I… I don’t know where to start.
Ted Leo. I had a conversation with my friend Kate before seeing Ted Leo perform without his band, The Pharmacists, on Sunday night at the Eagle Rock Center for the Arts. The basis of this conversation was her being somewhat unimpressed by my Ted Leo excitement and than I qualified it by saying “I respect Ted Leo more than I enjoy him.” I don’t really know why I said that, because it is half-true. Yes, I probably do respect him more than I like him, but that doesn’t really speak to how much I enjoy his music. Which is, it should be said, quite a bit. I just respect him that much more.
Why? Well, Ted Leo went from voice in my headphones to larger-than-life icon at last summer’s Matador at 21 Festival in Las Vegas. Yes, I went to that. Yes, it was amazing. And the best part of the whole thing wasn’t Pavement or Belle & Sebastian or Guided By Voices — it was Ted Leo. Ted Leo embraced the party element of the festival unlike anyone else, which was perfect because it was a birthday party for the record label Matador. This began after the conclusion of the main-stage bands on the first night, when Ted Leo took on the band Fucked Up in a cover song battle that was the highlight of the fest. Over the course of the weekend, Mr. Leo managed to rule at indie-karaoke, jam with Liz Phair, and perform with his band in an electrifying set that concluded with him performing a monologue that captured the spirit of the event, hell, the spirit of independent music and saw him and A.C. Newman jamming out “I Love My Label” with Ted taking to the crowd.
So yes, after October’s introduction to live Ted Leo, I was most overwhelmingly impressed. But Sunday’s show wasn’t going to be a normal Ted Leo show. Besides being without his band, FYF Fest was billing the night as a variety show, with music, stand-up comedy and a question and answer session with Ted Leo and Keith Morris (Black Flag/Circle Jerks/OFF!/FYF Fest Co-Founder). Leo admitted multiple times that he didn’t even know how the night came into being, but by the end, Leo and the remaining fans had been treated to a one-of-a-kind evening of laughter, insight, and good tunes.
The instructions on the FYF Fest flyer instructed fans to get there on time for the 8:30 start time. To my surprise, people actually complied. The line at 8:15 stretched around the building for the sold-out event. FYF Fest chief Sean Carlson greeted everyone personally at the base of the stairs to the Eagle Rock Center for the Arts, adding to the community feel and personal touch that makes FYF Fest so easy to get behind (the regular schedule of awesome shows also helps). Quickly when the room filled, Leo walked onto the empty stage and said before he would explain the evening, he would play some songs, which included early-on the 2003 cut “The Sword In The Stone.” Then after two numbers, Paul F. Tompkins did an improv bit with Leo surrounding proposed Broadway musicals and included a duet of the Sex Pistols’ “Anarchy In The U.K.” Leo then played his recent single “Bottled In Cork,” and addressed the crowd by stating “that was kind of how the evening would go.”
And so it did, with a steady mix of comics and music, successfully flowing into each other like a carefully orchestrated production, though the artists made it apparent that it was not carefully orchestrated. But though there were temporary mic issues and the interview portion between Ted Leo and Keith Morris was rough at times, the free-form nature of the evening was ultimately more fun than I’ve had at a show in a while, all held together by Leo’s uniform sincerity and undying gratitude.
Now, before I talk about the comedy, I have a couple things to admit. First: I hate standup comedy as a rule. While some exceptions apply (Mitch Hedberg), I find the idea of people standing in front of me, telling me jokes and needing my laughter for approval a very off-putting experience. It places too much pressure on me to affirm the performer’s suspicion that they are indeed funny, when in reality the most wholehearted laughter comes when one is not expecting to laugh. Second: I have never written about comedy before and don’t really know the protocol. Am I supposed to retell the jokes? Should I tell you whether they were well received? So, bear with me and I’ll give you a few highlights.
The acts (The Skylar Brothers, Paul F. Tompkins, Jen Kirkman, Kumail Nanjiani, Jonah Ray, Nick Flanagan) were all generally strong and, surprisingly, kept me laughing all night. Jen Kirkman was my personal favorite, as she seemed more like a smart woman with a humorous point to make rather than a comedian. She brought up an audience member who was born in the 90s to prove the point that kids today are kind of ridiculous and added sharp, jab-like jokes throughout. The Skylar Brothers, who I recognized from ESPN and my friend Kyle’s tirades about those “twin comedians that he hates,” can seem overly rehearsed, but there is a pure art to what they do, which is played on by the fact that they look so similar, but their chemistry goes beyond sight gags and practice. They offered some great observational jokes and succeeded in their role as comic-headliner. My favorite gag of the night, though, went to Kumail Nanjiani, who did a great bit about Freddy Kruger only really upsetting people when he made a racial slur, not when he diced people into bits. And then there was Nick Flanagan, who was my kind of comedian. He had about half the audience confused with his dry delivery and subtle jokes, but I provided the laughter of ten men to keep him feeling successful. You can pay me later, Mr. Flanagan.
After The Skylar Brothers, a short intermission was announced so DJ Keith Morris could spin some tunes. Well, this didn’t happen due to technical difficulties, so Mr. Leo decided to play some music, instead. Win! This was the longest musical segment of the night and saw the singer really find his groove. Like Stella, when she got hers back. But Ted Leo’s never left, he just needed the time to make it apparent. His groove. Yes, I’m still talking about his groove.
Anyway, any apprehension about how Ted Leo’s music would sound solo was really quite ridiculous considering how melodically driven his music is. Sure, some of his guitar-solo attempts were kind of silly, but his whistling during the flute part of “Bottle Of Buckie” – a personal favorite – showed the possibilities that the solo performance was capable of when a little imagination was employed. Other highlights included the Heart Of Oak classic “High Party,” newer tune “One Polaroid A Day,” and “Bleeding Powers” from Shaking The Sheets. Most endearing about Leo, beyond the excellent songs, was his visible nervousness. Usually this could be a fault in live music, but with Leo, who exudes such confidence with his voice, seeing him fidgety and shaky made him all that more relatable, and ultimately, lovable.
Then came the interview portion of the evening. Now, both Leo and Keith Morris made it clear that they hadn’t really talked about what they wanted to talk about. But, from a journalist’s perspective it went quite well. The conversation topic started with how Leo and Morris differ in their opinions of what punk is. Morris was quick to state that Black Flag never considered themselves punks and dressed very different from the punk scene. However, the conclusion that maybe not dressing punk made them more punk, because punk is more a contrariness to the masses than anything, is a point I very much agree with and was impressed to see these punk icons agree with. As Morris noted, Greg Ginn was a huge Grateful Dead fan, which was about as unpunk as you can get. But, refusing to be pegged down by what you are supposed to like might have made Ginn more punk rock because of it.
Morris took some questions from the crowd (which included the explaining of the song “White Minority” as a joke from a time Ginn and Morris went body surfing), talked for a while about his health issues, life on the road with Black Flag, his current project OFF!, how the Circle Jerks hardly ever perform due to Bad Religion’s relentless touring, and much more. The most awkward time came when Morris tried to pigeon-hole Leo, saying that Leo’s songs came from his intellect (Leo studied literature at Notre Dame) and Morris’ came from his gut. Leo didn’t like that much and I tend to side with Leo, knowing that just because he went to school and uses more complex language, doesn’t mean his soul is any less a part of this. Morris ultimately backtracked a little, clearly just trying to make the point that their education levels make a big difference on how they write.
The night concluded with a few more songs, including the Split Enz cover “Six Months In A Leaky Boat,” and by that point the crowd was at half capacity. It was a mild bummer to see people get impatient during the interview portion of the night, but hell, it’s the MTV Generation. As Jen Kirkman had riffed on, kids don’t know their history and failed to realize how cool the act of seeing Ted Leo interview Keith Morris really was. But for those of us who stuck out the whole night, it was an unforgettable one with one of music’s most interesting, charismatic, and respectable personalities.
One of the most enjoyable musicians, too. I always forget that part.
