Electric Cafe!

All right, New Wavers! Pop Quiz Time!!

Pictured below is...

A) A Korean-produced knock off of The Blue Man Group

B) "Tron Live!" The latest Disney remake on Broadway; directed by Albert Pyun, with choreography by Twyla Tharp.

C) A new group of Qwest customer service reps helping subscribers jack into The Matrix.

D) The seminal electronic music group, Kraftwerk

If you spent your youth listening to the electro stylings of Depeche Mode or Front 242, or raving to Moby on the stage at Rock Island with a whistle pursed between your lips, or you're a coke-snorting gangster from a mid-80's movie scored by Georgio Morodor, you better answer "D", or risk getting punched in the back of the head by the pop music Illuminati.

On Wednesday night, thanks to fellow blogger (and now friend-4-eva*) Brando, I got to see Kraftwerk perform at the Filmore Auditorium, in one of only 3 U.S. appearances (!)




(though their android doubles will likely continue on until the last Twinkie on earth goes stale)

There weren't any heavily choreographed dance numbers, or spontaneous, free-form jazz saxophone solos... but - sporting a production design inspired by the database at my work, the German post-fab four rocked out the Power Point presentation like NONE OTHER!

(I concur with Ricardo Baca from the Denver Post; part of the fun was trying to figure out when they were actually playing, and when they were downloading the music directly from Limewire and checking their email.)

Now, I was always a clubber, more than a concert goer (which probably has a lot to do with the music I listen to) but I felt right at home, with just my tentative knowledge of the band's music, gleaned from watching Dieter on Sprockets and Turbo's Fred Astaire-inspired dance from Breakin'. Plus, some of my favorite bands of all time worship at the altar of Kraftwerk. But who cracks me up are the concert-heads, the poor souls who never got over Jerry Garcia’s death, who are just looking for another band to groupie-up to. I mean, not that you have to look like a prisoner of the Phantom Zone to go to a Kraftwerk show (kudos, though, go to the 7 foot dude in fetish gear and scuba mask) but watching these cats do the rhythm-less jellyfish out on the peripherals of the stage felt like watching a bunch of Klingons storm the set of Logan’s Run.

Speaking of robots, and computers, and "networking" (clumsy, lumbering segue, there) I’ve been trying to expand my social and professional circle lately - doing things like meeting up w/ people I hardly know at concerts and such: I'm happy to say that it's paying off handily. As such, I'm currently hard at work on a comic book with a really fantastic artist I interviewed for the A.V. Club last year. So, next time you're thinking I'm just slacking off on my blog, keep that in mind.

'Cause, y'know, I may be busy slacking on that comic book, as well. I only have so much free time to slack. Jeez.


*Contrary to what some of our fellow concert goers thought, we are just friends. Seriously. **

**But he does have great hair, and a very nice smile. Just sayin'. ***

*** NOW STOP THAT!