Bob Log III
with Jim E. Brown and Ecology: Homestones
A solid bill of oddities tonight.
Ecology: Homestones is a purveyor of harsh noise that probably wouldn’t hold my attention if it weren’t performed by a towering ghoul with a shrunken head, accompanied by a limbless torso writhing along to the cacophony on a hook behind a velvet rope. Apparently there’s a whole mythology that goes with this, and incredibly, it’s attracted more than a half million social media followers in just a few short years. I always appreciate lunatics pursuing outlandish art projects that have no hope of building an audience, and I appreciate it even more when that audience somehow materializes anyway.
Jim E. Brown was the primary draw for me, as his records have kept me in much-needed laughs for the past few months. I’m happy to confirm that his faux-British take on outspoken self-loathing and extremely poor health is just as entertaining onstage as on record, if not more so. He’s an obese alcoholic, and it really is anything but bucolic. Also, beyond the sardonic gold of the lyrics and their delivery, the tunes—living mostly in the realm of synth pop and post punk—are actually good, which is clutch.
Bob Log III is a name I’ve been seeing on screen-printed gig posters for decades but hadn’t properly investigated before this show was announced. He’s a one-man band in a human cannonball getup, with his hands playing the delta blues on slide guitar, his feet playing a kick drum and hi-hat, and his voice singing into a telephone receiver permanently attached to his helmet visor. While he’s busy with all that, he conscripts the audience into inflating and popping balloons, making and consuming toast, and imbibing Prosecco from an inflatable duck identified as his tour manager.
All in all, a very satisfying way to spend a Sunday night.