Jeffrey Lewis, NYC-based singer, songwriter, lyricist, artist, storyteller and comic book creator and anti-folk legend, is making a welcome return to Ireland for a seven date solo acoustic tour in May, kicking off at the Regional Cultural Centre in Letterkenny this Saturday, May 5th.
Mixing it up between contemplative folk narratives and garage indie-punk songs, Lewis has been a regular visitor to Irish shores in recent years; this visit coincides with the release of his latest album, Works by Tuli Kupferberg (1923-2010), Interpreted (and/or misinterpreted) by Jeffrey Lewis & The Deposit Returners. The album is Lewis’ take on songs by Kupferberg, best known for his 1960s work with the protest/folk-rock/proto-punk band The Fugs.
Film
Masked and Anonymous, the surreal Bob Dylan movie from about ten years ago, which Dylan co-wrote and stars in. It’s essentially like a film of a Dylan song, reality as a series of characters and situations which insinuate dreamy meaning or nonsense. I tried watching this years ago but the DVD was too scratched to get far into it.I tried watching it again last night but fell asleep. Anyway I enjoyed the heck out of the first 20 minutes, both times I’ve watched it. More musicians should end up in movies that are cinematic versions of the characters they portray in their art, there are a few examples of this sort of thing but there could be more.
Music
Back from the Grave Vol 7, yet another 1960s garage rock compilation, I can never get enough of these and the Back From the Grave series is usually pretty reliable. There’s nothing more rock & roll than 1960s garage rock! Overall, I’d say Volume 7 is not as good as some of the best in the series, like Volume 2 or Volume 8, but I bought this one relatively recently and it’s got enough highlights to keep me coming back to it. The track Orphan Boy on this album, by a band called Half Pint & The Fifths, that’s one that I can’t get out of my head.
Book
St. George and the Godfather by Norman Mailer. I’d never read any Norman Mailer, and this one is a relatively non-famous book, all about the American presidential primaries and election of 1972, it’s got all the pointlessness and time-capsule interestingness of reading a newspaper OpEd from decades ago. I’ve had this little paperback around my apartment for a while, just needed a book to carry on tour last month and this one fit in my coat pocket so I took it along. I probably got this from Tuli Kupferberg’s apartment along with a lot of other such stuff, he had a lot of counter-cultural literature and I’ve got a number of books that he either gave to me or were part of his large library that was distributed among friends and relatives when he died. In addition to being entertainingly written, in a gonzo journalism style, this is a real peek into a bygone moment in culture. The twilight zone of the post-hippie/pre-punk early-mid 70s. I have a certain fascination with this time period actually. I love the Robyn Hitchcock song 1974 for addressing this topic specifically.
TV
I was on a flight recently and could find nothing to watch but I figured I’d give the new Twin Peaks series a shot, and it knocked me out! I only watched the first bits, maybe it goes downhill. I wasn’t expecting to like it, I don’t rate the original series very highly, and I’ve got an unfair prejudice against these modern TV series binge-watching things, I’m like, if you’re gonna make a movie, please do it in the normal two or three hours, I just don’t have time to watch a 45 hour movie! I know I’m missing out on a lot of highly-rated modern culture by not keeping up on Breaking Bad or whatever. But seriously, who’s got the time? I guess everybody but me. Anyway, this was a fantastic way to pass a couple hours on a flight, scary and fun, I’d gladly continue, given the opportunity.
Gig
Can’t wait to see The Lonesome Crew play in NYC, this was the late-90s/early-00s band of Ish Marquez, he’s from the Bronx but has been living in France for many years. It’s a rare opportunity to see one of my favorite NYC performers, plus the unexpected reunion of his old band, maybe just a one-time event. Ish Marquez is just a magically expressive and unique singer-songwriter. Any opportunity to see him is not to be missed! He doesn’t gig much.
Art (either an artist or an exhibition)
Driving around lost in Brussels trying to find a hard-to-find gig-venue a couple weeks ago I was noticing all these large cartoon pencils, graffitied in different colors around the streets. I guess it’s some current Belgian street artist, I don’t know the artist’s name, maybe it’s more than one person doing these. I saw a number of fun variations. I just looked it up online and found this article.
Jeffrey Lewis's tour begins in Letterkenny on Saturday May 5 at the Regional Cultural Centre, before hitting Belfast's The Black Box on May 6 for an afternoon show (doors 1pm) and moving on to Bru House in Newbridge (May 7), The Salty Dog in Drogheda (May 8), Galway Monroe's (May 9), The Greyhound in Kilkee (May 10) and finishing up at Levi's Corner House in Ballydehob on Friday May 11.
