The Waterboys - Belasco Theater: A Review

The Waterboys - Belasco Theater - October 15, 2019

My year of living musically most likely came to a close last Tuesday, October 15th, when I ventured to downtown Los Angeles to catch my final scheduled concert of 2019, The Waterboys at the Belasco Theater.

The Waterboys are a Scottish-Irish band fronted by singer-songwriter Mike Scott, who hit the height of their success back in the 1980’s, and at that time were poised to become the next big thing. As is often the case, due to a variety of reasons, the band never became the next big thing, but they have been churning out quality music for decades.

I had never really thought much about The Waterboys in my life and considered them a one hit wonder, with Whole of the Moon being the hit, until an Irishman enlightened me as to the band’s and Mike Scott’s virtues. Four years ago I was invited by my Irish immigrant friends Cuchuliam and his bride, the Rose of Dun Laoghaire, to see The Waterboys at the Fonda Theater. I was duly impressed by the band’s musicianship and the potency of their songs. Cuchuliam then loaned me his Waterboys catalogue of music and I was off to the races in becoming a Waterboys fan.

In the four years since our last jaunt to a Waterboys show, much water has passed under the bridge, but once again Cuchuliam and the Rose of Dun Laoghaire generously, and shockingly considering they both suffer from Short Arms-Deep Pockets Syndrome, gifted my companion, the irrepressible Lady Pumpernickle Dusseldorf, and I some tickets to catch the band live…this time in support of their new album Where the Action Is at the Belasco Theater.

Any time that I spend with Cuchuliam and The Rose is often trying. As longtime readers know, I loathe the Irish with the fury of a thousand suns and do not even consider them to be legally human. What makes Cuchuliam and The Rose all the more difficult for me to tolerate is the fact that they are immigrants and since coming to America have built a vast fortune by stealing jobs from Americans and exploiting our generous welfare state. You may be wondering why on earth I would be friends with such lowly creatures, and that is a valid question. The answer is that they are literally the only friends I have left. Everyone else I know hates me with even more passion than I hate the Irish, and thinks even less of me than I think of those Emerald Isle animals. Just as politics makes strange bedfellows, so to does being reviled and rejected by the world make strange friendships…hence my twenty year relationship with Cuchuliam and the Rose of Dun Laoghaire.

My evening with the Irish got off to a typically Irish start when Cuhculiam and The Rose arrived fashionably, but predictably, late to dinner at a swank downtown restaurant. The Irish are always at least a half hour late for anything and everything, which is why they are virtually unemployable…Cuchuliam and his addiction to the dole being living proof of that.

Also in keeping with Irish tradition, they arrived absolutely stinking drunk. They had no doubt been drinking all day, which should not be surprising since it was a Tuesday after all, but that didn’t stop them from consuming heroic amounts of alcohol while ordering and eating every type of potato the restaurant had on it’s menu.

The drink led these Irish hounds to be predictably talkative. I was then lucky enough to witness a debate between these two rosy cheeked leprechauns over which “ethnic” group was the worst. Mexicans fared the best in this debate because they '“invented Tequila”, which apparently goes a long way with the Irish. The other minorities did not fare as well, and were cursed up and down in between verses of “Danny Boy” and choruses of “Jesus, Mary and Joseph” and “Jesus weeps!”

After being asked to leave the restaurant, we navigated our way to the Belasco. The theater was about two blocks from the restaurant, which was good because I don’t think I could have carried my drunken Irish luggage any farther.

I had never been to The Belasco and was duly impressed by it. It is a gorgeous space with a high domed ceiling and exquisite crafted and ornamented walls. The space is not very big, but a perfect size for a show such as The Waterboys.

As we awaited the show, to no one’s surprise the Irish hit the bar. When they returned a stranger, who looked suspiciously Irish, approached and then hugged both Cuchuliam and The Rose. This stranger, Potato Man, was a long lost Irish friend who just like Cuchuliam and The Rose, had been sucking at the American teet for the last twenty years. They must have been passing out Waterboys tickets at the welfare office because besides Potato Man, Cuchuliam and The Rose, The Belasco was filled to the brim with Irish and Irish-wannabes.

The show started a little after 8 pm and the crowd greeted the band graciously. The Waterboys have had a variety of lineups over the years but their current members are Mike Scott (lead guitar and lead vocals), Steve Wickham (fiddle), Brother Paul (keyboards), Aongos Ralston (bass), Ralph Salmins (drums).

The show opened a little bumpy with Where the Action Is. The song was fine and the band sounded great, but the sound for Mike Scott’s vocals was off. There was a bit of an echo and it was terribly tinny. The vocal sound was sub-par for the first few songs but thankfully was subtly corrected and the rest of the show went without an audio hitch.

The band played two 10 song sets with a twenty five minute intermission in between them. The songs were solid and the band played with aplomb, but the show was a bit of a let down. There are some reasons that the show did not connect as much as my previous Waterboys outing four years ago did. The first is that Mike Scott was admittedly suffering from a cold, and thus his energy was a bit down.

Secondly, I think the tone of the show, which was fun and gregarious, does not fit the band’s catalogue. Scott is a deep and philosophical song writer who lyrically bares his soul and cuts himself and humanity to the bone. Fun is not his strong suit, whereas honesty, earnestness and genuineness are his strong suit.

The pacing of the show and the set list added to the feeling of disconnect. A sign of the show’s oddity was that for the last quarter of it a large and loud crowd gather on the other side of the bar, outside of the music space, and had a very raucous discussion, nearly drowning out the band and certainly distracting the audience. It was odd…but just another odd thing in a show that never totally came together.

The highlights for me, and there certainly were highlights despite the unevenness of it all, were Fisherman’s Blues, which is just a great song off a great album, as well as Medicine Bow, Whole of the Moon (the encore) and Salmins drum tribute to Ginger Baker, which was extremely well-done. All of the musicians throughout the show were impressive, most notably Brother Paul’s frenetic organ and Wickham’s volcanic fiddle.

The show ended around 10:30 or so and my date and I headed for the exits. When we last saw Cuchulain and The Rose of Dun Laoghaire, they were making out with a leather-clad, goth woman who may or may not have been Morrissey in drag. When they took a break from their make out session they spotted us across the room and gave us a big smile and wave. We waved back and headed to the car wishing we had more and better friends. But as my father used to say…wish in one hand and shit in the other and see which hand fills up faster.

As we hastily drove home through L.A. traffic, we reminisced about what a strange Irish night it had been…and how we wished we could see these wonderful, glorious, generous, vivacious and loving Gaelic vermin more often. If only.

SET LIST

Where the Action is

When Ye Go Away

Dunford’s Fancy

Fisherman’s Blues

London Mick

A Girl Called Johnny

Still A Freak

Nashville, Tennessee

Medicine Bow

Ladbroke Grove Symphony

INTERMISSION

Man, What a Woman

Rosalind (You Married the Wrong Guy)

Blues for Baker

We Will Not be Lovers

If the Answer is Yeah

Nearest Thing to Hip

November Tale

Morning Came Too Soon

In My Time On Earth

ENCORE

The Whole of the Moon

©2019

Nightcrawler : A Review

****WARNING: THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SOME SPOILERS!! CONSIDER THIS YOUR OFFICIAL SPOILER ALERT!!****

Nightcrawler, written and directed by Dan Gilroy, is the story of Lou Bloom (Jake Gyllenhaal), a socially awkward, morally challenged and fiercely ambitious man who stumbles into a career as a freelance videographer in the seedy world of local television news in Los Angeles.

I had not heard much about Nightcrawler prior to seeing it. I had seen some commercials for it, but hadn't heard very much word of mouth about it. In fact, I thought the film had already come and gone by the time I indifferently sat down to watch it. After seeing it, I am baffled as to why this film hasn't made more of a splash and gotten more buzz around it. I thought it was among the best films of the year.

Jake Gyllenhaal stars as Lou Bloom, and gives one of the performances of the year and undoubtedly one of the best of his career. Gyllenhaal makes Lou Bloom a distinct and exact character, from his unblinking, owl-like eyes, to his unique speech patterns and his disturbingly persistent optimism. Lou Bloom has an uncomfortably intense focus, and will overcome any and all obstacles to achieve his goal, whether that be to get the best video footage, the best story, the most money or sex with the woman he wants. Lou is as bereft of a moral compass as he is of a social one, making him both repulsive yet almost hypnotically irresistible. Gyllenhaal has constructed a gripping character, one that is consistently specific in intention and precise in detail. Gyllenhaal has always done much better in roles that would be defined as 'character roles' as opposed to movie star roles. I hope his excellent work in Nightcrawler is an indication that Gyllenhaal will decide to do more character work in the future and less movie star work.

When we first see Lou Bloom, he is a two-bit thief, stealing metal from construction sights and wristwatches from the guard he overpowers who is protecting that construction sight, an early indication that while he may not look like the typical predator, he most definitely is one, and an audacious one at that. But when, by happenstance, Lou comes across freelance videographers covering a car crash on the freeway, he gets hooked by the intrigue and excitement of that business and decides to dive into it headfirst. His greatest assets as a freelance videographer are his astonishing lack of any ethics, scruples or human compassion, his audacious ambition and his unabashed zeal for the job. Due to these characteristics, Bloom excels in his work and quickly climbs the ladder all the way to the top of the local television freelance videographer world. 

Renee Russo and Riz Ahmed do exemplary work in supporting roles. Russo plays Nina Romina, a producer of a late night local news program who, night after night, Lou Bloom pitches to buy his work. She tells him that "if it bleeds, it leads", so Bloom quickly sets out to shoot the most gruesome footage he can, and builds a professional, and uneasily forced unprofessional, relationship with Romina. Russo brings a world weary savvy and desperation to her character. Romina is, in her own way, a predator as well, feeding on and manipulating the misery in the world to her advantage. She, like many, underestimates Lou Bloom, and her shock when she realizes that she is not the hunter in regards to Bloom, but they prey, is subtly and effectively played.

Riz Ahmed plays Lou Bloom's aptly named videographer 'intern' Rick Carey, a down on his luck, sometimes homeless guy trying to make his way in a rough world. We see Carey be a victim of Bloom's overpowering confidence at first, but then he learns from watching Bloom, and by the time he turns the tables on Bloom we see that he believes he is no longer the fledgling, but is ready to leave the nest. Carey though, as his name suggests, "cares", and proves he doesn't have the heart, or rather, he has too much heart, to be able to beat Lou at his own ruthless game. Ahmed brings a tangible, genuine sensitivity to his character, and his work brings to life a character that could have really been an afterthought in the hands of a less thoughtful actor.

Director Dan Gilroy has been a working screenwriter for years, and Nightcrawler is his first time directing. It is a dynamic debut to say the least. What Gilroy does best is let Gyllenhaal's work drive the narrative, and to neither rush, nor weigh down the story. Gilroy's pacing is pitch-perfect, and there is never a feeling of distraction or wandering in the storytelling. 

Another artist of note working on Nightcrawler is cinematographer Robert Elswit. Elswit's work is simply stellar. The film looks absolutely spectacular. The visuals are striking, and tell a great deal of the story of Lou Bloom, and in turn Los Angeles, all on their own. I am willing to bet that if you watched Nightcrawler with the sound off, you would get just as impressively compelling a film as you did with the sound on. Elswit gives the Los Angeles night a texture and vibrancy that is an essential part of the storytelling, and is as indispensable as Gyllenhaal's performance to the success of the film.

Another pivotal character in Nightcrawler is the city of Los Angeles itself. Gilroy and Elswit shoot from locations in the least cinematically seen parts of the city. They find hidden and mundane little corners of Los Angeles and give them life in an optically striking and dramatically forceful way. In the real world, Los Angeles is a strange city. During the day it is the land of milk and honey, filled with beautiful people and sunshine and brightness. But then the sun falls, and darkness rises. Nighttime in Los Angeles is a dark and uneasy place. The L.A. night is the place where Jim Morrison's The Lizard King reigned supreme, and the Charles Manson's and Richard Ramirez's of the world plied their trade. The L.A. night is the shadow world and it is as dark as the day is light. Gilroy and Elswit perfectly capture and bring this palpable, looming sense of menace to life in Nightcrawler, better than any films in recent memory.

Finally, Nightcrawler is also about the the insidious world of television news. To watch Lou 'bloom' from an amoral low-life thief into an amoral local news freelance video kingpin is as entertaining as it is insightful. Bloom is a fringe character in the world. He is from the most northern outskirts of the San Fernando valley, as far away from Los Angeles as you can be and still say you are from Los Angeles. He has no education but has studied self improvement from the farthest edge of the internet. Thanks to this makeshift schooling, and his predatory instincts, Lou learns the L.A. appearance game quickly, and goes from driving a run down clunker to driving a souped up Mustang in no time. Lou Bloom is symbolic of the charlatan at the heart of all television news personalities, in that he is an empty vessel, comprised of all style and no substance. The real trick in the television news business is to have your style make you appear to have substance, and to have your lack of substance become your trademark style. Bloom, like all top predators, quickly adapts to this. Television news is as far out on the periphery to serious substantial journalism as Lou Bloom's hometown on the northern most reaches of the San Fernando valley is to Los Angeles. The film shows how manufactured and contrived the news is in order to manipulate the public, if for no other reason than to keep them watching and the advertising revenues coming in. Spend even a few minutes watching the empty-headed toxicity on CNN, MSNBC or Fox News and you will quickly realize that national news is just as corrosive and corrupt as the version of local news presented in Nightcrawler. The pernicious and noxious nature of television news is obvious and undeniable to anyone paying even the remotest bit of attention, and Nightcrawler skillfully does us a service in bringing that reality of the newsroom to life.

In conclusion, Nightcrawler is a very layered, riveting and original debut film from writer/director Dan Gilroy, boasting a great performance from Jake Gyllenhaal and stunning visuals from cinematographer Robert Elswit. It is, in my opinion, one of the most finely crafted and most entertaining films of the year, and it is most certainly worth your time.

© 2015

FOR REVIEWS OF OTHER FILMS RELEASED DURING THE HOLIDAY SEASON, PLEASE CLICK ON THESE LINKS TO THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING , WHIPLASH , BIRDMAN OR (THE UNEXPECTED VIRTUE OF IGNORANCE) , FOXCATCHER , WILD , AMERICAN SNIPER , A MOST VIOLENT YEAR , THE IMITATION GAME , STILL ALICE , INHERENT VICE , SELMA , MR. TURNER , CAKE .