Nov. 24, 2010 - Issue #788 : Wool On Wolves

Revue

Middle finger to the institution

Hard Core Logo: LIVE! has attitude, but lacks emotion

It's fitting that this stage version of Bruce McDonald's cult film (originally based on Michael Turner's book, though the film has made the stronger impression) opens with a film of its own: a piss-take at old nature shorts, this "Punkerland Who's Who" introduces us to our specific beast, the Vancouver punk, a breed whose tamed anger and political involvement separates it from the more established LA, New York and UK varieties. It's a shame though that the film sets the tone for Hard Core Logo: LIVE!, which captures the bratty attitude and snide humour of punk so perfectly, but leaves the gut-level emotion that fuels so much of it under glass, something examined but never properly felt.

The split is typified perfectly by the relationship between the eponymous band's frontmen and its rhythm section. Singer Joe Dick (Michael Scholar Jr) and guitarist Billy Tallent (Telly James) are the heart and soul of both the band and the play: friends and bandmates since childhood, years of toiling away in the punk trenches have left both them and their friendship as ragged as the shitty club that the Roxy stage has been transformed into. Joe is trying to redeem his past self-destructive streak by getting the band back together for a benefit and reunion tour, finally cashing in on their good name; Billy, meanwhile, might already have found some payback, closing in on a gig with an indie band set to blow up.

It's Billy's impending choice—between loyalty to a friend who's already fucked him over or rock-star idols—that provides the tension here, besides also standing in for a wider comment on what was happening in the punk world. But the play has trouble really capturing the personal relationship between Billy and Joe, following too many tangential threads for their story to develop into a proper emotional core. By the time the big choice is made, it feels less like a climax than just another episode in this rather extended—opening night went three hours—series of them.

Luckily for the show, those tangents are roundly engaging, which is where the rhythm section comes in. Bassist John Oxenberger (Clinton Carew, who is perfectly cast) is a spaced-out hippie steadily going crazy without his meds, while drummer Pipefitter (Toby Berner) has a head roughly as full as his kick drum, and the play does a fantastic job of not only strip-mining them for comic relief, but also suggesting the underlying sadness of the fact that the band will forever be about the only thing in their life that even half works out.

As a result, the best moments here are when the band's full dynamic is working itself out, and all these actors can play off each other. There's an easy camaraderie that suggests why they were such a great band to begin with, as well as a mutual destructiveness that shows why they split up. The actual songs aren't quite what they could be—they're great as character pieces, but lose some punk edge in the Roxy's formal confines—but the bits of the boys driving across cold landscapes or stopping for grub have a rhythm that's easy to slip in to.

There is enough here to keep the show engaging for the full running time—Rachel Johnston also does fine work as a chameleon of various band hangers-on, though some (a Nardwuar cameo, an aging, obscure rock god) work better than others (the groupies)—but not so much as to make it linger. And the one thing any breed of punk will want is to make an impression that lasts. V

Until Sun, Dec 5 (8 pm)
Hard Core Logo: Live!
Adapted by Michael Scholar, Jr
Based on the book by Michael Turner, film by Bruce McDonald and screenplay by Noel S Baker
Directed by Bradley Moss
Starring Toby Berner, Clinton Carew, Telly James, Rachael Johnston, Michael Scholar Jr
Roxy Theatre (10708 - 124 st), $23 – $55
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