BDRF

On the whole, it was a very good concert. I was in time to catch Horse in a Smelter. It was good just because it was Horse. It seems the Mike's vocals on Horse didn't quite have the pain that some of the recordings have, but I guess it isn't far enough into finals week yet.

On the other hand, Mike B.'s vocals on Lobster were excellent; that was the best rendition of Lobster I have ever heard. It was definitely better heard live rather than from some impersonal tape.

Bleed was, um, moving. I don't really have much more to say.

Adam Villani on Wax Man was pretty good. And now that we all know where wax comes from, well um, not much more. Oh, special note on Kurt's guitar solo--off to a slow start, but it moved well with the eery vocal--``paraffin . . . paraffin . . .'' I can hear it now. Good, driving beat by Mike R. on the garbage can with socket wrench, and love pan with chopstick and on the filing cabinet.

Prologue, Stale Urine's statement on the modern video industry, went by, short and sweet. Almost too fast to even tell what was happening, which maybe was for the better.

Next number, Head Over Heels was well-done, if slightly uninspiring. Jon's vocals were a little thin, but captured the spirit of the original song.

The Moon. Now this song was awesome. I couldn't believe the pageantry and artistry that went into this rendition. There are few sights such as Mike B. doing his interpretive dance to the song. Mike R. added the meat of the song with his ``moon'' vocals, fitting Benedetti's moves perfectly, as if this were some highly choreographed ballet. Yet there was still that element of spontaneity. Kurt and Adam and Jon provided the perfect instrumental background to this song. This was amazing. Wart, along with Horse, this was one of the best songs of the performance.

Angels Soaring Past (I Realize It Now), the song about drugs. It was O.K. Pretty commentless song, Alan says.

I already talked about Lobster, and next was Billie Jean (polka), which I don't think I've ever heard before. I must say that I was sort of expecting Things Fall Apart, which is one of my favorites. Billie Jean suffered from too quiet of vocals--I couldn't understand most of the lyrics. Jon Lange did a good cover on the squeeze box, though. Kudos to him for keeping things together.

The crowning number, La Donna e Mobile, Stale Urine's treatise on opera, tenors, and soccer, got off to a rocky start, with a few false starts. But once it got started it went well. Mike's (Benedetti) rich vocal blended well with Adam Villani's chocolately-velvet baritone and Jon Lange's high-coursing tenor. This song, full of pathos and empathy, really struck at the soul. you could really tell that Benedetti and Villani are Italian in heart as well as name, and Jon has the soul of Italy. The song coursed with the passion of opera, and was a fitting finale to this well-done and inspiringly performed and orchestrated concert.

--carrie
``aspiring to brenda and hypertext poetry''