Gorillaz and other monkey bizness - 3/12/2010

by Nick the Bookman

I'm not quite sure how or where/when to start this story. Yeah, yeah, there's going to a review of Gorillaz in concert at Asia World on 3/12/2010. That's the English alphabetical dating system of D/M/Y. Not the American one where 9-11/2001 is not the Ninth of November. I'll mention that Time Is Simultaneous in the sense that the largest span of time ranges from The Big Bang (about 13.7 billion years ago) to the Ultimate Heat Death Of The Universe, When everything above the quantum level that is Planck's Length (or ten to the minus 43 power) is gone. No more stars, No more black holes even. That's about 100 trillion years in the future. But happening now. Yesterday's Tomorrow is Today. Or Tomorrow's Yesterday is Today.. So our expanding and dissipating, yet contracting and consuming Space Time Continuum was/is/will be around for about ten to the 14th power years. Assuming a trillion years is a thousand billion years or ten to the 12th power. Eternity is finite after all.

Our current version, or species, of humanity is programmed to think past-to-future. No violation of causality. But we can recall the past. Usually imperfectly. And we can speculate on the future. From 100% accurate forecasts like Nightfalls and Daybreaks. To The Second Largest Number Ever of odds against/for God Is Coming. This story isn't quite that far out, but there are weird echoes of past events interacting with now. To wit: 1982. Year Zero in Hong Kong's Punk History. When The Boomtown Rats, The Clash, The Pretenders and Siouxsie and the Banshees played at The A.C. Hall, Baptist College, Kowloon Tong. Just down the road from Broadcast Drive. Home of TVB, ATV, RTHK and Commercial Radio. I worked for the last three.

In 1982, I was at Commercial Radio who broadcast the first three gigs as I recall. I had ticket #0001 for The Rats as a cover for a taped copy of the gig. Lent the tape to a friend to copy and that was it. Long gone. I remember Bob Geldof saying he wasn't sure how long the band would play as "we've just arrived from India and have got the shits." Most of the set went by in an unknown Blur of tunes. Then came "I Don't Like Monday's" with the l-o-n-g pause after "...the lesson today is how to DIE!". Over 30 seconds it seemed. I remember Johnny Fingers in pyjamas, playing keyboards. He lives in Japan now and helps organise The Fuji Rock Festivals. I read that somewhere, so it must be true or false. Ticket prices for the four shows were cheap. About HK$60 - $100. Anyway, Sir Bob Geldof turned up unexpectedly in Lan Kwai Fong in the earlyish 1990's. We met him. It was after a Sisters of Sharon gig. He didn't stick around. There's a brief review in one of Lamma's Village Magazines. Only four issues were printed. I think Lamma-Gung has them in the electronic Lammarchives.

The Clash were next up on 28/2/1982. About ten of us in the front row of the balcony. Stage speakers pointing right at us. Safe above the mayhem that ensued on the dance floor. HK$60 for the finest show of my concert going lifetime. It was sloppily brilliant. The show was stopped twice by Joe who was worried about the chaos. Chris Salewicz wrote in "Redemption Song" the definitive biography of Joe Strummer, that "the HK date was a downer...mass fighting between Chinese and expatriate English in the audience broke out several times." I didn't see it quite like that. More like enthusiastic moshing to celebrate the Clash making their local debut. Far fucking out forever. What a gig etc, etc. I remember the Clash started with "London Calling" and from there, they could do no wrong. Most of that eponymous LP was played. The extremely highlights were "Clampdown", "The Guns of Brixton" (with a ferocious bass and vocal from Paul Simenon). The excellent chunky guitar riffs of "Know Your Rights", played by Mick Jones. The ferocious canters through the first two LPs. Plus some of the rockers from triple LP "Sandanista" Topper Headon's masterclass in forward punk drumming. Topper fleeing the stage midway through the fourth encore after chucking his sticks in the crowd. Illegal smile inducing substances being toked on stage. The mayhem meant that Penny Spencer couldn't take a definitive photo for the cover of the forthcoming LP "Combat Rock". It was subsequently snapped in Thailand I remember getting Joe, Paul and Topper to sign my copy of "Sandinista" (and I don't have a clue where the fuck it is now). Mick was being moody and travelling by himself so he never signed it. A Chinese fan took the photo of me and Joe at Kai Tak Airport that's on my web site. I felt there was a start towards a meeting of minds which would have been enhanced considerably if we could have made time to share a spliff or 60. Requiescat In Pace, Joe. It'll be eight years on 25/12/2010 that you left this Vale of Tears considerably wetter for your passing... Topper is in retirement, partly due to a heavy drug addiction. Mick and Paul are going to reappear later in this story.

Here's some other anniversaries just for the amusing hell of it. The 69th anniversary of Pearl Harbour (7/12/1941) which resulted in American entry into World War Two and the subsequent detonation of three A-bombs between May and August 1945. The first on American home soil at Alamorgodo. The last two over Hiroshima and Nagasaki. That was 75% of the total global stock of A-bombs. Anyway, 7/12/2010 passed with America and Japan conducting friendly war drills off the coast of China/Korea. Meanwhile North Korea marked 60 years of unending tension resulting from the Korea War by shelling a remote, yet inhabited South Korean island. China is being as stroppy now as it was then. It was China/North Korea versus America/South Korea between 1950-53. No change now with China still reluctant to admonish its "rabid dog" client-cum-supplicant and help ensure regional peace. China has also bullied Japan over the recent clash of their ships in international waters and most of the rest of the world for supporting jailed Nobel Peace laureate and dissident Liu Xiaobo. An empty chair will receive his award in Oslo tonight (10/12/2010). Not to mention the recent Wikileaks release of diplomatic cables saying China orchestrated cyber attacks on Google's China operation at the highest levels. We'll get back to Wikileaks and Julian Assange in a while.

Back to 1982 and The Pretenders were next to rock-and-roll into town. Another memorable concert and possibly the last one played by guitarist James Honeyman-Scott. He was dead within a week of the show from a drugs overdose. Again, I had a tape and it too got lost. Had some blinding versions of the first LP. Also had Ray Davies (the Kink's mainman and then-current lover of Chrissie Hynde) standing in the shadows on stage, but refusing to come out and play. To get an idea of how good they were, just watch their set at Live Aid in 1985 and double up the intensity. The Pretenders also supported Bryan Ferry in HK a few years ago and blew his act off the stage. I missed that gig because at that time I assumed I needed a dreaded credit card to buy tickets through Ticketek.. But, they're more than happy to take cash.

This next section is dedicated to the late John McGeoch, the Scottish former guitarist with Magazine, Siouxsie and the Banshees and Visage among others. This is how the story unfolds...

It's Sunday, 5/12/2010 and I've just been stopped outside Pizza Milano by a personable gent who introduces himself to me as "Vernon Ram's son-in-law." He's got a big bag of books to give me from Vernon and Jane and wants to know when. This awakens a semi-dormant memory and I ask him "You're not Budgie are you?". He says "Yes.".Budgie was the drummer for Siouxsie and the Banshees when they played in HK early 1982. He was back in HK in November for some concerts at Sha Tin Town Hall. On 6/11/2010 and 7/11/2010. Budgie played regular drums, waterphone and harmonica. He was accompanied by Mari from Pretoria on traditional African drums like congas and djembes. There was Leonard Eto on Japanese taiko drums. Japanese rock guitarist Sugezo (who is playing with Luna Sea on their reboot tour tomorrow night at Asia World. It's Luna Sea's first major paying gig in 20 years and a thank you to their HK fan base for keeping the faith alive. By "tomorrow night" I mean 11/12/2010 - the start of my 56th year). Finally, techie/FX guitarist Knox Chandler supplied the digidelic sorcery. The interplay between the quintet was mostly improvised and greatly appreciated by the sell out audience. The audience included Chunny who told me the Budgie-Ram Family connection. Basically, he married their daughter Gitanjali in India earlier this year. They returned for a brief visit to Lamma in early December. We met up. The conversation continues.

"You're Budgie aren't you? Mate, I was gutted to miss your shows. I didn't know how to get out to Sha Tin. Anyway, I was at the Banshees concert in HK in early 1982. I remember Siouxsie telling the crowd to stop gobbing. She said "Don't do that. We're not punks. We're hippies." She was in frilly white blouse and sort of black pantsuit. And the trademark eye makeup. I remember that you and Siouxsie did a couple of Creatures numbers. For drums and voice which was spell-binding. I remember John on stage right. Dressed as a New Romantic in tweed and plus fours. Uncorking some truly magnificent guitar lines and melodies. Steve Severin was stage left, keeping it rock solid on bass. It was a great year for HK punk and alternative rock fans. The Boomtown Rats, The Clash, The Pretenders and you guys. Thanks for some wonderful memories. I do some writing on gigs for the Lamma-zine these days, but I wasn't writing reviews then."

And Budgie replied "Please write this one up. Just write it like you told me and please make it a tribute to John." It's not exactly as I told it, but I don't have Nick Kent's eidetic memory for facts and conversation. Nick Kent is the author of "The Dark Stuff." Classic reporting for the NME at the end of the 70's and into the 80's. But it's as close as I can recall and hopefully suffused with the same genuine warmth of a fan who's had his mind blown. So that's the mini-review and eulogy for John. He fought well, but ultimately lost his battle against the bottle. He made vast contributions to "Kaleidoscope", "Ju-Ju", and "Dream House", the three LP's he recorded as a Banshee. Chatting with you later you said you'd toured as support for The Clash on the Give Them Enough Rope Tour of 1978?. You were drumming with The Slits who were touring their excellent debut LP. You told me that Ariani, the step-daughter of Johnny Rotten, had just died. So no last chances for the Slits to pogo down Memory Lane with the old fans and attract younger new ones. I told you I was ambivalent about seeing Gorillaz, describing them as half of The Clash with other assorted misfits. Hopefully, you'll be back on Lamma again and maybe have a chance to jam with the assorted Lamma bands. We'll see...

Did you know that during the past seven million years, the "Human Family Tree" has spawned (is that too derogative? Try gengineered instead) has gengineered at least 20 varied species of human? Nearly all of them were evolutionary dead ends and are extinct. Our closest links are with the apes - specifically chimpanzees which some anthropologists/biologists/evolutionists believe should be re-classified as a genus of homo whatever. There is a 98.8% genetic similarity between ourselves and the chimps. Compared to a 99.9% similarity at trhe DNA level amongst all humans. That one tenth of one % difference results in the lack of immunity to various diseases and illnesses among our population groupings. That one tenth of one % came about after the Lake Toba (Indonesia) supervolcano explosion about 74,000 years ago. The biggest blast in history over the last 100,000 years. It apparently killed nearly 99.9% of mankind. From a few million to a few thousand. Forcing the survivors to flee to East Africa and change survival patterns of behaviour from small groups of hunter/gatherers to larger collections of agricultural and homesteading humans. Then the "Long March" out of Africa and the gradual repopulation of the earth. Until now. Now, the global population is over six billion. China and India account for about one third of the total. No reduction in sight until Mother Gaia/Nature blindsides us with another natural mega catastrophe. Or a vicious pandemic. One with no cure.

Can stupidity be cured? Seems unlikely. Mammon and Moloch hold sway over us all. Population pressure causes more wars, Usually fought under secondary guises of religious biases and energy politics. And credit. Until the piper comes with his skirling nihilistic pipes of pandemonium. The politicians who have (mis)ruled the first decade of the Third Millennium. Doing what they're told by sinister, secretive higher forces. The Trilateral Commission. The Bildenbergers, The New World Order. And others too numerous and unnameable to mention. Remember The Great Dubyahoo. The 43rd President (ha!) of the USA. How he used Fear to "win" in 2000. And Queers.to retain power in 2004. Read (current Senator) Al Franken's book "The Truth With Jokes" for the full and foul details. Read Kitty Kelley's book "The Family. The Real Story Of The Bush Dynasty." She has "nailed the evidence...demonstrated beyond doubt what the American press dared not print" Her book was published in 2004 and doesn't quite cover the Bush re-election. Al Franken's came out in 2005. Read the late Hunter S. Thompson's "Kingdom Of Fear." Especially a vengeful and brutally eloquent screed entitled "Jesus Hated Bald Pussy." He surpasses anything I've written about Bush Reich and he did it in 2002. On 18/2/2005, he shot himself in emulation of Ernest Hemingway. Didn't have the strength to keep fighting the greedheads and scumbags. Not to mention the weakening of his own body and constitution.

Julian Assange and Wikileaks have done their bit to shine powerful lights in dank, fetid corners of Congress, The Military, Government and Big Business. I'm on his side in exposing the ruthless bastards. The blunt speaking diplomats who were indiscreet. Be prepared to back up what you commit to print. Or make sure no fucked up or fucked over aide/assistant/slave can find the evidence and do you over. Fair play to Kevin Rudd, the former Australian Prime Minister and current Foreign Minister, for defending Julian Assange. He was outed as a control freak among the many released cables. Not a problem He knew it. So did others. Didn't bother him. Unlike the current Australian Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, whose approach is to spread em wide and suck it up. Don't offend the Superpower Banana Republic that passes itself off as The United States of America. Political caricatures of Julia Gillard focus on the sharp nose features. Just like Margaret Thatcher. See nose grow. Hear more lies.

I'm opposed to Wikileaks naming secret spies and sleeper agents in foreign countries who can't get out. Don't do an Aldrich Ames (CIA traitor for cheap money). Don't out their controllers and get the agents and families captured and tortured to death. Don't unveil any new Valerie Plame's for reasons of partisan politics and shoddy revenge because her husband Joe Wilson put a large fork in the Bush Reich plans to invade Iraq. His opposition eventually had no effect on future events. But people like Karl Rove who dreamed up the revenge plan and Robert Novak who leaked it shold have been questioned with blowtorches. Or smeared in honey, covered in fire ants and leeches and publicly displayed in stocks. I'd buy shares in the rotten fruit concession. The world will smell fresher when they meet their long overdue, and hopefully horribly painful extinctions. I'd like to see the gutless pussywhipsawed American press tackle Hilary Clinton on her role in ordering t5he State Department to spy on U.N. diplomats. Either she did it or she didn't. She dodges the issue repeatedly. Take on the bankers as well. Why weren't they smart enough to agree to defer their obscene bonuses for 2010 and donate the money to the Gulf residents who were financially obliterated by the BP spill/blowout? The thought, probably, never came within a parsec of their diseased and psychopathic minds. Fuck 'em and gut 'em and skin 'em in any order that causes most pain.

Just think about a former Republican President. Abraham Lincoln, born 12/2/1809. Exactly the same day as naturalist Charles Darwin. Lincoln failed in nearly all of his jobs, but learnt from the experiences until he ascended to the highest post in the land. The first President to wear a beard in office. The first President to be assassinated in office (after securing his second term). The man who presided over and resolved the American Civil War. His nickname was "Honest Abe." He'd struggle to find words to have a conversation with his Republican successor George W. Bush. A man whose nicknames included "The Thief-In-Chief." Kind of says it all, really. Now back to Julian Assange. He's in jail in London until 14/12/2010. Possibly longer. The Swedish international arrest warrant seems a little bit extreme. Like mandating compulsory execution of jaywalkers. By 16-wheel trucks. The Swedes say it's not political. I don't think so. The case involves two brief sexual escapades. He says they were consensual and condoms were used. And possibly broke. The women say they were raped and assaulted. They're worried about contracting sexual diseases and want Julian Assange tested. If they get tested and come out clean, it doesn't matter if he's tested or not because they've contracted nothing. This case will end up as an embarrassment to Sweden in the long run. Gibes of why waste time on this case when you could be trying to clear up the assassination of Olaf Palme.

Well, I have taken up a lot of your time with monkey business. Sorry about that. Let's get to the Gorillaz gig. I was sitting at home on 3/12/2010. Getting ready to watch "Asian Football," "The Amazing Race" and "CSI". Karina calls me about 1720 and asks if I;m going to Gorillaz. I say no. She asks if I'd like a free ticket. I say yes. Borrow some money from a friend to get to Asia World Arena. It's a big crowd. About 4,000 or so. Lamma residents include Dave (without Eva). There's Josh and Magnus from Transnoodle. Jacob from The Curs. DJ/percussionist Barnaby Bruce. Steve and Chico who are newcomers to a Nix review. There's Debbie and Chris and oldesty son Milo. Possibly his first gig. Former Lamma residents (from the last millenium) Peta and Robert. A dancer friend of mine, John with his daughter Ivana. Another couple, Dominique and Tony find me chatting with John and give me my ticket from Karina. I'm having a grest time na5ttering I miss the first half or more of the opening act.

By the time I find my seat - Block 6, Row D, Seat 5, it's about 2050. De La Soul are the opening act and they could have been better. I remember them from their first LP. Entitled "Three Feet High And Rising", it was a day-glo acid trip inspired rap/hip hop bundle of musical joy. Not gloomy Portishead style trip hop, reminiscent of film noir. The final song "It's Saturday" is the best thing I hear by them And they were only three hours early because it's still 2100 on Friday 3/12/2010. The flyer for the concert shows nine people posing in the picture. They include Damon Albarn (late of Blur), Mick Jones and Paul Simenon (ex-Clash - told you they'd be back in this story), the awesome voiced Bobby Womack, the Hypnotic Brass Ensemble, Little Dragon, Roses Gabor and more. There's also the 2-D/computer graphic 3-D versions of Noodle, Murdoc, Russell and 2-D. The last four strut their stuff on the big screen that runs the width of the stage. Below are the musicians. Up to 20 musicians will appear on stage during the show.Mick and Paul are wearing sailor's caps. I'm parallel with the mixing desk which is to my right. The floor is nearly bouncing with the fans in the mosh pit and up front.

The computer graphics fade into a video of Snoop Doggy Dogg singing the title track of the "Escape toi Plastic Beach" release. The video and audio seamlessly slot together. As impressive as Roger Waters. I didn't realise there was going to be so much rap cum hip hop in this show. Haven't really heard much of the LP or much Gorillaz to be frank. When asked which side am I on in the Blur/Oasis battle I usually say Primal Scream with a side order of Stone Roses. So, that's my battle flag nailed to the mast.

I drifted in and out of the show. Bobby Womack has an amazing voice. Worth hearing, but he's carefully parcelled out. De La Soul do some more raps now and then. Not quite enough to irritate. The stunning parts of the show included The Syrian National Orchestra. Actually a septet with ouds, fiddles, tambors etc. Fantastic Damascus blues/world music. And if I squint, I can almost hear Davey and John from The Curs trading ghostly gaelic licks. Stunning stuff, but it only lasted a song and a half. The Hypnotic Brass Ensemble was another septet, playing everything from tubas to trumpets, a trombone and saxaphones. As hauntingly memorable as The Wonderful Wonder Brass who backed up Bjork on her last gig in HK. There's also a more English string sextet who enhance the sounds on their rare appearances.

There's a wonderful mid-set section when Gorillaz go hard rock meets synthy keys in a white noise grooveadelic amphetemine paced rush. Instrumentals they may be, but they bring out the mental in the fans. There's a song called "Superfast Jellyfish" which hits the right emotive buttons. There's a fine video of Bruce Willis tooling along the highway engaged in a shoot out with the cartoons. Some of the floating Tahiti style islands in the sky are very Roger Dean graphics. Another highlight is a duet with Damon and Little Drtagon. Eastern mood evocative. Finally, a wonderful duet with Jenny Chen from Shenzhen who plays a goudja(?) That's a long Chinese.style string instrument. Part coffin. Part pedal steel guitar. The song is about HK. The accompanying video shows HK night scenes and Damon is delighted to perform it. His voice is tender as well. Not the gruff Mockney growl of earlier songs. Jenny is stunning in a peach coloured silk evening dress and swishes off insouciantly when the song is over. To strong applause I should add. The encore included "Clint Eastwood" with its "...I'm happy, feeling glad. Got sunshine...the future is coming on, coming on..." etc Got the whole place rocking and reeling.

Dave (without Eva) was kind enough to write me a mini review. Here goes: "An eclectic mix of beats which kept the audience enthralled throughout" Thanks, Dave. He also knew all the songs, except for the spellbinding Syrian National Orchestra section. Personally, I'm glad I went. Thanks, Karina. The ticket was a comp. $0.00. I'm glad I saw them, but wouldn't rush to repeat the experiment. Especially if it's more hip hop. Mick and Paul were quietly memorable. It's been 28 years since they were last here. Most other people I spoke to tended to agree with my assessment. It was fun. Now bring on Marianne Faithfull, Ute Lemper doing the tango music of Astrid Piazzolla and Elvis Costello. All of them are performing at the 2011 HK Arts Festival. See you there. ntb.

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