Playing The Nerd Circuit
| I've just embarked upon the geekiest endeavor of my life. While by all appearances and social graces I'm a geek, I've rarely engaged in the pursuits or obsessions that are required of geek culture. I find 99% of sci-fi dull, tedious and silly. I don't play computer or video games. I'm functionally retarded when it comes to math or science, the prospect of spending time playing Dungeons & Dragons fills me with despair, and I simply don't understand the appeal of Dr. Who. So it has come as a surprise, to even me, that I find myself participating in a rock opera based on the David Lynch movie Dune. It's true that I've involved myself in other David Lynch themed events, and that they've also involved my Bro-in-Low Ken. For some reason there is an active community of David Lynch geeks in Baltimore and there are unofficial Lynch-themed "conventions" two or sometimes even three times a year. In the most recent event a few months back, I played bass in a one-off band with Ken and two friends called Chug-a-Lug Donna. Not much was required of me beyond playing a single note over a single song for close to forty minutes while drinking Wild Turkey and eating powdered donuts. The false mustache and Dollar Store cowboy hat did little to preserve my dignity as they kept falling off during the performance, but the Wild Turkey insured that I just didn't give a fuck. So Ken and our friend Nate had been doing this geek vaudevillian Dune rock opera thing called Bene Gesserit Witch for awhile now as a duo. They enlisted their friend Dale to help them record their songs. Dale is one of those guys who can play every instrument and has a lot of expensive gear and recording equipment. They set up a little studio at Ken's and recorded fourteen songs. Dale plays drums, bass and lead guitar and he's jaw-droppingly good. So now Ken wants to put a full band together and has asked me to play bass. Since Killjoy Circuit broke up I've been Jonesing to play so I quickly agreed. Now I consider myself a David Lynch fan, but found Dune to be completely incoherent and pompous. I sat through thirty-minutes of it before my mind turned to jelly. Now I'm learning songs with titles such as; "Thufir Hawat, Mentat Master," "I'm A Gurney Halleck," and my personal favorite "Ride The Worm." I find the lyrics equally perplexing. The only saving grace is that it's all tongue-in-cheek. Musically it's all over the place and way over the top, which makes it fun to play. The other guys in the band (Ken- vocals & guitar, Nate - vocals, Dale - drums, and Dave - guitar) are friends whom I've known for awhile, so that's a plus. Ken's master plan for Bene Gesserit Witch is to play the geek circuit, aka sci-fi conventions. I've never been to one of these and am looking at it as an anthropological experience. Stay tuned. |
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Comments (1)
dr. who is dangerous. too much of it is just too much!