This past weekend I made my first trip to New York City.  Fantastic.  Alive. 
  Wet (rained almost every day).  As great of a time as I had, I am still 
not sold that NYC pizza is better than Chicago's, though the real thing is 
better than the NYC style elsewhere.

Anyway, I went to Central Park this past Sunday to see Sparks for the second 
time in my life.  Making the occasion all the better was to get to see a 
show again with Auditeer Sherman Boim, and Sherman radiates a positive vibe, 
making it a perfect scene for a show.  (Also got to meet Auditeer Henry 
Laura, which was cool).

Support band Junior Senior play frothy empty headed party music.  Everything 
from club music to B-52s to The Beatles to Chic was referenced.  The 
soundmix didn't really benefit them, as there wasn't enough bottom.  I 
didn't dislike them, but with out a fat bottom, it just didn't quite work, 
though they may be a good next step for kids currently jonesing on The 
Wiggles.

Moving up pretty close to the stage for Sparks (and the Summerstage area is 
pretty nice -- the place wasn't jammed, but it was about 75-80% full when we 
clambered up near the front).  The band (Ron and Russell Mael, Tammy Glover 
on drums and Dean (forgot his last name, used to be in Faith No More) on 
guitar.  They did the entire LIL' BEETHOVEN album.  The set had a video 
screen in back, which was often flashing different images of Ron.

I was wondering how they would handle performing the densely produced album, 
with its layers of synthesizers, faux strings and overdubbed chorals of 
Russell Mael vocals).  Well, for most songs, they relied on a lot of 
prerecorded stuff.  I guess short of touring with Polyphonic Spree, that's 
the only way they can do it.  This made for a tough mix -- trying to balance 
Russell's live mike in with the taped Russell's in the background.  (On 
"Your Call Is Very Important", I don't think he did any live vocals...)
There were spots where they stripped it down to just Russell with Ron 
accompanying on piano ("I Married Myself" and "Suburban Homeboy").

I wish they could have added more live elements.  But otherwise, I was very 
happy with the performance.  There were lots of little bits of humor (Ron 
wearing extra long fake arms, Ron interacting with video images on the 
screen, during "What Are These Bands So Angry About?", Ron sitting in front 
of Russell holding up a cigarette lighter).  Russell seems to have a lost a 
bit of power off his voice but still has most of his range.

Two songs really killed me -- "My Baby's Taking Home", which consists of the 
title phrase being sung over and over and over and over and over... was even 
better than on the album, and Dean's guitar really helped make the song 
drive.  And the rocker "Ugly Guys With Beautiful Girls" worked splendidly, 
with Ron strolling the stage with a tall blonde on his arm.

After a brief break, the band did a five song encore.  They did "I Predict" 
and "Cool Places", extending each.  The former came off a bit better -- I'm 
not sold on Tammy Glover's drumming, which seemed pretty weak on both "Cool 
Places" and "This Town Ain't Big Enough For the Both of Us" -- the latter 
was a trip to finally see played in person, but, for some reason, the guitar 
at the beginning was a bit tamped down, though that was rectified throughout 
the rest.  They also did two GRATUITOUS SAX songs -- "When I Kiss You I Hear 
Charlie Parker Playing", which is a trifle, IMO, and the finale, "When Do I 
Get To Say My Way", which is one of their best dance songs and sounded 
fantastic.

After all that, and a very enthusiastic reception, Ron took the mike and 
told the fans that it was not the plan to skip playing New York for 20 years 
and how much he truly appreciated the response and said they'd be back soon 
-- as my friend Dave noted, in the aftermath of a show which is so steeped 
in humor (done seriously) and irony and such, it was utterly sincere.  They 
stayed at the merch booth to sign stuff.  (I had gone to a Friday in-store 
at the Greenwich Village Tower -- Ron read lyrics from the new album -- 
weird).

All in all, a good but not great show.  I wish they had a full band.  I 
think that the LIL' BEETHOVEN show will translate better to an indoor venue 
and I hope it makes it to Chicago (and they also will have more time -- 
curfew forced the shorter second set).

One more note -- caught Les Paul last night at Iridium jazz club -- if you 
have the slightest interest in the man, go, go, go.  Lots of standards, a 
guitarist of impeccable feel, who is funny and has amazing stories -- and he 
looks great for an 88 year old man.

Mike Bennett

Record reviews and more at http://fufkin.com

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