Pancakes And Quagmires

Now, while this might have been a good time as ever to write about The Worlds Most Famous Intern being in Oregon, it also it a good time to write about Califone being in Bend. Who?

Califone is the band Tim Rutili formed after Red Red Meat broke up. Who? Okay, the point is most people probably haven't heard of them. I believe I first heard them back in 1999 when they did a cover of "South of Heaven" with Modest Mouse (heard of them?). I followed them very loosely and never really got sucked in very far until last years release of Roots & Crowns, which not only was a great album, but scored some good reviews (probably because it was a great album).

With that said, Califone and Eric Johnson of the Fruit Bats(Who?) played at The Grove last night and featured some truly great music. The show opened around 9:30 with Eric Johnson playing more acoustical oriented songs. I had never heard anything from the Fruit Bats before, so I tracked some down online and gave a listen to beforehand. Overall, I found his sound similar (to a point) to Jon Brion (again who?). A bit into his set Tim and Jim (presented in almost Dr. Suess style) of Califone joined him for some banjo-fiddle-folky tunes. Good stuff and Eric was a great presence on the stage.

Around 10:30 Califone took the stage. The Grove was getting fuller by now. I sort of did wonder how many people actually knew who the bands were, but overall they seemed anxious for the show. Tim Rutili of Califone truly had a good sense of humor and early into the show he joked about everyone "minding their P's and Q's", and then one of the great moments in concert history occurred:

What does P's and Q's mean?
Pints and Quarts!
Oh, I thought it was penises and quagmires.

Yep, it's rare in this day and age to actually learn something from a music concert. That question had been on mind from time to time and I never bothered to research it. Truly, edutainment at it's finest. (Of course later the joke turned to pancakes and quagmires).

Califone played a truly great set of songs from their complete catalog. A lot of songs from Roots & Crowns were played but in a bit of a looser form, turing into rockin' jams. Whether it was simply guitars and banjos to looped drums and effects, it worked and worked well. The banjo plucking was precise and the tinnitus inducing percussion was profound and the live performance translation of the songs was just what I hoped for.

Why should you care?

Califone have always been stupidly underappreciated, and the further we stumble into the 21st century, the more this music starts to feel both familiar and necessary: Roots and Crowns is bluesy and soulful without reverting to revivalist schtick, and experimental without relying on blind cut-and-pasting. It is old and new, dirty and clean, alienating and accessible, sweet and ugly, organic and industrial, doting and vicious. It is one of the most quintessentially American records imaginable.

That was from the Pitchfork review and truly summarizes a very true statement about under appreciation. While many people are minding their P's and Q's, whether it's pints and quarts, or pancakes and quagmires, there's a little bit too much of not looking deeper or wanting more than the standard schtick that's feed to them Profound or not, it could be a reason why we end up with people knowing Britney Spears (heard of her) and having quagmires in Iraq. Mind your P's and Q's and experience some Califone. It will do you some good.

abe said: