ALMOST HUMAN - Ok its a Police Procedural, but god is in the details...or is it the ghost in the machine?

I like to think that I don’t “do” police procedurals. But over the last couple years I’ve been sucked into a couple of shows that play in that sandbox, just on the crusty edges where dogs have crapped and such. Plus, I grew up on the X-Files, the original cop/sci-fi crossover that set the stage, the bar, and the rankings for all the hard science fiction like Battlestar and LOST that made it to prime time in the 2000’s. So while I definitely don’t go in for the Sunglasses and opening credits tracked to The Who, I’ve seen every episode of The Shield, I’m good with Elementary and love the BBC counterpart Sherlock, I enjoyed 2012’s psychological cop thing “Awake” and I’d follow the Winchester boys to hell and back…have done so a few times, on Supernatural. Of course way out on the Fringe, there's Fringe.

   So first lets judge a book by its cover. Besides the sci-fi circumstance I was drawn to this show based largely on the productions credits. Created by J.H. Wyman of Fringe and Executive Produced by JJ Abrams and Bryan Burke, both of LOST. JJ also EP'd Fringe and he and Burkeboth have worked together in the Star Trek franchise, where the lead role for Almost Human was plucked from in the form of Karl Urban. I’m sure comparing notes for the rest of the crew listings would reveal several congruencies between JJ’s past projects and AH.

   I’m a strong believer that the best science fiction is predicated on the tackling of universal questions about the human condition, and to that end to be perfectly honest the jury is still out for Almost Human. But they’ve laid some pretty decent groundwork. Male lead Detective John Kennex (played by Urban who brings a touch of his Star Trek “Bones” in his sarcasm, but more subdued overall) has some questions for his higher power, having recently been majorly betrayed by his girlfriend - not just romantically, having been robbed of his girlfriend and similarly robbed of his right leg, both of which have been replaced by robotics, which is where the drama begins. Kennex must learn to put the utmost faith in machines he’s never trusted as they now make up not only part of his team, but part of his body. This is a fairly classic motif so from a strictly dramatic standpoint the writers aren’t breaking any ground (of the 4 episodes, 2 screenwriters hail directly from Fringe). AH owes a lot to the speculative fiction of Isaac Asimov particularly as it pertains to robots and how they interact with - or react to -  human beings. To date, the show hasn’t really gone hard down this road yet, but the Foundation is there (see what I did there? Isaac Asimov? Foundation…?)

   JJ’s projects have never been about entirely new concepts though, it’s how these concepts are unfolded to reveal new dynamics in the “human condition” conversation that have always made his projects so amazing. Conceptually, L O S T really begins the same way as Gilligan’s Island, but the voyage of Jack Shepherd, Kate Austen and James Ford touched L O S T’s fan base in a way most people weren’t prepared for when they casually began watching, right from the first episode.  This is where JJ’s touch seems to become so midas-like. Even in Fringe, by all accounts a much more rigid story and group of characters, I found an affinity for Peter Bishop who was portrayed by Josh Jackson - famously Pacey of Dawson’s Creek, an actor I really never thought would be able to evoke an emotional response from me.

So when Abrams is Producing or even EP-ing a project, I’ll always make time to put in the effort because the payoff is usually worth it. With the right elements in place, and they seem to be here, there is the potential for something special to happen.

   Almost Human hasn’t hauled me in full-blown after the first episode in the way LOST did. But I’m inspired to give it time because the sci-fi nerd in me, the part that likes science fiction not just for the exploration of the human condition, but for the gadgets and the gear, the showcasing of the tech that I’m always hoping is just around the corner in real life, that part of me has found a new favorite hour of television. Almost Human pays attention to the details; When Detective Kennex and his android partner Dorian walk through the door of a facility on the way to the scene of a new homicide case we see trailing behind them that the door has registered their identities via built-in hardware systems with floating holographic displays. The communications signal jamming system used by the law enforcement agents radiates a cool visual pulse (in a way that a real signal jamming device almost certainly would not, but it looks cool) - and they do this right, achieving the elusive "lived-in" feel that made Star Wars so amazing by not drawing attention to these details (the way I do) and allowing the story to flow around them. So often science fiction fails when the tech is written into the story. You can’t make the gadgets cool by having the characters talk about them, it has to be about how cool the gadgets are because the characters DON’T talk about them. The story will flow from there. 

   Caveat: If the gadget is the Millennium Falcon, it’s ok to write it into the story….what a piece of junk!

   What’s likeable about the world of Almost Human is at least some of the characters. Urban’s Kennex is world-weary and damaged, literally and figuratively. Coming to terms with the replacement of his leg is taking its toll. In this world the android limbs are quite convincing and the casual observer can’t distinguish the difference, but the impact on his body as well as his mind is clearly a large part of this character.

"Wait, did you say I'm a Robot?
 That explains why I was pissing motoroil..."

Urban shrouds Kennex in a veil of sarcasm, but his sharp wit is darkened by the tragedy he’s faced and he can’t hide the grief (the events that took Kennex’s partner and limb appear to take place several months before the pilot episode). Michael Ealy’s Dorian (DRN model Android Officer) is robot who’s type has been mostly decommissioned; they were designed to display a greater level of empathy and “feeling” than their newer models. Ealy plays this role well. The androids are meant to be nearly indistinguishable from the real thing but Dorian’s programming for higher emotion makes for - a more interesting story about a robot - and a more interesting experience in the portrayal. You can see in Ealy a just-under-the-surface tension due to his Pinachio-ic issues. The thinly veiled reference to other forms of prejudice is possibly made more clear by the fact that Ealy is African American, but either way the duo appear to have a level of chemistry that could build well.

   Lili Taylor’s turn as the gruff Police Captain Maldonado, on the other hand, lacks any form of chemistry and her completely generic “ranking-officer” shtick isn’t made any more palatable by the fact that she tones it down it bit. She’s still just going through motions. Mackenzie Crook, known for his supporting role as half of the bumbling deckhand duo from the Pirates of The Caribbean franchise also doesn’t make any Emmy plays as the technician who acts as a buffer between Kennex and Dorian. His role is essentially an expository one - simply making sure we understand any details of Dorian’s function we’re too dumb to pick up when its laid out in the story. I know he has chops but they’re not on display here. He’s timid but not in an endearing way. Then again, we’re only 4 episodes in and since most of the development has been between Kennex and Dorian, with a little luck he’ll find a way.

   End of the day, my nerd horns went up after the first half-hour of the pilot and they haven’t gone down. There is a lot of possibility here and essentially it remains to be seen if the writers will flesh it out properly. Given the chance, Karl Urban and Michael Ealy could make a memorable partnership as they have the right amount of cool, wit and gunplay to please standard issue action-jocks and the sic-fi backdrop coupled with enough tech wizardry to keep the Star Trek set tuning in or at least DVRing. If history has set any precedent it could be worth the wait to stick this out for the first season as JJ Abrams teams often really rev it up in the second season. But in today’s on-demand world here’s hoping FOX will have the patience. As for me, I’m in it for the haul. I’m not a big fan of Monday Night Football anyway.

The PUB gives a Venue - and a Voice back to Amherst Music Scene

The first Sunday in October was overcast with the type of constant drizzle that outlasts the stamina of most folks and by nightfall a serious damp had crept into the atmosphere, turning the prematurely fallen leaves into mounds of asthma-inducing clutter. The Patriots had sustained their first loss of the season and many folks had already retired to the warmth of their dens, couches and favorite chairs to escape into Sunday Night football. But a steady flow of patron’s into downtown Amherst’s longtime mainstay latenight bar, The Pub, didn’t seem to notice the foul weather or foul mood of New Englanders across the area.

Fans check out Outer Stylie

            If it was a bad night for live music, someone forget to tell Nate Martel, a local axe-shredder and live music promoter known for his psychedelic wall of guitar noise. Martel was leading the band on stage as well as the hopes of the audience, and his efforts were not going without reward. Having wrapped on a longtime stint as the leader of a Sunday night open mic at Sunderland’s “Snowzee’s”, Nate and compatriot bass player Tom Shack had scoured the area for a new venue to bring their inherited Sunday night crew. Just another in a long line of casualties in the war on live music in the Pioneer Valley, the ownership at Snowzees had recently changed hands. With the changing of the guard, the lights went down on Martel’s long-standing showcase.

            But AJ Jolley, owner and general manager of The Pub, had recently parlayed with Martel and Shack and with the mutual goal of providing the local music scene with a positive and regular outlet, they agreed to revive the Sunday Night affair on a long-term basis in a new location.

            “There’s just nowhere to play in Amherst,” AJ opined as the band was running through its first jam of the evening.

            “I just want to show people that live music can work in Amherst, and we think we have the right place to get it off the ground.”

            He isn’t wrong. On either account. Amherst-based musicians have struggled for many years to implement a thriving showcase in any number of local would-be venues. But often town bylaws calling for low decibels after certain hours, along with other declarations of minutia from Town Hall and the Zoning Board have made it extremely difficult for venues to keep a consistent schedule of live local music. The difficulties plaguing Amherst’s local music scene have been well documented. In the 2000’s, Amherst Brewing Company carried a live music calendar for some time but eventually even ABC was forced to pull the plug as dwindling attendance and constant heckling from town administration made it hard to afford and more trouble than it was worth.

           

            Nate Martel and Tom Shack’s lineup tonight is a stripped down version of their psychedelic blues and hard driven, up tempo rock outfit Outer Stylie. And at this point, they’ve both become a constant presence in the local music scene. Finding a place to perform on a consistent basis is a blessing and one they hope will start to spotlight once and for all the power of live music in the Amherst area.

            As more local music fans began to pile onto the Pub’s central dancefloor, the band responded by bringing more musicians to the stage. First Tuba player Jay Witbeck and Guitar aficionado Dan Thomas of Primate Fiasco and then elusive saxophone player Bob Moriarty joined the group. Upon taking a break, Martel announced Wildcat O’Halloran would be sitting in with his band’s next set. It became quickly evident that fans have been clamoring for a local spot to showcase the music scene. And by all appearances, the Pub will be filling this void nicely.

Local Music Fans show their support

            The battle for local artists not only to find venues but all manner of distribution outlets for their sounds and scene has been a struggle for several decades now. The five college area, seemingly so conducive to the idea of live music venues, has been plagued by false starts and predictable failures over the past 20 years. In 2012 a proposed music venue in the Hampshire Mall was dead on arrival. Hadley, well known to be more accommodating to new business ventures, seemed ready to take on the addition and Hampshire Mall officials were on board as well, but an 11^th hour loss of funding caused the management group to crumble and effort faded. The Quarters, another Hadley-based venture has appeared to be on the verge of opening a vintage video arcade/ bar and grill which has long promised live music to a be a large part of their vision, but their Facebook page has published a number of pushed back opening dates and the doors remain locked. The result is that talented musicians have been forced to take their show on the road, causing Amherst and the surrounding towns to lose out on the economic stimulus, tax revenue and third party vendor sales associated with the operation of a fully functioning rock club.

            For now, with bands like Outer Stylie and the highbrow funk and R&B sounds of  Full Spectrum Dominance, a group that features Darby Wolf of the successful nationally touring dance-rock troupe Rubblebucket and Ryan Hommel of the Grammy-Winning Seth Glier Band, The Pub is poised to be the shield for the local music scene whose heritage continues to be undervalued by those unwilling to take a closer look- or listen. And for the musicians in the area, it’s a welcome port in the ongoing storm.

             

In Studio

I'm rolling with Groove Shoes, 413 up and coming jam band du jour. I've been working hard the last few months to help hammer home the fact that the new AMHERST BREWING COMPANY is now the valley's newest music venue featuring the best rock, jazz reggae and other fine genres the valley has to offer. Groove Shoes brought the het to ABC the second week of November and having holed up for the last few months in the workshed GS is ready to hit the stage again this Saturday February 4th. Be there at 10pm with funk boots laced high...

PREP TIME-PREP TEAM?

I'm getting ready to completely transform this blog to a 413 music scene-Zine. I'm also gonna use this as a notebook for my ongoing Senegal-America hip hop touring and recording project. Currently I have 9 finished tracks towards the MIXTAPE and I'm lookin or at least 3 MCS to contribute 16 bars... Local MCs take note! This may be a platform for liftoff...

My current projected date for the TOUR side o this project is April 2013. A huge portion of making this happen involves the visa-obtainment process. Additionally I need to drum up support and interest in the college programming community, and hopefully in the established independent hip hop scene on both coasts. This project should appeal to artists from all hip hop sungenres so I hoping to gain some notice going forward.
That's my info-dump for the moment..
Oh yeah, Saturday was te first monthly REGGAE NIGHT at Amherst Brewing Company and it was a huge success.. If you are a local band and you think you got a skill set then get.at.me. I'm booking every saturday night going forward so let's talk.

Nibfib: Re-Revenging This Fall!!

I've been working on some posters. I love doing this. I have the best time cobbling images together pretending I have some kind of design sense but honestly not quite as much fun as I have playing music. So this is doubly cool. NBFB will be performing at the all-new Amherst Brewing Company on Wednesday October 23rd, the night before thanksgiving. Its gonna be a good time. Ill probably make a couple more posters in the mean time. Make sure you got new laces in your funk boots.

OK..FEBRUARY IS ALMOST DONE... LETS GET SOME MUSIC REVIEWS IN

F Me…. I really wanted to make sure I posted something of significance, grammatical competence and mental stimulus every week when I started this blog. Turns out yeah, I admit, it is actually a bit of work to maintain. And pumping out any more than a few paragraphs worth reading? Turns out that can get tedious as well. So I decided I wont try to brain-bomb anyone and I’m not gonna put posts up just to say I put ‘em  up. But I’m gonna try to work as the beat writer and editor of my own brain, that said, this week’s live show review is little late and ended a bit more rushed and scattered than I meant for it to sound. I had high hopes of an epic piece edifying the New Deal and decrying the sorry state of live music from a regional and national touring act standpoint. You’ll just have to take my word for it and assume as I write more about the music I love the voice of my inner journalist will become more and more clear… without further adue

The New Deal Keep it Deep and Live – Pearl St. February 5^th

the New Deal Footwear..Uggs and AF1's..dancin' shoes?

The night of February 5^th was a dark and stormy one. January 2011 was a record-setting month for snowfall in the northeast, and the beginning of February wasn’t proving to be any prettier, although now we had moved to such treachery as ice-rain. Storm drains all across the valley were backing up making even car travel difficult in low-lying areas. I had it in my mind to take this Saturday and make sure I got a chance to see some good live music, but nature and “real jobs” had been conspiring against me for days; I was exhausted after hours of corporate restaurant gruel and the locals who weren’t working didn’t have the stomach to brave the outdoor elements. I had almost resigned myself to the couch with the dog. Luckily for myself a few souls wanted to press their luck and drag me along with them. The phone call came in and it featured a free ticket to Pearl St. to see the New Deal. I couldn’t very well pass up such an opportunity.

            An extra 15 minutes of creep-driving later had me established in the Strong Ave. parking lot and waiting to meet Brendan of IHEG fame at the door to Pearl St. It became immediately clear that we were walking into a hot zone, as an overly intoxicated (and likely underage) patron was being escorted none-too-politely from the premises as we opened the door. This would prove to be the only unpleasant part of the evening as we were to be treated to one of the New Deal’s traditional throwdowns.

Mike Hannigan and Andrea Scobi get down to the sound..

            Before getting too far into describing the nights festivities I need to provide some back story. I’ve been watching the New Deal make their rounds in the North East during the winter months and across the festival circuit during the summer for a solid 8 years. What amazes me about the trio is their ability to come so hard so consistently. I would be hard pressed to recall a performance of theirs that wasn’t a standout excellent show, to say nothing of an unimpressive performance, and more often than not their sets are the most memorable of any given evening or event. During the course of their decade-long tenure, the fully-live and mostly analog electronic-style group has managed to stay under the national radar while remaining at the top of the class of “techno bands” that have sprung up in the wake of groups like the Disco Biscuits (who personally leave a dirty taste in my mouth as pretenders to some sort of crown left in what is generally the vaccum of Phish’s absence.)

            For the uninitiated it is difficult to explain in a way that conveys something as truly excellent as the New Deal’s live performance really is. Suffice to say this. The trio kept Pearl St.’s 650-plus  (very nearly capacity) rocking from jump. There were two extra length sets from the high-powered performers and they even came back for an encore. As previously stated I’ve seen these guys perform already in many venues under different circumstances and to be honest Northampton, MA just isn’t their biggest stage. But they treat the crowd properly and play every song like it just might be their last, taking a full-on dancehall audience from the top of 5^th gear to deeper more introspective house moments but never letting the bet falter and never seeming to forget where they came from.

            I spent the second set observing with a friend of mine whom’s musical tastes run a diverse gamut and who’s girlfriend is no stranger to the Biscuit scene and the dance-band circuit in general. I knew my friend to be open to exploring new genres of music but the New Deal seemed a bit outside of his relatively deep box. After a few songs I could tell that he was an eager new fan, digesting each new hit and tempo change as I watched and bobbed my own head. His quote, which for the layman really could sum up the night: “I’m definitely a fan.”

            Sidenote: I’m too old for festy-games, glowsticks, crystals and the like. Said friend’s date and her crew of rabble-rousers were all for the traditional wardrobe modifications and dancing accessories. Just not my thing. I was amused, however, when a cute young dancing mistress likely from UMass campus 8 or 9 miles away approached me and handed me a note. I was a bit taken aback immediately since I hadn’t been handed a note in this fashion since around 8^th grade. When I opened the paper the hand-scrawl, in red pencil, read,” Keep it Going…”

Andrea Scobi and PNC...

            I complied and continued to get lost in auditory hallucinogen of the Jamie Shield’s weirdly animalistic and alive-sounding manipulations of the Moog Prodigy… This is music I can get behind and on a winter night in February when rain, sleet, flooding and darkness threaten to engulf existence it is a good feeling knowing that somewhere out there in the darkness the New Deal are getting people warm and hopefully helping them to pump their fists in unison and dance just a little bit longer.

    the New Deal (lower case "the" intentional) do not tour continuously. Hailing from Toronto they have a tendency to string 6-8 dates together 4 or 5 times a year the have a northeast-centric route map. If you are in Boston or New York you can usually catch them and they often mix in places like Providence, Burlington, Hartford and Philadelphia for these runs. In the summer months they stay busy as previously stated, occupying space on the festival circuits. I think it is somewhat extraordinary that they have maintained such an exact science and placement within the touring act hieracrchy for such a long period of time....never quite hitting that benchmark that forces them into 5,000 seat rooms but having no problems hitting a place like Pearl St. in Northampton 4 or 5 times a year and selling 600 plus tickets each time. Bands of that caliber with such a  strong stage presence and seemingly unlimited desire and ability to keep the energy of the crowd up (not to mention their own) night after night are few and far between in this day and age. Whether you dip your toes in the "jam band" end of the pool (dirty words in some circles, I know) or subscribe to a more beat-oriented philosophy I highly recommend checking out the New Deal the next time they stop through your hood. It will instantly become the story of the "last time you had this much fun" likely holding you down until you inevitably check them out again...

Next up reports on Alan Evans, Alecia Chakour, Darby Wolf and how that nonsense all ties together...

-Bob

crumby DROID photos are 5 megapixel but I was having difficulties with the flash... I actually think for the scenario they could be worse. I really just wanted to make sure I included the Keep it Going shot, but what the heck..