Saw Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings at the Horseshoe last night. Good company, bad energy. Everybody was at a low ebb, sometimes reaching actual illness. Some of the company left almost as soon as the show began, and the rest of us trickled out with fluidity. Maybe it was Mr. T’s Flowers, as Lady Smellypants disingenuously calls the reefer from our adorable Man. I don’t think so though, as I was fine outside of an end-of-week exhaustion and I’m known more for my enjoyment of the Handsome Blossom than any high tolerance of its nocive effects. In fact, I fainted at Pride just this summer. Mortifying. If you see me about to faint, remind me to just fall down and not grab onto people as I try not to fall down. Because at such times, down you must fall and no fooling.I think part of that bad energy was Sharon Jones herself. Nothing to do with her band. They rocked every which way and made my bones feel goooood. And nothing to do with the woman's obvious skills. She has a hell of a stage presence and a wicked voice with the slaphappy power of an atomic buzz saw. Still, she lost us in two ways.
First was political. Marvin Gaye showed the planet soul music can be political and wonderful, but his themes were universal. Sharon Jones belted out the original (not Canadian, god forbid) version of ‘This Land Is Your Land’: that isn’t universal. Neither is George W. Bush, who got his own lengthy number. He’s the elected head of another country, and while the legality of the practices of that country is controversial, George W. Bush isn’t. He’s there because enough people wanted him or because American democracy is flawed; either way he’s no Castro or Hu Jintao. Fuck. Is it so hard to imagine that when we get our fine Canadian booty shaking, we don’t want it to be to United States anthems or denunciations of George W. Bush? It seems no matter what some Americans’ dumb fuck political affiliations are, the notion that people in other countries might not care is beyond them. Second reason Jones lost us was the choice of non-political songs. She gave a high energy but harmonically flat cover of ‘Respect’, for example. We’ve all heard Aretha Franklin give 'Respect' energy and tune too often for that to do. I would have liked to hear Jones singing more typical male-voice standards; her voice has the kick, not the range.
Ah, I’m probably just whining because I was part of the bad energy last night. But I went there expecting some harmonies and tunes and things, and what I got hardly kept me awake. Anyways, tonight is the opera, so hurrah. If the flyer isn’t lying to me, Renaud gets naked, which is fun. Naked opera! I saw a naked ballet in Paris a couple of years back. The dancer performing had a substantial package, which performed a pendulous little dance of its own in response to that of its owner. Packages are awesome.
