-pics by Ailsa Dyson
The Job
Crosstown Rivals
Lo Pub, July 28
“I’m not a journalist,”
says me
and what i write isn’t
journalism
clearly,
i don’t have the facts
i write personal fictions
surreal benedictions
poetics
that’s what i call it
Nyles, Mark and Jay
of The Job
Louis of Crosstown Rivals
and Boats
milling about outside
The Lo Pub
before their show
Louis tells me they’re sitting
around their
computer
while on tour
reading and grooving
to my poetics
“your words are Powerful,”
says Nyles
and so are you,
Musicians
i go to confession
every time
i see a band
that lays it down
hard and fast
or
slow and cooling
so long as it’s with every
milligram of passion
from their souls
fragile and intense
with innocence
and fire
soul to soul
transference
musician to
audience
on the floor
on the stage
the pouring heart
soaring, dancing,
celebratory
soul
(and hurting)
of a 45 year old
soon to be 46er
my poetics are
(a confession)
power
full
punk
every show
every moment,
now
i have no shame
my heart’s broken
i’m naked
here
now
“have you read John Cooper Clarke?
he’s the guy in Joy Division’s
Transmission video?” asks
Nyles
reading, walking,
soul madness poetry
i recall that guy
i confess
i didn’t know the name
the man’s identity
his life’s poetry
John Cooper Clarke
now i’ll seek him out
(thank you)
i know the video
i can see the man
in my memory haze
walking reading poetry
if you didn’t know,
poet tree
is
enlightenment
I’m reading L Cohen poems
at The CYRK
for the Leonard Cohen Festival
Thursday, July 30
i’m reading Pablo Neruda’s
Love Poems
i’m reading Octavio Paz’s collected
poems
1957-1987
i’m reading Our Band Could Be Your Life
by Mmmmmmm Azerrad
for my soul’s breath
Shakespeare
Blake
Whitman
cummings
Bukowski
is
enlightenment
i’m reading
i’m gigging
(Social Distortion
tonight
then later The Briggs)
i’m dancing
(sexy passionate creative
Leo roaring ferocious
in protest, i say,
i am not a journalist
never will be)
i’m a punk rocker
yes
and
i’m a writer
30 years in the making
i have Voice
30 years with my
fingers and hands
and heart in the clay
in the sculpting
from the poetry
to the screenplays
i’ve written
the rejection
hollywood
agents telling me,
it’s not commercial
keep going
keep writing
it’s good, it’s there
a Voice
producers
liking but not
buying
hardened (somewhat)
to the thousands
of rejections
i’m a Leo
we need affirmation
confirmation
of these our burning,yearning
blazing
talents
thank you,
for the recent appreciation
Nyles, Mark, Jay
Louis, JR
(Al Green’s booking man)
not too, too much
praise
i shy away from
and melt back inside from
praise
i’ll turn away
blushing
hushing
please
just play
http://www.myspace.com/workthejob
the show
the confession,
the bands
decided to
bring it
to the people
to the audience
to me
funny, we talked about
Monotonix
before the show
how they bring it
to the people
it’s
Punk!
set up on the floor
the keys and mikes
the effects
guitars ready
drum kit
on the stage
it’s a riser
50 people
at the Lo Pub
(thank you, ana
from The Angry Dragons
working the door
giving me the number)
50 people (mostly)
near the action
a hardcore few
like me
willing to be
Punk
dance
show it
express it
mark, jay, nyles
brought it
they’re on the ground
(danny Always brings it
behind the drum kit)
this time around
beginning the Now, the
Immediate experience
with House
they’re flying it, roaring it
from the floor
opening the door
inviting
step right up
to it
(photographers flashing
strobe light effects)
to The Intensity
my confession,
i gorged myself
on delicious Indian
food, butter chicken!!!
house dinner party
listening to Franz Ferdinand
waaaaaaay tooooooo
much butter chicken
palaak paneer
naan
rice
tandoori chicken
i wisely didn’t have the chickpeas
Wisdom with age
and traveling through India,
Nepal, Thailand, Malaysia
Singapore
South Korea
(i have experience
and
i have Voice)
so the intensity
of bouncing
pogo
bopping to the throbbing
pulsating driving
rhythms
really challenged me
(burping curries!)
but how couldn’t i?
help myself
it’s The Job
bringing it to the floor
leaving it on the floor
there’s sweat
on the floor
there’s water
on the floor
there’s beer
on the floor
feet on the floor
heart,beats,on,the,floor
we’re leaving it
on the floor!
10 songs
35 minutes
on the floor
we’re dancing it
House
Gun
Ten Times
Impossible
Angela
Brother John
The Night
Porno
Soon
Problem
we’re dancing
band and
audience
they break through
the invisible distance
between us
and dance on the floor
with us
honoring us
that’s the passion
and to see The Job
Live
giving it all
giving their passion
is The Experience
of rock n roll
punk
rock
shout it at me!
Ten Times a day!!!!!!
Crosstown Rivals
more Immediate
then i’ve ever seen them
on the floor
eye to eye
when they opened them,
their eyes,
it’s frightening from the floor
to see us dancing
me dancing
so close, challenging
aggressive
percussive
beating it
on the floor
Smells Like the Nirvana
video that detonated
the american
underground
music scene
and catapulted
the american punk
movement to the
forefront from
a decade of obscurity
blood, sweat, and tour spieling
The Minutemen
Husker Du
Replacements
Black Flag
Sonic Youth
the foundation for
Nirvana
Love/Lies
Billy Mitchell
Don’t Look Up
Chests and Hands and Friends
Move On
Exits
Poor Man
Hold Tight
8 songs
35 minutes
as Louis writes the set list
i ask if he liked playing
on the floor
he Loved playing on the floor
The Immediacy
and the ability
to hear it
the music the sound
because you never know
for sure on stage
it could sound terrible on stage and yet
be wonderful on the floor
in the venue
i saw him run twice
to the amps
on stage
adjusting
dials,knobs
as we danced
there were more
dancers
for The Rivals
more courageous soles
grinding
leaping popping
up and down
pistons
engines heartbeats
revving
lungs heaving
rapidly
expanding,contracting
Nyles joining the dancing
to the Immediate madness
and for the last song
The Crosstown Rivals
Cody, Anthony, Louis
and Jon (on the stage, the riser,
behind the kit)
inviting their econo tour spieling
brothers
Toronto’s The Job to join
them
dancing
gathering round the mikes
and howling
“Hold Tight!”
http://www.myspace.com/crosstownrivalswinnipeg
we’re holding
we’re dancing
Hold Tight!
to the beat
the rhythm
the movement
The Job
and
Crosstown Rivals
bringing it
to the floor
at The Lo Pub
July 28
on a Tuesday night
in Winnipeg.
