaging the audience on various sundry matters. The set seemed decent from the stage. There was a brief interlude in which a guy named Dave delivered some stylish rapwork. Then another guy named David--better known as the Fire-Man--came up and played some horn. Then 50% of 21TR were summarily dismissed, and replaced with 33.3% of Roadbed, a.k.a. Shockk, who joined Roadbed Mk I for a version of 'Bent.'

Eric Eyes then got up on drums, and was met with an upbeat groove that caused him some angst. Deborah (landofdeborah.com), who appears on Devon Townshend's new album, as well as 21TR's new album, read the night's poem.


"..there is always soma, delicious soma, half a gramme for a half-holiday, a gramme for a week-end, two grammes for a trip to the gorgeous East, three for a dark eternity on the moon..."

And four for a bright eternity at the Supper Show.



ACM.