Cinemascope

We’re having a rocking summer in Tel Aviv this year. After a couple of years that no significant rock shows came over here, the dry spell ended and first Morrissey came over and gave us a jolly good time (with The New York Dolls supporting), the The Breeders yesterday, and today it was announced that Paul McCartney will be ending his current world tour here in September.

Two cell-phone photos I took from Morrissey’s Tel Aviv show, July 2008

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I love “Loudquietloud - A Film About the Pixies“, a great rock-doc about the sad state the four members of the Pixies were in, 10 years after they broke up. Kim Deal - aka Mrs. John Murphy - was for a while the most stable of the bunch: she made The Breeders a fine follow-up act, and formed The Amps, while her twin sister, and co-Breeders member, cleaned up from a messy drug dependency. But “quietLoudquiet” caught up with Kim Deal at her lowest point. Now she was rehabilitating from drug addiction and living with her parents in Dayton, Ohio. When she agreed to get on the Pixies reunion tour her parents seemed skeptical but were happy she finally found something to get her out of the house and away from her obsessive origami work. Kim brought on Kelly as the responsible adult to accompany her on tour and keep her safe and clean. Kelly brought her camcorder along (and had many a Pixies fan confuse her for her twin sister). Kim Deal, and the rest of the Pixies, seemed shattered after the group disbanded. Drugs and financial woes plagued all of them. When she picked up the bass guitar again and her fingers bled and blistered, it was like she didn’t even recognize the songs that her fans know by heart. It was a fine portrait about the miracle of music - of four strangers getting together to make classic rock songs and albums they can never recreate when separate, although they are sure they don’t need each other to thrive (and that each one is in fact a burden) - but also the tragedy of success (even cult status success, and not Millionaire Club success, as was the case with The Pixies). It also shows how artists are sometimes the last to know their true worth.

Yesterday in Tel Aviv, Kim and Kelly Deal - aka The Breeders - took the stage in the tiny Zappa Club, and banged out a giggly punk-rock act that was messy and deranged but oozed of fun and energy. You could tell that the two come alive on stage, and get their kicks there. Now Kim was again in her “responsible adult” role, taking charge of the show. They also have quite the collection of the perfect 2 minute post-pop-punk songs, for some they can’t still get their guitar chords quite right. But nonetheless it was a great and loud and fun and exciting two hours, with a band I used to love, and recently - with Mountain Battles, their fine something-of-a-comeback-from-a-comeback album - rediscovered with great joy.

Here’s a murky cell-phone shot I took yesterday:

Kim and Kelly Deal: The Breeders, yesterday in Tel Aviv

And here is the set list they played (except for “Regalame Este Noche” which they skipped on the second encore):