In and out of fashion

Paradosaurus Wreck invades the Dilboy VFW
By BARRY THOMPSON  |  August 19, 2008
outIN678SIDE.jpg

A troupe of Manson Family doppelgänger in a homogenous bright-red color scheme took the stage and I knew my Friday evening was going to be worthwhile after all. I had had to search for the Davis Square VFW Hall in the rain and was grouchy over having to miss another show for this one. So I arrived at Paradosaurus Wreck, a rock/fashion/art show, ready to unload all manner of journalistic passive-aggression. To the Wreck’s great credit, I left in pleasant spirits.

Still, something felt eerie about scruffy, squirrelly Rhode Island trio Deer Tick as they entertained the bleep out of the densely occupied VFW. I had to check their MySpace page to discover the problem: their musical ringleader, John McCauley, is Matt McConaughey’s cousin. Deer Tick, however, are doing their best to redeem the family reputation. Although they’re not going to tingle many spines shooting for a Wildflowers-era Tom-Petty-Americana-type deal, their execution compensates for whatever they lack in imagination. I was upset by their ironic cover of Tool’s “Schism”; they didn’t even play the entire song. I was pleased that they covered, and creamed, without irony, “La Bamba.”

It’s actually not inappropriate to compare Brooklyn’s Flaming Fire with the Manson Family. FF ringmaster Patrick Hambrecht has long hair and a beard, he’s at the forefront of several peculiar characters (including a handful of, uh, hot chicks), and they may or may not be plotting to kill Dennis Wilson. As for the music, not even coming off their best acid orgy and/or baby delivery were Charlie and company ever in FF’s league. As the band crispy-fried my brain with psychedevil dance-pop noise, I scribbled “Satanic B-52’s” in my notes; but I could write them up as resembling numerous NYC “collective” bands, or even We Are the Seahorses, and it would make about the same sense.

It was the “fashion destruction” aspect of the Paradosaurus Wreck cavalcade that I’m not sure about. The first fashion show featured awkward models in white robes, one wearing a big fluffy Mozart wig. I didn’t get it. Bowing to the dictates of Greater Boston’s public-transportation overlords, I had to choose between watching the second fashion show, likely a once-in-a-lifetime extravaganza, and having a place to sleep.

Related: Sending in the clowns, Medicine men, The original DIY, observed, More more >
  Topics: Live Reviews , Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Culture and Lifestyle, Swearing and Invective,  More more >
| More


Most Popular
ARTICLES BY BARRY THOMPSON
Share this entry with Delicious
  •   DARK DARK DARK | WHO NEEDS WHO  |  September 25, 2012
    Back in 2010, the loosely Minneapolis-based quirk-folk jamboree Dark Dark Dark wrote songs that felt like they were about being outside (even if they weren't).
  •   AMANDA PALMER LETS GO OF ALL RESTRICTIONS  |  September 05, 2012
    Just when hemming and hawing about the future of money in music had grown dreadfully redundant, leave it to Amanda Palmer to resurrect the dead horse and prompt the American square community to ask, "What the fuck is Kickstarter, who the fuck is this frequently naked lady with painted-on eyebrows, and why did the Internet send her a million dollars to record an album?"
  •   INTERVIEW: THE RIFFTRAX CREW REVISIT ANOTHER 'CLASSIC'  |  August 07, 2012
    MST3K took its curtain call in 1999 after 10 years on cable, but the show's end ultimately liberated host Mike Nelson and the revolving cast of cinematic satirists.
  •   BRUTE-Y PAGEANT  |  August 01, 2012
    When professional wrestling gets brought up in the mainstream media, it's almost always because something awful happened.
  •   RIDING THE WIND WITH NEW ENGLAND'S GLIDING GURU  |  July 25, 2012
    Jeffrey Bernard has been jumping off mountains and soaring wingtip-to-wingtip with eagles, hawks, and falcons for longer than many of you have been alive.

 See all articles by: BARRY THOMPSON