Review – NQ Arbuckle in Winnipeg, July 22 2010

– text by eugene osudar/photos by C. Moroz

“this bottle of beer
will dance
to anything”

NQ sings

on Angels and Devils

born
from (The) punk rock
soul
the punk rock heart
of
(Shane MacGowan)
and The Pogues
you can hear it
in

the first song

!(Punk Rocker)!

NQ pulls out verses
of Dirty Old Town
and
i can’t help it

i’ll (dance) to anything

a punk
rocker’s
passionate
soul

lays bare

on stage
for all to hear
see
feel
experience

give me
Ted Leo
give me
No Means No
give me
Monotonix
give me
The Hot Live Guys
give me
The Wind-Ups

give me

NQ Arbuckle

now and

to the end
Record Body Count!

heart of a lion
soul roaring
band grooving
body bopping

NQ Arbuckle is

Neville Quinlan, punk rocker
Peter Kesper, guitar
Mark Kesper, drums
Derrick Brady, bass

they’re
all
punk rockers
blazing it
in the legendary

Times Changed
High and Lonesome
Club

on a Thursday night

we’re roaring
we’re singing
we’re dancing
the boys up front
the girls
in the back

we’re hugging
we’re smiling
we’re flying

Neville decides
to play it straight
through,

no breaks

and nearly two hours later
we’re asking for more

right after

they end with The Rheostatics
and
Record Body Count

The Pogues
to begin
The Rheos
to end

bookends of punk
rocker souls
to keep us
true

the believers

that music matters
heals

makes us
RoaR
into the night
makes us soar
into the light

after the set
Neville and I talk about The Pogues

Neville saw them twice
in the early days

once

with (Joe Strummer) as
their roadie and getting up
with them
singing and roaring
raging against the dying
of the black night/white light
spitting his saliva
and seething
soul through
London Calling
with The Pogues!

it’s all rum
sodomy
and the lash!

a classic
punk album.

my story
is Shane and The Pogues
in Amsterdam
1989? (i have my ticket
stub somewhere)
he’s so drunk and done
I thought to myself
during the first song
Shane needs a rocking chair
(and Neville’s eyes blaze up
yes!
that’s what i thought too
he says)
and Shane stumbled away
after a few songs
no riot
no worries
cuz the thousands of Irish
in the audience
who travel the globe
with The Pogues
took over and sang!
the whole concert!

I Love Those Irish,
and
I Love The Pogues!
So Punk!
and Shane returned an hour
later
after buckets of vomit
no doubt
and blazed through
Velvet Underground’s
White Light White Heat

a song Neville
will look into
(no doubt)
he’s heard it
a hundred times
and just didn’t
know it!

trading
Shane stories
punk rock ethics
passion

that’s beautiful.

that’s NQ Arbuckle.

who cares
about fame
rock star
BS
it’s the Love

of The Pogues
of Shane MacGowan
The Rheostatics
Neil Young
Stan Rogers

it’s all there
in the songs
and textures
of words
and voice
and passion

in the intensity
of the playing

all punk!

CKUW’s Stu Reid
and
CJUM’s Jeff Robson
have shared their souls
with me and so many
listeners
over years
decades

“NQ Arbuckle”
hallowed tones
eyes wide
playing their songs
their punk poems
every night
every day

they’ve floated crazy
beautiful ideas
of getting people
to commit
a hundred dollars
30 people
and flying the band in
for a house concert
or two
or more

now i know why.

i was into it
(before)
just based on their intensity
alone

now
it’s based
on fact
of being there.

Times Changed
on a Thursday night

now, i have a theory
65 minutes
is the perfect set length

and few bands should ever
Ever
exceed
45 minutes

the exceptions of the 65 rule
are Bruce Springsteen
Prince
Neil Young
Weber Brothers
and now

NQ Arbuckle

you guys
are beautiful.

in particular no
New order
and maybe they didn’t play some of these songs

one hour
55 minutes

punk rocker
poem song
angels and devils
sure friends
cheap town
postcards
marco polo
officer down
down time
goodnight irene
my baby
fireworks
windfall
snake farm
autumn leaves
all is lost
sun’s hanging low
i can see the moon
mix kin
xok
huntsville affair
outside the stars
i liked you right
skydive home
you look like a wreck
in another time

punk rockers
never die
we get older
we keep

(our faith)

(our light)

we lose our hairlines
expand our waist lines

we expand
our loves
and some
heartaches too

we blaze
we dance
we sing
we laugh
and cry
and (mostly)
we live

in the now.

The poetry
of punk
rock.

yes,

“This bottle of beer
will dance
to anything.”

NQ Arbuckle.
Times Changed.
July 22.