Dickstock - Sat, Jan 17, 2015by Nick the Bookman Man, Dick and Sue will be pissed to miss this gig. This midway hindsight came to me as a possible opening line for this "review". So I tried it out on some of the attendees at the Dickstock Memorial Gig. Seemed to work. It was pithy and had depths within. So, that's the first line sorted. Now for the rest...
The event is taking place at the little amphitheatre/sitting-out area at the top of the hill (seaview route) to Pak Kok. There's a good crowd. The place is heaving full and the line up is stellar. Everyone here to regret and mourn the passing of Dick (27/11/2014) and Sue (22/12/2014). To have some fond meanders down the misty memory lane and honour their worth as Free Citizens of Lamma. For me, Dick's demise has deprived us of our Bill Graham. And Sue's passage has lost us our Janis Joplin. I'm using these particular icons because they formed a large part of Dick's Sixties Worldview.
I've arrived at the site in mid-afternoon. Have missed a couple of acts and tributes, including
Dark Himaya. Now Oz on congas, Clive on flute and Roz on acoustic guitar are playing a haunting, folksy tribute. Maybe it's
"Country Roads". Sounds similar. They do a good job of it. Everyone does. None of the bands is here to fuck this up and if glitches occur they're brushed over and laughed at. No stress. Maintain an even strain.
Big rounds of applause to Gareth for making the bands sound spectacular. Parksy for playing the right 60s hits in between sets to keep the vibe alive. And especially for finding my ID card which I stupidly lost late in the evening. Still trying to get in touch to get it back as of this writing, but things go at their own pace on Lamma. Also a huge shout-out to Jim who blew the Last People Standing away with his DJ skills after the bands had finished, just before 11pm. Chunny was especially appreciative.
A few people have spotted me sitting stage right under the magic mushroom table where all the techie shit is taking place. I'm asked what I'm writing and the answer is generally "Acid dribblings". Partly an ongoing Freakflag Fallout from the 'Flap Festival late last year. Channel the inner cosmic warrior to try and get a hold into this piece. Alas, I can't read my dubious insights as they look more like a seismographic Richter read-out. So improvise. Aided by the wonderful stage lighting which makes everything look like the cover of the first Echo and the Bunnymen LP. Green on Red. Purple haze and everything eventually emptying into white.
So the bands: There was the semi-retired
Transnoodle who uncorked a joyously heady brew of good ska licks mashed into a melange of fine Clash guitar bits and the punky sax appeal of The Ruts. And quite a few covers in the mix. Well played by Richard on keys, Johnny on guitars and vox, Tony on saxes and the Mysterious Other Two on drums and bass. The By Halves with Alex and Keiran went slightly more full-blooded cosmick folk with hints of lysergic Americana. Especially
"Hedonia". A real crowd-pleaser and I wish in retrospect you had also played
"Psilocybia". Sounds like a real hoot to hear. Your sound also seemed to soar in the open space. Not constrained like the last time I saw you in The Island Bar opening for The Sleeves.
The Curs delivered another masterclass. Aided by the return of the peripatetic Squinty John Hutton. Fresh from jail as alluded to by Harry at Lamma Fun Day? Or just another stop on his wanderings? Anyway, John delivered fine tributes to Dick and Sue before leading the Yung Shue Wan Curs through a splendid set. Special appreciation for Davey's mesmerising fiddle work. His skills encompass decades of tradition. The singalongs and badinage were up to snuff.
The
David Bowie Knives turned in the most splenetic, visceral set of the day. A real muscular work-out for this indie power rock trio of Sean on guitar and vox, Olly on bass and Gabe on thunder drums. Magnus probably gets the hardest working drummer blue ribbon for manning the stool behind three of the bands. You can ask him yourself which ones, coz I've forgotten. Sloppy research on my part. Sean's closing anthemic delivery of
"I believe in Rock n' Roll and Rock n' Roll believes in me" is still echoing-ing-ing around the amphitheatre.
Finally,
The Bastards close the live section of this show. Dan on vocals. Dave on bass. Mark on guitar. Leigh on guitar (and a minor strop when his guitar wouldn't do it right) and Brendan on drums. Dan also pays tribute to Dick and Sue and The Bastards uncork one of the great versions of Neil Young's
"Keep On Rocking In The Free World". Leigh does the first solo in a sort of Southern rock boogie grits yet smooth solo and Mark adds some electronics and a bit of feedback to the second solo. The Pretty Things would be pretty pleased with it. If only Dick and Sue could have been around...
And perhaps they can. Maybe there's a way. Let's see. We can take our SpaceTimeContinuum down to the tiniest strata, smaller than the Planck Length. Down to vortex energy powering the quantum foam which underpins other events occurring along the electromagnetic spectrum. Of which our bit, the visible spectrum, is about 1%. There's lots going on. Everything that has happened/is happening/will happen in our STC has its own fixed latitude, longitude and altitude in space and past, present and future in time. So, theoretically, everything can be accessed. Ways might include Multiverses: Sidetrips to Parallel Dimensions: Sideslipping the Faster-Than-Light travel barrier with wormholes. That's the outer macro.
And then the inner micro which could be Dreamtime and Trance-stage. Accessing the Akashik Record. Manipulating the CyberworldSpaceNet. Among other stuff I haven't dreamed up yet. Some of this happens already. GPS for precise points on the globe. Just expand the concept to cover the whole STC. With its current, estimated "lifespan" from Big Bang To Heat Death and total subsumation set at about 100 trillion years, I venture to suggest a way will be found to access anything at all. All is Vibes. Just Turn On and Tune In.
Hell, it could go further and characters and incidents from books and movies and art could come to life as well and interact. See Robert A. Heinlein's book
"The Number Of The Beast" for a more entertaining explanation. He calls some of these events "Ficta" (from fiction). Examples could include
"The Wizard of Oz", "Who Framed Roger Rabbit", "Purple Rose of Cairo", "Guardians Of The Galaxy" and
"Star Wars". And a Betelgeusian-star-sized container of other films, books and art/sculpture. Everything Is... And future Dick and future Sue could be able to access all in this in their reborn vessels/bodies somewhen Down The Line. Yeah, I'm hooked on a feeling and high on believing that this too will come to pass. And guess what, Dick and Sue will still be pissed they missed this gig...
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