The Big Green House

Monday, March 03, 2003

 

Lend me £10 and I'll buy you a drink

First up, a minor clarification of the Mr. Rogers post, as it is somewhat disjointed as it stands. (We had a big corporate wingding at my place of employment the night I wrote it, so I found it kinda difficult to stay focused.) The Keith Cameron quote (taken from the current issue of Mojo) was meant to tie into the fact that while for many people punk was about the re-invention of the self, Mr. Rogers was about facilitating the invention of the original self; somehow I left that out.

On to new business: Science Girl and I went to the fabulous-if-tiny Little Theater last night to see If I Should Fall from Grace, a documentary about none other than the poster boy for the Irish Dental Association himself, Shane McGowan. If you are at all interested in the man &/or his music with and without The Pogues, by all means seek this film out. Be warned, though, that drink and drugs have had their way with Shane - as he has had his way with them, I suppose. He was 43 when the film was shot (2000), but could easily have passed for someone ten years older. He is puffy-faced, decidedly shaky on his feet, and at times almost impossible to follow in conversation. (Having very few teeth left does not help him in this respect, of course, but he seems a bit, um, sleepy from time to time over the course of the film.) He gets off a good line here and there, though, and is quite charming when you can decipher what he's saying.

What was not at all charming was the reaction of some of the audience. Watching McGowan swigging from a large bottle of gin & hearing the hipsters behind me laughing at the freak show was just depressing. This guy was writing incredibly clever lyrics while most of these creeps were still shitting their Garanimals. I'm sure they'll be the same assholes pissing themselves behind Murphy's come St. Paddy�s Day, heaving their guacamole in someone's front yard on Cinco de Mayo and driving their SUV�s into oncoming traffic New Year's Eve. Fucking amateurs.

bmarkey 3/03/2003 08:17:00 PM