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Sometimes the performers would sing or speak out for the cause, but mostly they'd just play their hits. (For a brief time in the early '80s, a sideline trend was the benefit song or album, like the superstar recording "We Are the World" to fight famine in Africa and the "I Ain't Gonna Play Sun City" protest against South Africa's apartheid policy--both of which blurred the lines between helping a cause and capitalizing on it. They look silly in retrospect, although this lesson was lost on Elton John and the others who joined the Princess Di hoopla.) Nowadays, any correlation between artist and cause is almost strictly ancillary. As Rolling Stone writer David Fricke pointed out in his review of the CD recording of last summer's Tibetan Freedom Concert, which admirably sought to provoke action against the Chinese government's continued repression of Tibetans, most of the participating musicians failed to mention the subject either in their songs or in addressing the crowd. He cited the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion as an exception, as Spencer worked this lyric into one of his songs: "Ladies and gentlemen, when we're talkin' about freein' Tibet, I think we're talkin' about lo-o-o-ove!" While the Washington Wilderness Coalition benefit at Seattle's Crocodile Cafe on Friday night was nowhere near as absurd as that pronouncement, the show's surreal qualities overshadowed the organization's goal to launch its campaign to protect remaining roadless areas of 1,000 acres and greater in Washington. The musicians--Seattle bands Harvey Danger and Severna Park, Pavement's Stephen Malkmus performing with Silkworm as the Crust Brothers and the Seattle/Portland ensemble the Minus 5--did donate their services and helped raise $4,500 for the WWC. These artists mentioned the cause throughout their sets, albeit sometimes in a cheeky manner. But mainly, they just played music in irreverent fashion and with bizarre results. In their debut performance, the Crust Brothers were reportedly going to perform covers of Bob Dylan songs; it wasn't clear whether Malkmus and his friends in Silkworm meant this as a tongue-in-cheek nod to Dylan's early days as a respected purveyor of social commentary. It turned out this wasn't the case, as the quartet dashed through some tunes from Dylan and the Band's The Basement Tapes, the highlight of which was Malkmus' rendition of "Million Dollar Bash." He, Tim Midgett, Andy Cohen and Mike Dahlquist took turns at the mike on subsequent covers of "I Heard It Through the Grapevine," "Bitch" (the Stones, not Meredith Brooks!) and others, and Malkmus sang lead on Silkworm's "Never Met a Man I Didn't Like." They didn't perform any Pavement songs, but they did manage to incite mayhem among the 400-plus crowd at one point; in a surreal yet somehow appropriate incident, a fight broke out during the Crust Brothers' version of Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Tuesday's Gone," and bouncers escorted several audience members out of the Crocodile. The Minus 5's set provided more gossip fodder than musical highlights. Interspersing covers of Guided By Voices, Jonathan Richman and others with songs from its 1997 album The Lonesome Death of Buck McCoy, the quartet bantered between tunes, with leader Scott McCaughey musing about how several of his bandmates were "formerly of" other notable acts. It had been common knowledge that guitarist Ken Stringfellow's group the Posies will soon disband, but McCaughey seemed to confirm rumors that drummer Jason Finn's the Presidents of the U.S.A. had called it quits. McCaughey, who also plays with the on-again, off-again Young Fresh Fellows and R.E.M., introduced bassist Jim Talstra of the Maroons as "formerly of Talstra." Both musically and politically, the Crust Brothers stole the show. The brief statements WWC representatives made about the depletion of the Pacific Northwest's ancient forests didn't prove as sexy as the spectacle of the lead singer of Pavement jamming with his Matador labelmates. The show's organizers were content nonetheless, as their cause received a sizable cash infusion and is likely to garner mentions in magazines such as Rolling Stone. Still, it's too bad nobody thought to play "This Land Is Your Land." Portland Postscripts: This city's presence in Seattle last weekend went beyond Malkmus and Talstra's appearance at the WWC benefit. Friday night, Richmond Fontaine appeared as part of The Rocket's Christmas party at the Showbox, and Satan's Pilgrims played at a new club in the Capitol Hill neighborhood, the Breakroom. Saturday, Jr. High also appeared at the Breakroom. Sunday, Quasi and Monotrona performed at the Velvet Elvis. . |
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