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Saturday, October 24, 2009

Show Review / Last Night Gossip Folks

Posted by Gina Young on Sat, Oct 24, 2009 at 3:35 PM

There's really not that much that needs to be said about The Gossip, en generale, at this point. Detractors of the band are few; general consensus is that they fucking rock, and if you don't like them, they don't care. "The Gossip will never die; the gossip will never diet," touts one of their various bios.

So here's the specifics. Gossip played last night at the Showbox and if you missed it, I'm sorry. It felt communal somehow, the entire room moving as one unit, one mass brain, starting slow, ratcheting up in intensity, spilling out into the street satiated at 12:36am.

Johanna Breiding

Johanna Breiding

Champagne Champage— albeit an illogical choice for an opener— definitely know how to get a party started. As testimonial, I woke up this morning singing not Gossip's "Heavy Cross," but Champagne Champagne's spondee-ridden "Molly Ringwald": "She looks like Molly Ringwald / she's beautiful to me / her body a coke bottle."

Johanna Breiding

Moving on to MEN, it's interesting to see Le Tigre's JD Samson in a new element, out front and handling the bulk of vocal responsibilities. MEN is more of an art project than a traditional band, leaning heavily on visuals; cardboard cut outs, a tiny house that sits on JD's head. The songs are concepts. "This song is about making gay babies." MEN played a short, tight set. The bass seemed out of tune on "Make it Reverse," but seeing as neither Ginger nor Michael was playing a bass, I figure there was just a forgivable impossiblity of tuning to a recording, mid-set. I am looking forward to seeing MEN really hit their stride, which their upcoming tour with Peaches should faciliate.

Johanna Breiding

If you wanted to hang out with Gossip, all you had to do was arrive early. Singer Beth Ditto and guitarist Bryce Paine were basically just chilling by the merch table and coat check. (And you didn't recognize them, right? Probs because of Ditto's new red hair, am I right?)

Shena Lee

Last night was no sweaty mess of a show. Beth's wailing seemed effortless. Grounded. Cold like black ice. "Love Long Distance" was the standout, way grittier live than on the album, and more uptempo. The crowd bopped like crazy. Hot Hannah Blilie drums from the wrists down and doesn't make a single misstep. "Heavy Cross" might as well have been the finale for the frenzy it inspired. The tempo was just right, the recording was done justice and then some, and Ditto let the audience finish each line, thowing in a raggedy "so choose me" at the climax.

They acted like the show was over— yeah, right— and then came back for an encore or three. Ditto makes a habit of verbally sampling other artists; covering Tina Turner, bridging "Smells Like Teen Spirit" into "Standing in the Way of Control" (Oh wow, Seattle... too soon?) and throwing "Rebel Girl" into the middle of a song dedicated to Tobi Vail.

Bikini Kill is going to make a big comeback this year. If not literally then at least in the collective consciousness. There is some kind of new queer feminist dialectic emerging, which isn't about "grrrls" this time, it's about men. The Gossip's album is Music for Men. MEN's shirts say "MEN ARE DJS" and a guitar amp reads "MEN ARE PIGS" in gold glitter. But it's not about men, the people, in specific. It's about "men," the concept, in general, which is clearly now front and center for playtime.

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MAN THE HARPOONS!

Posted by KILL IT WITH FIRE on October 24, 2009 at 5:49 PM

uh, man the douchebag torpedoes?

Posted by Gina Young on October 24, 2009 at 6:10 PM

no, your douchebag fat ass self launched at that sea whale could hardly make a dent. Fire up the ion cannons.

Posted by nuke it on October 24, 2009 at 7:58 PM

the show was great. and i drank a few too many blue ribons. both beth and hannah posed for pics with me! Thanks!

Posted by benjaminismarried on October 24, 2009 at 9:09 PM

The amount of people that (rightfully) worship The Gossip and Beth Ditto and yet are still fat phobic hipster fucks is amazing.

Posted by just saying people on October 25, 2009 at 12:41 PM

Why is being disgustingly overweight something to celebrate? "yay! i'm happy with being on-death's-door unhealthy!" there's a difference in positive self image and fooling yourself. She has fooled herself right into 300+ pounds. The gossip should be celebrated because of their music--if you like it---but not be a torch bearer for making people think it's okay to be 150 pounds too heavy. Not everyone is going to be 120 pounds and rail think--but no one should be that big.

Posted by Hello..? Common sense where are you? on October 25, 2009 at 5:01 PM

@1,3,5,6: Do you ever hear folks say, "Doug Martsch needs to drop 30 pounds and do something with his hair to be fuckable." If not, why not?
Perhaps it is because it is entirely fucking orthogonal to his abilities as a musician and performer. Apparently, you want to live in a world with absurd double-standards for judgement of appearance of men and women, or you think that male musicians suffers from a shocking lack of media coverage of their physical anatomy. Obvious troll is obvious.

...

Yeah, Beth Ditto is a great singer. I am sorry to have missed this show.

Posted by RL is too lazy to log in on October 26, 2009 at 1:00 AM

The Gossip are fucking lame and i'm amazed that hungry hungry hippo in the middle hasn't eaten those 2 faggy looking fucks standing next to it.

Posted by ding dong, yo! ding dong! on October 26, 2009 at 1:00 AM

@7, I don't know what planet you live on, but people make fun of Doug Martsch's beard all the time. Like it or not, if you are a musician or actor, people are going to comment on your image, size, what you whear and what you say. And obesity is a very real issue in America that shouldn't be glossed over or ignored. But it's still sad to see people be so harsh towards someone that once came from the DIY music community and still stands up against a lot of things most of us hate about the corporate music world.

Posted by dan10things

on October 26, 2009 at 9:21 AM

I don't think that one has to be aware of Beth being heavy to have an issue w/ the music. We were on tour last week and were talking to a dude who played w/ them in DC or or somewhere thereabouts. His assessment was pretty amazing. Something to the effect of:

"This should be the greatest thing on earth, Dance beats, white lady blues singing, high energy....but they just don't deliver. It never comes together, they have one gimmick, and that gets old after about 2-3 songs. I hear that they're real popular, but no one I know gives a shit about them"

We were thrown off several bills locally-just not up to par, socially (by the promoters, the members are very nice people-the fact that their music is not for me doesn't change that at all) and actually didn't end up on a bill together until some random Sunday afternoon show in Fargo, ND. Their fan base seemed to be made up entirely of 15-19 year old girls.

Posted by Chris Jury

on October 26, 2009 at 10:09 AM

Absolutely agree with #7, and anyone who is oblivious to the double standard only needs to read the "Dos and Don'ts" pages of Vice's website. Fat dudes dressed well get comments about how cool, bad ass, etc.. they are, but when a fat white girl is a Do, there are always disgusting comments about how fat & therefore ugly she is.

Posted by Seems obvious to me. on October 26, 2009 at 4:00 PM

@7: Not specifically about Doug Martsch, no. But I've heard folks say that about plenty of male musicians (including myself.)

If you don't think that the "Beauty Myth" extends to males as well, then you're not paying very good attention.

Posted by J. Burns on October 26, 2009 at 8:27 PM

Mr. Burns makes an excellent point. Being an ugly dude, in a band of ugly dudes, I can say that it makes life way the fuck harder, especially is a place as shallow as seattle. Now if we had a couple handsome fellows up front, who looked good without shirts and had winning smiles....?

I was thinking about this last night as I was watching a DVD of the 2003 Stooges reunion in detroit. Ron Ashton was fucking killing it, but he looked like a 60 year old dude (which he was- now he's dead). He was about double his 1969 weight, gray hair, didn't move around much. I thought "no record company would ever look at a band of dudes who look like this, playing this sort of music. you need to be 22, have 6% body fat and an awkward haircut" It doesn't matter if you wrote TV Eye.

A high percentage of stage banter from Ms. Ditto is about her weight, and how happy she is about being big. I don't really have any judgments about that, but think it is then a bit odd for anyone to get upset when it is brought up as a criticism. It would be similar to one of the 'drunk-punk' bands, who spent their whole set talking about being drunk, getting upset because someone thinks they might be alcoholics.

Posted by Chris Jury

on October 27, 2009 at 9:45 AM

It's different for guys because you can be an ugly dude with good style and have a look that people think is cool or which they don't even mention everytime something is written about you(Jerry Garcia, Pig Pen, the singer of Canned Heat, Spencer Moody, Klaus Nomi, Joe Cocker, Elton John, Phil fucking Collins) but with women, it's all about their bodies and their natural beauty, which you really can't do a whole lot to change. Beth Ditto can have all the style she wants, but people still won't get past the fat.

Aged rockers are a different thing all together. Frankly, no one wants to see old people rocking out (unless you were famous in your 20s and are doing a reunion show) because rock n roll is about youth. I say that as an older musician.

Posted by shellym on October 27, 2009 at 10:20 AM

Oh, one more thing. I don't know much about Beth Ditto, but I'd bet she brings up the fact that she's cool with being fat as a way of asking people to get over it.

Of all the fat male musicians there are, you rarely read derogatory (or "concerned") comments about their weight in articles written about them. If weight is even mentioned, it is actually treated as a positive attribute, and they're referred to as "teddy bears" or "burly."

So basically, for men if you want to improve your band image, all you need to do is grow a beard or buy better clothes. But for a woman, you need to diet and exercise, and if you're ugly on top of that, you need to buy a shitload of cosmetics & products. And frankly, as a musician who works full time and has a busy life, I often face the choice between spending a free hour practicing or spending the hour working out, and practicing usually wins.

Posted by shellym on October 27, 2009 at 10:38 AM

@14/15: The majority of male musicians you name check rose to prominence before the MTV era, and all of them are from before the blogging era. Shit's done changed in the last 30 years, and shit done changed even more in the last ten.

People say just as many negative things about Damian Abraham's weight as they do about Beth Ditto's.

Also, 20 bucks says that if I could lose 75 pounds (believe me, I've tried/am trying), twice as many people would be coming out to our band's shows.

Posted by J. Burns on October 27, 2009 at 11:13 AM

Also, I could go on an on about ageism, but that's a whole 'nother ball of wax.

Posted by J. Burns on October 27, 2009 at 11:14 AM

Ok, here's a list of pudgy faced or overweight guys currently in music (most of whom are pulled from this page):
Ben Gibbard
Jesse of "Dutchess & the Duke"
Ghostface Killah
Mountain Goats
PSmoov (seriously? Can you imagine a girl version of this guy?)
Das Racist
Craig Finn

The girls on this page, aside from Beth Ditto? S, The Sounds, Kahimi Karie, and an aged musician having a reunion. All the young ones are typically hot and thin, and the review of the Sounds mentions her appearance.

I'm not saying guys' looks are never mentioned, but god, all you have to do is go to any Slog Happy Hour photos blog and you'll see that while there are tons of ugly guys in those photos, the only pics that get the mean comments are about the girls and how fat they are.

Posted by shellym on October 27, 2009 at 12:00 PM

Neither Gibbard or PSmoov are pudgy.

Posted by checkit on October 27, 2009 at 12:34 PM

Gibbard used to be (google him and in the first picture that comes up he looks like Dwight Schrute), and Psmoov's just plain crazy looking. My point is, these guys aren't attractive.

Posted by shellym on October 27, 2009 at 12:48 PM

Psmoov is not a musician, just a overweight coked out hipster.

Posted by beth is a manatee on October 27, 2009 at 6:08 PM