i think i better follow you around

By: Alfredo Tellez/Edith Morales

20 years in the making, The Festival Of Dead Deer made their return to the stage thanks to Planet B & Three One G nights presented at Blonde Bar.
Silent were also on the bill to make this night even better.

The Festival of Dead Deer came out ready to prove that 20 years away from the stage was not enough not diminish the power and importance of “The Many Faces of Mental Illness“, their seminal album released via Three One G records.
Dylan Gordon, Chris Hathwell & Michael Crain got together, rehearsed and decided that they were going to do at least 2 (two) shows, one in San Diego and the other at the Echo in Los Angeles, CA on Friday April 7th.

Song after song they were building a certain anxiety up. Song after song they were delivering one of the best sets of live music I have ever witnessed. No, this is not lip service. If you were not there it might be a little difficult to fully grasp why the adulation to this particular show. They just were…

Here is the setlist:

Double Dare
In fifty words or less
Monotones
Episodes
Basura Blanca
My name’s explicit
New song!
Stagnant
Tom Violence
Rated Are
The Coming of going
2nd New song!
What makes sense
Limited edition of zero
Inner planetary reasoning

Silent served as the opening act. And they were kind enough to preview 2 songs from what their new album might be. If at this point you have not seen them live you’re doing yourself a disservice. For lack of better words I will go out to say that they’re my favorite new band around. No, I don’t mean local band. No, I don’t mean band where a friend plays. No, I certainly don’t mean a band that was recommended by someone. I mean my favorite band because the album they released last year, “A century of abuse” was one of the best albums from 2016. I mean my favorite band because each time I get to see them live, their show and performance gets better, they sound louder and they still get to surprise me with something new in their intense performance.

trainspotting2 poster

Are you in or not?, Well, technically if you went to see the movie then you’re in. And the movie is a yin yang of everything actually. It captures what growing up in late adulthood is, in a way. It’s what 20 years will do to you in a blink of an eye. It’s were all the daydreaming went. It was what you wanted your mirror to look like. It was the soundtrack that you grew up with (and then nothing happened). It was the jokes that you kept on telling and the punchline never changed (and in some cases neither did you).

The movie has a depressing feel to it. It also plays heavily on the nostalgia bit. So is the movie depressing because of all the nostalgia? Or, Does all the nostalgia make you depressed?, What comes first?, Does it even matter after 20 years and adulthood has hit you in the face? Have you realized that the unremembered 90’s are the new unremembered 80’s.

The movie, directed by the great Danny Boyle, does a fantastic job (again, what was his last bad movie?) stringing all 4 characters, Renton, Sick Boy, Begbie and Spud, back for one last romp. And the whole movie is immersed in remembering what it was like the first go around and it stitches it up perfectly for those that are unable to follow (it’s patronizing in some scenes, or it’s telling you how to feel and at what moment to feel it). The way it was adapted to be in the here and the now of 2017, felt just right and seeing all 4 characters struggling to be themselves in their 40’s and realizing, or trying to figure out, where the hell the life they wanted to choose went.
It offered some great morals in the story about having one more opportunity at trying to redeem their lives once again. Realizing some are unredeemable (Begbie) even if they have a tiny speck of a bright spot, some are junkies and always will be (Sick Boy), the glue that holds them together for better or for worse (Renton) and the most depressing character in the film, the one that manages to rise above all the crap that he’s gone through and was able to plow through it and create something of substance at the end, something that can be passed down to his son (Spud).
The music needed less Young Fathers and more Sleaford Mods and I personally could’ve done without Blondie. I understand Underworld being in there too, but overall the music felt flat. It felt like the life had been sucked out the soundtrack, if that was the idea for it then they succeeded at it. But the one undeniable fact is the greatness that is Iggy Pop (Bowie too).

Which brings me to the points that mattered the most to me in the film:

Most anti-climatic scene: The needle hitting the record, watching said record spin and after a couple of seconds of vinyl static hearing those first notes of “Lust for Life” and then immediately stopping the song and moving on to the next scene. It made me feel like a junkie waiting for the song to start.
Saddest moment: Spud’s redemption.
Funniest moment: 1690 sing-a-long.
Most memorable quote: “Nostalgia. It’s why you’re here. You’re a tourist in your own youth.” – Sick boy

And with that last quote is how I feel about the movie. It’s the most perfect way in describing what the film is about.

Trainspotting 2