< Big Star: What's The Big Whoop? | Main | Band Names: Lawyers Are So NOT Rock 'N' Roll Edition >

Cat Purrs, Growls, Eventually Curls Up On Your Lap

Posted at 12:27 PM on September 1, 2006 by Hans Eisenbeis

If you're not up north winterizing the cabin this weekend, nor at the fair witnessing The Miracle of Birth, you should sneak out to the Cat Power show at the Varsity Theater tomorrow night. Word is that Ms. Power (that's Chan Marshall to her mother) killed during her show in Vancouver last Sunday. She brought the house down not only with her haunting musicianship, but with her boogie dance steps, clever repartee, and her tasteful choice of material. This eyewitness report says,

Firing up a Parliament, she briefly bantered with the audience, then stood up from her piano bench and walked over to the centre-stage microphone. What followed was one of the strangest—and strangely mesmerizing—sights seen on a Vancouver stage this year. Cat Power launched into an a capella version of Black Flag's "Nervous Breakdown," recasting an old-school hardcore fireball as a stripped-naked torch ballad. The highlight wasn’t when she cranked out imaginary power chords on an imaginary guitar, and it wasn't when she finished the song with a ’20s-style dance routine straight out of Flappers Gone Wild. No, the best part was the way Marshall was having fun with lines like "I'm about to have a nervous breakdown/My head really hurts/If I don’t find a way outta here/I'm gonna go berserk." Considering how often her mental stability has been debated over the years, it was obvious that "Nervous Breakdown" wasn't in the set by accident, even if she couldn't remember half the words.

Note to self: If we ever start smoking again, switch brands to Parliament. Ask friends to record results.

September 2006
S	M	T	W	T	F	S
					1	2
3	4	5	6	7	8	9
10	11	12	13	14	15	16
17	18	19	20	21	22	23
24	25	26	27	28	29	30

Master Archive

	E-mail this page
	Print this page
	Submit to Digg
	Save to Delicious
	Share
	Audio help