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| Innocence and Intelligence |
| band: Buddy |
| Album: Alterations and Repairs |
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ALTERATIONS, A FEW SMALL REPAIRS,
AND LOCATION IN LOVE AND REAL ESTATE
"Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up." ~ Pablo Picasso
Buddy is a man from Portland, Oregon who played his first concert in Los Angeles at The Hotel Café. This Buddy is a creation that would have been a friend to Opie from The Andy Griffith Show, and might have stuffed a fish in his own back pocket in Mayberry to keep a friend from being embarrassment at his lack of sophistication. I was introduced to "Buddy" by a musician friend who told me to look for the nicest guy in the room. It was Buddy, of course, sitting in a hoody at Bordello. It was Buddy the next night at the same establishment playing a benefit that raised money for the funeral of a colleague's mother. He is a man still capable of blushing at a compliment, and of writing a dark lyric and a hauntingly beautiful song.
The music band Buddy creates is so open hearted that it sounds psychedelic, lyrics dark and strong and sweet so that I can imaging Shawn Colvin's "A Few Small Repairs" when he sings: "Sometimes you waste a life overnight, sometimes you waste a life." The lyrics here are short sharp shocks and words like tiny hammers hurled: Simple lyrics that are as moving as you let them be. "Alterations and Repairs" has that quiet voice with something to say that can end the argument.
In live performance, the album sound is wrong. Buddy makes a few alterations and creates something really wonderful that fits, this time haunting for the lyrics and absolutely explosive in the instrumental performed by Percy Haverson on guitar. When his "all hell breaks loose" emotion cuts in between the haunting vocals, the for of these songs are exposed live. Percy cuts lose on the album for the otherwise quiet song "If We Lived Here" like a moment when the constrained emotional content of the song just erupts and can't be denied. Percy's restraint and his explosiveness are a compelling part of the live Buddy sound, and make even the quiet moments on the CD cut like a band saw through the trees. Buddy's rain dance choreography as he pounds the acoustic during Percy's solos is just as unrestrained.
These lyrics in these songs sting like a pure shot of poetry. They are enough to stand up on the page, and don't have be shouted to hurt and heal. There is tension in this writing that sounds like the voice of reason in a charged situation. A few choice examples: "I don't want to leave. I just want to go." "I want to argue. I want to keep blowing off a little self–estheme." "We don't seem like ourselves anymore. It never really takes a lot to lose you." "Twist the truth until it's not knowing. Blame it for everything… You could blame it for everything… If you want."
Click on the Pic to Visit the Band Website
Buddy's band website has a blog. I could say a bunch about those Buddyesque qualities, but that character is evident on the album and in this excerpt from the "To Sir With Love" entry at the blog on the band site:
"i had my first kiss when i was in the sixth grade. her name was Kristin Jay. we snuck back behind the portable classrooms at the elementary school we attended and, both nervous beyond words, exchanged the most awkwardly innocent, peck-on-the-lips kiss one might give their grandmother. still, it was a first kiss, and so it was quite an exhilarating moment i hadn't before experienced. when school let out that day, kristin's dad came up to me and said "hey, big man, congratulations!" and shook my hand. evidently, kristin had shared the news with him. i thought his reaction was a little creepy at the time, but looking back, i think he just thought it was cute. however, he decided to share the 'good news' with my mom, who had a different reaction. As soon as i joyfully hopped into her toyota wagon, i was informed i was grounded and told that i was far too young to be engaging in such activities."
Most rock and pop is about innocence lost. We grow up and lose it, I've heard. Buddy has grown up. He hasn't. The intelligent innocence on this album sounds like something else. Like wisdom. And it hurts the way it has to.
I've taken a week listening to this album, and that's just an indulgent long time. These songs are simple, consistently, and expansive as any poem. I recommend listening this time. Listen and write the song by song in your own way. Write it in your day by day and you will be Buddy.
CLICK ON THE PIC TO VISIT BUDDY'S MYSPACE
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