Concert Review: Robyn Hitchcock and Eugene Mirman at the Cedar Cultural Center

Robyn Hitchcock at the Cedar Cultural Center in Minneapolis, on May 2, 2024. (Photo by Mark C. Taylor)

Poster for Robyn Hitchcock and Eugene Mirman at the Cedar Cultural Center, May 2, 2024. (Photo by Mark C. Taylor)

Robyn signed the sleeve of my 45. (Photo by Mark C. Taylor)

On May 2nd, I saw Robyn Hitchcock and Eugene Mirman at the Cedar Cultural Center in Minneapolis. I’ve seen Robyn live many times, but I missed him when he came through town in 2023, so I’m glad to have caught him this time around. Eugene Mirman opened the show with his stand-up. I’ve seen Eugene open for Robyn before, and he’s a pretty funny fellow. Robyn brought Eugene back at the end of the show, and I really enjoyed seeing how much Robyn laughed at Eugene. 

Robyn Hitchcock is an artist quite beyond description. His songs are beautiful, catchy, melodic, alarming, charming, disarming, and otherworldly. His concert at the Cedar was a solo show, featuring Robyn on guitar, and piano on a few songs. My wife and I got to the Cedar later than we wanted to, just as Eugene was starting his set, but we happily discovered that there were empty seats in the front row. Thanks for not wanting to draw attention to yourselves, Minnesotans!  

Robyn opened the show with “Balloon Man,” one of his most famous songs from the 1980’s. I didn’t write down the songs that Robyn played, because I foolishly assumed they’d make it online, but I haven’t been able to find a setlist for this concert. Oh well. So it goes.  

The songs that I recall were a mixture of Hitchcock favorites like “I’m Only You,” and “I Often Dream of Trains,” and songs like “I Saw Nick Drake” that are performed less frequently. As always, solo shows highlight Hitchcock’s excellent guitar playing. Speaking of Robyn’s guitar playing, his most recent album is 2023’s Life After Infinity, his first all-instrumental album.  

At the piano, Robyn played “The Man Who Invented Himself,” side one, track one from his first solo album, 1981’s Black Snake Diamond Role. I don’t know if the song was meant to be autobiographical, but the lyrics seem apropos of Hitchcock: “He came bursting out of nowhere like a spear into the sky/and he cast his light on everything it was like he’d never die...he’s the fella, the man who invented himself.”  

Robyn also played “Somewhere Apart” on the piano, one of his most John Lennon-esque songs, which is one of my favorites. I requested “Strawberries Dress,” a lovely song from 2013’s Love from London. When I told Robyn after the show that I’d requested that song, he apologized for the tuning not quite sounding right, but it sounded great to me.  

It was fun to see Robyn in concert again, and after the show he signed autographs. I was dressed for the occasion, with a flowery shirt and a neck scarf. Robyn complimented my outfit, and I told him I was trying to dress like it was 1967—the title of Robyn’s new memoir, coming out in July.  

In an Instagram post from yesterday, Robyn wrote: “The longer I do it, the more I love playing live. I’m grateful for the chance to be my best self, night after night, in front of people who genuinely enjoy what I do. My recent US excursion was a slice of bliss.” It was for us too, Robyn.  

TV Review: The Incomparable Mr. Buckley, a documentary for American Masters, directed by Barak Goodman (2024)

Novelist, magazine editor, talk show host, harpsichordist and all-around multi-hyphenate William F. Buckley, Jr.

William F. Buckley on the set of his television show Firing Line. 

I do not share much political ideology with William F. Buckley, but I find him to be a fascinating figure. Part of this is due to Buckley’s personal style: who wouldn’t be in awe of a man who pounded out newspaper columns in thirty minutes, keys clacking on his portable typewriter as he sat in the back of his chauffeured limousine, surrounded by his Cavalier King Charles spaniels? A man who played Bach on the harpsichord, ran a magazine, had his own television show, went skiing in Switzerland, and wrote novels in the gap between skiing and dinner? Regardless of what you think of William F. Buckley, there is no denying that the man was possessed of an immense amount of style.  

The Incomparable Mr. Buckley is a new documentary for PBS’ American Masters series, produced and directed by Barak Goodman, a veteran documentary filmmaker. The film examines Buckley’s life and his influence on American politics. There is a treasure trove of film clips, including home movies from Buckley’s youth, the 1965 Cambridge debate between Buckley and James Baldwin, Buckley threatening to punch Gore Vidal, and many episodes of Firing Line. The Incomparable Mr. Buckley also makes the intelligent decision to forgo footage of talking head commentators—instead we merely hear them speak over footage of Buckley.  

Buckley was renowned as an author and the founder and editor of the conservative magazine National Review, before his television talk show Firing Line took his fame to a new level in 1966. As brilliant as Buckley was on the page, television revealed a new side of his appeal. 

Buckley on television was simply fascinating to watch: the slouched posture, the crossed legs, the pen, the clipboard, the raised eyebrows, the toothy grin, the tongue flicking at the corner of his mouth, the sparkling blue eyes. Photographs of Buckley reveal a handsome man, but it is only in action, before the camera, that his unique charisma fully surfaces. You simply can’t stop looking at him. And then there was that voice. Where on earth was William F. Buckley from? His mellifluous tone was a mixture of East Coast establishment, learning English after he’d already learned Spanish, a hint of a Southern drawl from his mother’s side of the family, and spending several years as a teenager at boarding school in England. Buckley’s voice was an instrument that he wielded like a virtuoso. Similar to the actor James Mason, Buckley’s voice was pure honey to listen to, and it could lull you to sleep, seduce you, or mock you with biting, sarcastic humor. 

When Buckley started National Review in 1955, American conservative thought was regarded as an afterthought at best. After all, Republicans had lost 5 Presidential elections in a row from 1932-1948. One of the defining moments of the nascent conservative movement was when archconservative Barry Goldwater defeated the liberal Republican Nelson Rockefeller for the 1964 Republican Presidential nomination. This was a huge step to the right for the Republican party. Goldwater was crushed by LBJ in the general election, but out of the ashes of this defeat came an unexpected silver lining. A Hollywood actor had delivered a powerful 30-minute speech on Goldwater’s behalf during the last week of the campaign. The speech did nothing to help Goldwater’s imminent defeat, but it launched the political career of the actor who gave the speech: Ronald Reagan. Immediately, movers and shakers in the Republican party in California began thinking of Reagan as a possible candidate for Governor in 1966.  

Ronald Reagan became the ultimate conservative Republican: he had the charisma that Richard Nixon so conspicuously lacked, and Reagan was more wedded to conservative ideology than the more pragmatic Nixon. Buckley was never a huge fan of Nixon, and according to the documentary, William pressured his brother James, then a Senator from New York, to call on Nixon to resign. James Buckley gave a speech in March of 1974 calling for Nixon’s resignation, and he became the first conservative Republican to call on the president to resign. (Speaking of James Buckley, who passed away in 2023 at the age of 100, he would be a fascinating documentary subject.)  

Much like the conservative movement itself, the documentary loses a bit of steam once the Cold War comes to a peaceful conclusion. As the Republican party shifted ever rightward, Buckley wasn’t always perfectly in step with it. His 1993 book Happy Days Were Here Again was subtitled Reflections of a Libertarian Journalist. I find it significant that Buckley used “libertarian” to describe himself rather than “conservative.”  

The documentary ends with footage of Trump and the January 6th rioters, and we see what American “conservatism” has degenerated into. Several articles about the documentary have focused on what Buckley’s son, the acclaimed satirist and novelist Christopher says at the end, regarding his father and Donald Trump: “He might just have said, ‘Demand a recount!’” What I take this to mean is not that Buckley would have supported Trump’s claim about the 2020 election being fraudulent, but rather that Buckley would have said we should recount the 2016 election to see if there was some way we could avoid the crisis of having Trump be president in the first place. The more relevant part of Christopher Buckley’s quote that reviewers have ignored is what he says before the final line: “I’ve been asked a thousand times ‘What would your father have made of Donald Trump?’ Well, look, he’s left us 50 books, 1,500 episodes of Firing Line, 6,000 columns. You figure out what he would’ve made of Donald Trump.” The answer should be glaringly obvious to anyone who has any familiarity with the works of William F. Buckley: he would have despised Donald Trump, as Buckley would have recognized what an idiot and buffoon Trump is. Buckley unknowingly came up with the perfect metaphor for Donald Trump when he wrote in his 1976 book Airborne: "The key to a serene relationship with sharks is simply this: Bear it in mind that they are so dumb, you can neither anticipate nor outwit them." (p.133) 

Despite the downbeat ending, The Incomparable Mr. Buckley is a fascinating and engaging look at one of the twentieth century’s most interesting public intellectuals.  

Concert Review: The Surfrajettes and The McCharmlys at the Turf Club

The Surfrajettes on stage at the Turf Club, March 10, 2024. From left to right, Nicole Damoff on guitar, Annie Lillis on drums, Shermy Freeman on guitar, and Sarah Butler on bass. (Photo by Mark C. Taylor)

Me and Annie, with special photobomb by Sarah.

Set list for the Surfrajettes, held by Annie Lillis (Photo by Mark C. Taylor)

My signed photo of the Surfrajettes.

In March, I saw the rock group the Surfrajettes at the Turf Club. Devoted readers of “Mark My Words” will recall that I previously saw the Surfrajettes at the Turf Club last October, when they opened for the Electric Six. This time the McCharmlys opened for the Surfrajettes. The McCharmlys have an awesome retro-60's vibe, so their sound worked really well with the Surfrajettes. The lead vocalist Angie has a really great voice, and I enjoyed their songs. 

The Surfrajettes put on an awesome show, and it’s a treat to see their surf rock songs live. It’s fun to see the guitar interplay between Shermy Freeman and Nicole Damoff, as they trade between lead and rhythm. Their guitar work is always seamless and flows so well. This time the Surfrajettes had their usual lineup of Shermy and Nicole on guitar, Sarah Butler on bass, and Annie Lillis on drums. Sarah and Annie both did a fantastic job. Annie absolutely crushed the drum breaks on “Roller Fink,” and “El Condor Pasa,” one of my favorite Surfrajette songs. It was immediately evident what a fantastic chemistry Shermy, Nicole, Sarah, and Annie have together on stage. 

The set list featured some different songs from October’s show, although favorites like “Heart of Glass” and their version of Britney Spears’ “Toxic” still made appearances. After playing “She Loves You,” Nicole said, “That’s one we wrote,” which was very funny. The band played most of the songs from their debut album Roller Fink, rocking tunes like “Warm Up,” “Roxy Roller,” “Couch Surfing,” “Surfer’s Slide,” and “Snowball.”  

The Surfrajettes are such a fun band to see live, I’m hoping they keep coming back to the Twin Cities every six months. After the show, I was able to get my 8x10 photo signed by all 4 Surfrajettes, and I got selfies with Annie and Shermy, plus a photobomb from Sarah. If you like rock and roll, surf guitars, and awesome instrumentals, go see the Surfrajettes.  

Book Review: Sacred Muse: A Preface to Christian Art & Music, by Charles Scribner III (2023)

The cover of Sacred Muse: A Preface to Christian Art & Music, by Charles Scribner III, 2023. (Photo by Mark C. Taylor)

Charles Scribner III published two books in 2023, and they both reflect his different passions. One book is Scribners Five Generations in Publishing, which details the history of his family’s publishing company, Charles Scribner’s Sons. The other book is Sacred Muse: A Preface to Christian Art & Music, which explores Scribner’s passion for Baroque art and music. Scribner has a PhD in art history and has written monographs on Bernini and Rubens.  

Sacred Muse is a slim volume, meant as an introduction and overview rather than a definitive compendium. The book focuses on Scribner’s favorite artists, like Rubens, Bernini, and Caravaggio. One can hardly quibble with Scribner’s choices when he picks such masterful artists as these.  

I minored in Art History in college, and the class I took on the Baroque period was one of my favorites, so I enjoyed returning to Caravaggio, Rubens, and Bernini’s artworks in the pages of Sacred Muse. Scribner proves a more than able guide through these artworks, as he describes the Biblical scenes they depict, and examines the context in which these artworks were created. 

Scribner reminds us that because the Calvinist Reformed Church forbade paintings of religious subjects, “ecclesiastical commissions that engaged Rubens were unavailable to the Protestant Rembrandt.” (p.69) This fact tells us that Rembrandt’s many paintings with Biblical themes came not out of commissions, but of his own personal interest in depicting these scenes. This was something I hadn’t thought of before.  

Scribner devotes a good amount of time to Verdi’s Requiem, and he uses a wonderful quote from the music author George Marek: “The Requiem is one of those rare religious compositions which are loved by both the faithful and the agnostic. It is also one of those pieces of music which appeal both to the musically literate and the musical beginner. Its beauty lies deep and on the surface.” (p.105) I loved the last sentence of that quote, and it made me think of Miles Davis's album Kind of Blue, which is regularly acclaimed as the “Best Jazz Album” and is also a best-seller and often listeners’ entry point to the jazz genre. There are those rare works of art that are immediately accessible and reward repeated attention.  

Sacred Muse is an interesting reflection on art and faith, and it’s a pleasure to read a book that is so well-illustrated with full color reproductions of many of the masterpieces that Scribner describes in the text.