Kids on Fire at WECC, Winnipeg

Kids On Fire at the Cavern, Winnipeg, Jan 22 2010. Ailsa Dyson photo

Kids On Fire at the Cavern, Jan 22 2010

– text by eugene osudar/photos by Ailsa Dyson

from the sick bed of eugene osudar. hard hacks and swirly heads. bad dreams of Julie lost. and books of poetry beside me, the beautiful birds of L Cohen, Rumi and ee cummings and sleepiness Life found, there’s Roberto Bolano’s Savage Detectives. will i ever get through this book? and suddenly, i remember, there’s a Trudeau biography, Just Watch Me, downstairs. and i’m, giddy. reading about Trudeaumania and reliving my instant love and admiration for our playful, intellectual, combative, witty, ardent/patriot Prime Minister. in bed all day. sleeping, not sleeping, sweating, coughing and hoping. Kids On Fire at The Cavern are set to play sometime after 11:30. and i sit, 10:08 PM, writing. this. to go or not to go. to rest, to not rest. i tell myself, only the one set. Kids On Fire. their final show before a three month hiatus. and i double-click, Grand Mystifier, it’s on my desktop. and i know, i gotta gogogo/Gogol Bordello!

www.myspace.com/wearekidsonfire

i’ll only live this once. let me die, on a dance floor, somewhere. (this) is my moment, (now).
L Cohen. you breathe Life into me, (when) i pray on this holy floor. before and where i celebrate Music and Musicians. this night, this set, lift me and the gathered flock (together) into the holy place. Life/Liberty. Dance/Reverie. “Now i wait for a grand mystifier!”

i leave the house at 10:55 and enter the snowy, wet, Winnipeg winter world. driving’s still good. but just wait ’til Sunday. after the 30 cms. of weekend snow and Monday’s return to deep/freeze winter.

i didn’t have to wait long (for) Grand Mystifier, The Song of Songs opens the blis(s)tering/blazing, black and blue/blasting, 40 minute, Kids On Fire set. and of course, i danced more than the 1 song, the great Grand Mystifier song that i told friends i’d dance to and of course, when i dance, others join and of course, it was Up(lifting), for band and audience. The Cavern was packed.

grand mystifier
shake the walls
Bones
white collars, flourescent lights
grime & grain
blood
roots magic
without our hearts
celebration
pure passion for the desperate masses
bike/age
shotgun

covers, The Rivals, Descendants, Misfits.

i bought their debut cd, 10 songs/10 bucks. recorded in three days. Immediate, RoaRinG vocals. oh my, don’t stand in the spit/splutter zone of Ian, i don’t think i’ve ever seen as much gob shower out of a singer’s mouth, slime down a singer’s bottom lip (although, Sting says Elvis Costello is a danger to the open mouth).

in/your/face/in/your/guts/breaking bones, rattling chains/songs. hardcore, punk mix. lots of Joe Strummer Clash. engineered, mixed, produced and mastered Superbly by James Humberstone (musicians, work with this guy!). I Love this cd, I Love this band.

another great (new) Winnipeg band. Live performance and on cd.

Kids On Fire are Ian, Leif and Steve.