“Byron Yee calls him- selfa stand-up comic, but that description doesn‘t do the San Fran- ciscanjustice. Only a ‘ consummate storyteller could have put together Paper Son . . . a unique and moving tale.“
- Toronto Star
i l
“Both artfully con-
structed and as poignant
t as it is funny."
- San Francisco Examiner
“An electrifying combi- nation. polish and an
r3 open heart on stage." - Edmonton Journal
VENUE 47 CAFE ROYAL
5 - 30 AUGUST 6.15pm
wwnupaperso ILCOIH
64 THE usr s—iz Aug i999
ROCK/POP PREVIEW Planet Pop
Like most good ideas thought up by people on drugs, Great Summer Pop Festivals are big business. COrporate- sponsored, complacent, ubiquitous. Christmas for the ravers, manna for The Man, more a habit than a Happening. Like wasps, docu-soaps and Julia Roberts' teeth, there's too many of 'em; like Les Dennis impressions and Jamiroquai records, they're all the same. Only a sacred few possess that igneous, indiVIdual spark that sets them apart from their workaday brethren Planet Pop IS one such puppy.
For those unacquainted With Edinburgh’s longest-running pop-fest — now in its fourth year — here's the deal. A refreshingly diverse bunch of bands play In a popular Edinburgh venue (mainly The Attic this year) over the space of three and a bit weeks. The tickets are less than £10. There's no Jester hats, no crusties playing 'Belaruse’ on an acoustic dog at 3am, no sub-Somme t0ilets and NO MANIC STREET PREACHERS. What’s more, you can retire to the relative safety and comfort of your own bed when the entertainments over.
Sponsored by Fopp! and organised by the nicest pop entrepreneurs this side of Michael EaVIs's beard - namely Gordon Kilgour, Zoe McGrory, Sarah Edwards and 'The Outlaw' Deke Patton — Planet Pop begins on Saturday 7 August With a potentially unforgettable opening party featuring the brimstone cabaret of Frank Satan (pronounced Sah-tan) — an unhon human cocktail of Dean Martin and Alice COOper for (according to Satan himself) 'kids who like to dance in a fast and sexual manner.’
Highlights next week include reinvigorated glam-dogs SubCIrcus (9 Aug), hip hop from Roots Manuva (see Famespotting page 16) and Edinburgh’s own Blacka'nized (10 Aug) and, on Wednesday 1 1, Mylar (ex-Jennifers) and cute-as-custard popstrels astrid. Later in the month,
festival
POP PREVIEW YoungerYounger28s
Tied to the 805: Younger Younger 28s
The Gilded Balloon. The Wembley branch of Asda. The bonnet of a Fiat Uno, parked outside a London pub. You‘d be forgiven for thinking that these locations might be odd places to play gigs. But not if you’re Joe Northern, vocalist and guitarist with 805 pop revivalists Younger Younger 285, a band so unapologetically devoted to recreating the halcyon days of early 805 pop that their two female singers, Liz and Andi, were recruited while working as waitresses in a cocktail bar. Given this background, a residency at the Gilded Balloon during the Festival may seem out of character. Not according to Northern. ’l'd never been to the Festival,’ he explains, ’and I really wanted to go; somehow we ended up playing it. We always seem to turn up in situations that are a bit odd; we like doing things differently.’ Like playing gigs in Asda? ’Yeah. It was a bit weird, playing to bemused shoppers on a Sunday afternoon.’ Whether it's post-ironic comment on pop‘s disposability, or just a bit of a laugh isn't clear, but one thing's certain: even if it all goes wrong, there's always room for more comedians at the Gilded Balloon. It is
the Festival, after all. (Leon McDermott)
I Youn er Youn er 285 (Fri'nr e), Late ’II' Live, GI/ded Bal/oon (Venue 38/ 226 9 Q .J
2757, 6—72Aug, [ll ([9).
appearances are promised from, among others, Cha Cha Cohen, The Lanterns, Snowpatrol and Sparklehorse
Put together, as always, With barrel- loads of care, enthusiasm, sticky-tape, sweat and attention to detail, Planet Pop '99 should be a rlOl. See you on the front-lines. (Paul Whitelaw) I Tickets are on sale at the door or In advance at Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen Fopp/ stores See next issue for further Planet Pop round ups
All right. Jaques?: The Anonymous Society
MUSIC THEATRE PREVIEW Anonymous Society
Some artetacts of the 20th (entury seem (leStIned to captivate well Into the next millennium. One is the catalogue of Jacques Brel, the Belgian chanson/tier whose songs have been covered, in English, by the likes of Scott Walker, DaVId BOWIe, Frank Sinatra, lvlarc Almond, Ray Charles and Tom Jones. To (.OInCIde With the 70th anniversary of his birth comes Anonymous 500er - five
. singers, two musicians and one dancer
recreating Brel’s songs and poetry. It was a huge hit in Belgium last year
'Brel is regarded as a half-saint in Belgium, I guess,’ says producer Frank Moerman. 'He's Our most important export product on a cultural level The way he describes life or love or whatever is very popular His huge success, I think, is that everyone recognises themselves sooner or later in one of his songs He had this really clear way of describing emotions so that people really could understand what he meant — although it's poetry, Poetry is sometimes very difficult to understand, but be found a way to make it very understandable} (Alastair Mabbott) I Anonymous Soc/ety (Frrnge) Stage Art, Observer Assembly (Venue 3) 226 2428, 6—27 Aug, 1] 45pm, [9/f8 (£8/f7).
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