Flaming Lips and Other Diversions

by Nick the Bookman, Nov 18, 2010

As i was gearing up to write this story I heard on the BBC that scientists have managed to create and contain anti-matter hydrogen atoms inside a magnetic field. For one-sixth of a second. Or enough time for years of rigorous research into the phenomenon, resulting in superstar scientific status and Nobels galore. There's also the giant gamma-ray bubbles erupting, possibly, from the black hole at the heart of our Milky Way galaxy. The energy output is estimated to be the equivalent of 100,000 supernovae. Or the second biggest explosion we know of since The Big Bang about 13.7 billion years ago. From the micro to the macro and connected in ways we can't know until we "prove" GUT (Grand Unified Theory) or TOE (Theory Of Everything). What a pleasure to live in the future today where raw data and information is being uncovered at speeds unmatched by our processing, comprehending and containment systems. Put another way, we're years behind understanding and using our known knowns, known unknowns and unknown unknowns. Biological life operates much more slowly than virtual life. An inch to a mile. Eventually an angstrom to a light second. We're regressing...

"Those who forget their history are condemned to repeat it." (Santayana.)

...which might explain the American elections on 2/11/2010. Let's see. To all intents, we still live in BushReich World. Not Obama World despite a brief flutter of ecstatic hope at the end of 2008. The major problems haven't changed at all. Thanks to a masterful display of putrid politics by the Republicans. Blocking progressive action. Badmouthing opponents. Exercising "negative energy" tactics. Obfuscating. Biding their time. The Democrats blew their window of opportunity by growing supersize egos instead of rebuilding the country and the world. Now the Republicans control the House, expect more confrontations. Delays and pork barrel politics. Feather bedding themselves during a time of national crisis. Treason, by some definition, during wartime. Survival of the fittest/fattest they say. Maybe the land of the free and the home of the brave is becoming the land of the fee and the home of the slave. It's been joked that the USA went from juvenility to senility without experiencing maturity. Not strictly true. There have been hopeful times.

I do get an answer of sorts to the Great Dubyahoo's timeless question "Is our children learning?" Sad to say, the answer is "No, them isn't". So, maybe it's time for another wallow in the murky shallows of irrationality. Elevate the vacuous. Praise Creationism in the shapely form of the succubus Sarah "Barracuda" Palin. Merge Church and State. Form a theocracy. Complete the wheel and become the people you escaped from over the last half millennium. Be the fundamental Christian mirror image of the fundamental Islamists. But..., BUT, send us all your cool superstar rock/indie/alternative bands before you do. Like the Flaming Lips...

Sorry. It's been a bit of weird wander from the ridiculous to the sublime. But its 13/11/2010 and The Flaming Lips are making their long awaited local debut. Long awaited because I heard at Clockenflap 2009 they were coming but was sworn to secrecy. Besides, I couldn't find anyone who cared to share this tidbit. The problem is that Lamma Fun Day is taking place the same day. Why switch it from Sunday to Saturday? People working in the morning means less time at the beach. I didn't attend because I had to leave early to get to Asia World Expo to see the FL.

Bobsy also told me I might be abducted and allowed to donate my beard. He thought it might raise about 50,000 dollars. Never mind that I'd lose my advertising angle. Then I heard that Parksy wasn't involved in the music and sound production. Another crew were hired at possibly twice the cost? Less money for the charity in that case. The cost of a booth was higher, resulting in some friends reluctantly deciding not to attend and set out their wares. Gremlins were in residence in the mixing desk and I heard that Leigh, Dave and Magnus weren't able to get a performance slot. No tenth anniversary tee-shirts were available and the food could have been hotter. Extra ferries were needed to get the visitors off Lamma at sunset.

Most people seemed to enjoy the day, but it didn't seem like a pull-out-the-stops-tenth-anniversary gig. Hopefully next year with the caveat that "if it ain't broke, don't fix it". Keep Lamma people involved in Lamma's Fun Day. No need to break their rice bowls after several years of service. Especially as they have families to support and a pay day is a pay day. Me, I did my books and had the great pleasure of being a clue in Shelley's Treasure Hunt. Wacky fun too. They bought some books. I signed their papers and helped them getting extra points for unearthing references to "marijuana" in not one, but two of my books. Made about enough to cover costs to Asia World and dinner.

It's 1945 and I'm at Hall 10 at Asia World. Doors should open at 2000. I can't make the math work out so I can see local band Meriwether Deer, The Raveonettes and The Flaming Lips and catch the 2345 train to Central to get the last ferry to Lamma. It's insoluble unless I miss half the last act. So, I'll crash at D-Bay if necessary and return at 0730. Or hope other like minded Lamma people are here and we can all share a sampan. Problem solved. There's Chunny, Magnus and Josh from Transnoodle. Kelly is here (and thank you for the $80 Jack Daniels and coke.) There's Canadian Don from Pak Kok, This will be his second Flaming Lips gig. Richard (who shares a love of The Cash Brothers with me). Former Lamma-ites Lori and Aaron are here. Haven't seen them since the Mani DJ gig. A rare night away from the kids and they seem ready to embrace whatever lysergic delights The Lips are ready to deliver. There's Jason, a new American arrival on Lamma. Our relationship progresses from silent nods to conversation. Moray the cameraman is here with the like minded Keith "froom The Sleeves." He'll be helping out at the upcoming EP launch by Of Moths And Stars, aka Chris and Nate. Their EP is called "Polyphonic Rust" and is acoustic with other touches including Nina Plapp on cello. Got a good review in the SCMP. Moray's mate Richard joins us and generates the immortal introduction "Keith. Richard" Followed by us all cracking up. There's Scottish Rob from Sai Kung (I've seen Hawkwind 13 times") and old raving pals, Karina, Scott and Peter. Dave and Paul of the mighty metal duo, DP. And Dave's lovely wife Claire. Formerly the eminently watchable bassist with the Shotgun She-Ras. Plus about another 2,000 people or so.

Meriwether Deer take the sage about 2010. They do a short set. I guessed 4 songs. They played 5. Including "City" which they performed on the RTHK show The Works. Quite a jingle-jangle guitar melody and tight drums and bass. Pleasant to listen to. The live version is more rocking,. Plenty of big guitar gestures. Ferocious drums and near synchro head banging and boogie beats. The other socks are good enough. Some rock riffs and some Indie stuff. Some slightly mellow proggy keyboards.They're capable having played in various other HK groups. They don't outstay their welcome and are obviously delighted to perform on the same stage as the Lips..I think they are Ephraim on guitar/vox. Don on keyboards. Glen on bass. Jun on drums and Ding on other guitar. Now shift over. The Raveonettes are coming.

This Danish quartet delivers a blistering set of what Moray describes as "Jesus and Mary Chain meets Blondie" Better than what I could come up. Don't know names, but the lead singer is gorgeous with a blonde Louise Brooks as Pandora style bob. Wields a mean rhythm guitar and spits the lyrics out with some urgency' Three guys are backing her. A stand up drummer-cum-percussionist who whacks the shit out of his kit. Another guitar and second lead vox and a wild bassist. Everyone is dressed on goth/glam back. The better to hide the blood and other stains should things get hectic. They don't. This is precise, controlled musical mayhem Some of the songs are almost ballads with haunting melodies. Some of the instrumental interludes recall early Bunnymen and Velvet Underground hints of dissonance. Not quite white noise disruptions as there are some tuneful things taking place. Icy metronomic beats plus tribal military thunder drums. The final tune ( I don't know what it's called) is awesome. Sort of like My Bloody Valentine in space/noise jam mode. They were in Bangkok and Singapore earlier in the week and they;re glad to be in HK even if they;'re getting a bit tired as the tour winds down. They've been around for the best part of a decade and they're polite.'"Thank you so much. Have a great evening and thanks a lot" is repeated in various ways during their hour long(ish) show. I'm going to have to find out more about them so I can add more details in future parts of this never ending all times are one unfolding saga.

And now the climax approaches. Wayne is addressing the audience as a dozen or so furry costume manimals caper and shimmy. The roadies do all the last minute/first minute equipment tweaking. There's a huge circular screen (similar to the one used by Roger Waters). He warns the audience (about 65% European to 35 % local) that there will powerful strobe lights in use and basically have fun and be careful. The screen shows a happy gyrating nude girl dancer within a pulsing multi-coloured bulls-eye effect. She lies back and opens her legs like the birth of the galaxy animation bit in "Monty Python's Meaning of Life". Her vagina blasts clear white light as the band walk down through the screen and onto the stage where they start to play. Last man birthed is Wayne. Inside a huge Zorf Ball which tumbles out over the audience and is reverently pushed around. The space ball collapses. Wayne is "delivered" and the show starts.

This is going to be fragmentary. It's sort of a greatest hits and some early albums. Nothing played from their remake/re-imagining of Floyd's "Dark Side Of The Moon" Nothing played from their "Christmas on Mars" sci-fi home movie. Nothing too weird or experimentally electronic from the backlog. The big screen is day-glo colours and animations. Pulsing, throbbing bulls-eye rings in many colours, Extracts of family and friends footage. Close-ups of food and wildlife. Rotating animations, that look a bit Hello Kitty like. There are repeated exhortations of how much the band loves "this freaky, fucking city. Hong Kong. Please invite us back. We can smoke some pot". The manimals are slow dancing. Balloons are bouncing everywhere. People are crowded up front. There's a Brownian motion evident among the crowd. Back and forth to fetch drinks, Toilet breaks. Plenty of huge grins and what John Prine refers to as "illegal smiles" .The set unfolds in a laid back, wiry, spiraling, lysergic sort of (non) frenzy. There are pauses to catch breath. Josh and I drift past each other a few times. Oh, there's Cliff Bale who I used to work with at RTHK. Nearing retirement now, but he's indulging his inner John Peel for this gig. Good to see ye, mate.

The band is Wayne Coyne on vox and guitars. Plus Steven Drodz, Michael Ivins and Kliph Scurlock on other instruments. A fifth guy is part of the fun, but I don't know who he is. Perhaps, he's David Fridmann, their producer and occasional band member? Doesn't matter. The show isn't as tight and progressive produced as the recent Roger Waters "Dark Side Of The Moon" show. It's more organic and spontaneous. And almost as good. The main songs I recognise and can sing along to are "She Don't Like Jelly" and "Yoshimi versus The Pink Robots". Both acoustically exquisite. "Yoshimi" is a crowd pleasing sing-along. The audience continues seamlessly when Wayne stops singing. The only thing missing is the electronic ending, which DP Paul points out to me later. I'd already noticed. One other song about animals comes from the newest release "Embryonic"

Q Magazine got it right when they said The Flaming Lips are one of the 50 shows you must see in your lifetime. And with an ever-changing cast of band mates and friends, their freaky loopy loving performances leave everyone happy. Even the guy on his own at the back of the hall. The Flaming Lips have released at least 17 LP's/CD's during their two decades of existence. The tunes meld punk, acid, rock, electronica, soundtracks and acoustic beauties. They've come a long way in space time to entertain us in Hong Kong. And they still sound and believe that the next release will be the one that drags them laughing into the big time. They've got a lot more miles to go and a lot more tunes to play. Hope they get a chance to do so again in Hong Kong. And then visit Lamma where we can do a twin city ceremony with their hometown of Oklahoma City. And then...

The show ended about 0015. Time for the train back to Central. Eight of us shared a sampan. Got home about 0330. Still mind-blown. Met a few Americans on the train. All of them Democrats. Maybe that's another reason why the party of Bush Reich won. All the smart people have left. Like I'm about to do with this story. Ta ta.

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