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Apples in Stereo The
Holmes Brothers |
Gil Mantera's Party Dream
It turns out that half of Gil Mantera’s Party Dream, Gil, had moved to the ‘Burgh recently and is living up the street on Penn Ave. This would explain the many times I’ve seen him at Gooski’s or various Cobalt Black aka Four Season’s Boys gigs. And maybe because of this, a good number of folks turned out for this show but as I approached Garfield Artworks I was taken aback by the huge crowd amassed on the sidewalk. I parked and as I approached I started wondering, “Since when did the gutter punks start going to see guys that play the keyboard in tights.” Well, it appears that a new art/music venue had recently opened a couple of doors down and a hardcore show was taking place at the same time. I found this out from Manny who then let me in on this little nugget, “If they try to storm this place I’m going to barricade the doors and call the cops!” WHAT?! “Should I be packing heat, Manny?” Opening this show was Jackson of the Grand Buffet and he made his usual hilarious observances about everything from Dane Cook to the current administration while rapping over taped recordings. After a break the Party Dream took to the stage and the crowd immediately starts grooving to their synth-pop as Gil goofily dances at the keyboard. Ultimate Donnny would do most of the talking this night and right away it became obvious to me what the problem with these guys are. First of all, Donny wasn’t as funny as the man that preceded him, and his jokes seemed forced at times. But you’re saying this is a band, right, so who cares? Well if they were just a band then I could barely recommend seeing them live because musically the whole synch and distorted vocal thing gets old quickly. When they throw in the brotherly love infighting it brings the show full circle but without it the whole thing feels incomplete. So there were some fun moments with Gil out in the crowd, the guys getting silly up on stage and a special appearance by Grand Buffet’s Lord Grunge but all in all I left feeling empty. I’m sure Band Aid gets tired of playing “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” at every concert but at least they know what made them famous. |
