Wink and White

Fric & Frac.
Martin & Lewis.
Abercrombie & Fitch…

Godley & Creme.

At the Art of Noise show, I stood next to TShirt Ted and had a well-rounded conversation with him. Shocking. To TShirt Ted I am the one who is with the one who will not release the Hans Reichel recording no matter how many times a year Ted asks. Tonight, I am eclectic in my musical tastes, more interesting than his crew and their rigs, invitable to a party.

But at the Art of Noise show, Art of Noise gets all up in a bunch about Debussy, and the fact their performance is opposite the season premiere (or is it finale?) of Friends (or is it Felicity?). Even though all of us in the audience have made our choice in this department, and it squarely favors Art of Noise, we are berated for being cousins of the people who stayed home… watching bad television. I get squinty, which is a prelude to frowny. After frowny comes heckle, but I don’t want to spoil things for TShirt Ted. I move up to the front.

And there is Lol Creme. For some crazy reason, Lol Creme is playing guitar on the very small tour of Art of Noise, which, I realize, is shot through with misapplied loathing. They tour, but it clearly gives them hives. They play the old songs, but they admit they were ashamed of their success. They include two young DJs, but they never release their material to their beats. They spew sarcasm, and forget to check our faces to see the collective single eyebrow lifted where they assumed a dull slope was. They anglicize french words, but all english seem to, my request for indignation is denied on this point. They tumble over themselves with a highly developed understanding of Debussy, but they never mention Schoenberg. And one last thing makes no sense whatsoever:

Why Lol?

One ear drinking in the performance, one eye ignoring the perp Trevor Horn, one head turning over and over and over (laurieandersonstylee) the pop music genius of Lol Creme and this rather accidental appearance at this rather accidental venue in this rather accidental town.

Am I the only one here thinking this is the equivalent of a chili cook off for Lol? Is my estimation of his previous work completely out of proportion to his current meaning? Am I nothing but an atavistic gearhead with horn-rimmed props for 10cc? Is Lol…

Is Lol OK?

What are you doing here? I shout to him as they leave the stage. Did you have anything to do with this?

He bursts out laughing. Maybe not at me.

Hans plays a piece of wood, which he calls a daxophone. It’s been described as some kind of space alien steam-harp from Jupiter.

It puts me to sleep.

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