Steamheads

Getting back into Manhattan has opened up other doors that have been shut to me for the last five years because I was always too tired after 10 hour days and 2 hour commutes. I’m getting to go to concerts and movies again on work nights and I have a lot more pubs at my disposal again - in Staten Island the only bar near my work was called “Mugshots” and was in a strip-mall, the regulars were… how can I be polite? Rednecks… Hicks… Ignorant Fucks… Hey! White Americans! Yeah! There ye go……….

Anyway so last week we are up in Central Park to see David Byrne playing a show and I have to say, it was one of the best shows I’ve seen in years! The weather sucked for an outdoor show but sometimes music just transcends these problems.

I got there early as a light drizzle was coming down but as soon as I got my spot in the field the clouds opened and God’s piss poured from the heavens. It was one of those rain storms that there is no point in trying to make it to shelter. 30 seconds later and everyone in the park was drenched.

I remember seeing a Samurai movie where the protagonist talks about advice he was given when he was stuck in a rainstorm: you can fight every drop and lose in frustration or you can just accept it and get wet happily. I have no idea why I was thinking of Samurai movies at this point but it seemed like good advice to me so I accepted it and got drenched happily. I even managed to remark to the barmaid at the beer tent: “Hey, is this shit watered down?”.

20 minutes later when the rain stopped, the park turned into a huge sauna and steam was rising off the heads of the crowd, I’m glad I don’t do hallucinogenics anymore as images like this can really fuck with your mind!

Anyway, pretty soon the steamheads are shaking and moving like a giant piston-engine and David Byrne is rocking on the stage as only he can. Go back and watch “Stop Making Sense”, it might be 25 years ago but physically He hasn’t changed much. He has white hair now but every one of his limbs move as if they are independent of each other and as a white guy with no sense of rhythm (Me that is, not him), David Byrne makes you feel like it is okay to dance without too much embarrassment.

He plays a great mixture of his new stuff and old Talking Heads tunes. I got goose bumps when I heard “Naive Melody (this must be the place” blasting out accompanied by him doing a kind of Michael Jackson-like moonwalk that ended with him falling on his arse over some guitar pedals. It would never have happened to Jackson but when it happens to Byrne it somehow adds to his charm that he is just really out there enjoying this as much as we are. It’s a great thing to see.