Toog

The Le Grand Magistery caravan hit Chicago on a fiercely competitive night, but despite performances by such luminaries as Sloan, Brokeback and West Bam at other venues, Mr. Currie and his friends managed to draw a lively crowd to Wicker Park's Double Door.

For a while, things were touch and go. A film crew had set themselves up inside the venue, and their bright lights and intrusive equipment threatened to draw attention away from the show... Fortunately, as 10:00 p.m. drew closer, they packed their gear and left.

First up: Momus accompanist Gilles Weinzaepflen, aka Toog. Typically, Toog comes across as a sort of low-rent Serge Gainsbourg, trampling through a series of minimalist cabaret tunes with seedy grandeur and indecipherable French. Because his songs are in French, Toog typically spends several minutes before each song explaining it in passable English. So why not sing in English? Toog appears to have come to this realization as well, performing three songs in English, including the distinctly Americanized "Jackalope". Toog's performance style appears to have improved; while last year's opening slot at the Empty Bottle was pretty excruciating, his music and stage presence have gone up a notch, quality-wise, and I found him quite entertaining.

Kahimi Karie and Momus

Next in line was diminutive international pop starlet Kahimi Karie. Since many of Kahimi's songs, including several on her new CD, K.K.K.K.K., were written by Momus, it was only to be expected that Momus would take the stage with her, helping to churn out tunes like "1000 20th Century Chairs," "David Hamilton" and "Good Morning World". Tiny and childlike, Karie has a disarming stage presence -- though, truth to tell, she doesn't actually do much. She sits down to sing -- which may seem intimate to some, but will undoubtedly be perceived as lazy by others. Due to the stripped-down nature of the tour -- i.e. Momus and a sequencer providing all of the music -- some of the impact of Karie's music was lost; if she didn't catch your attention immediately, she probably never did...which was odd, considering that Kahimi held the Empty Bottle crowd spellbound in very similar circumstances last year. In a larger venue, on a larger stage, she seems lost -- swallowed up, perhaps. Most of the audience was fascinated, but those at the back of the house found little reason to press forward.

With a vast catalogue of songs, an energetic stage persona and a penchant for lewd subject matter, cycloptic raconteur Momus can entertain an audience of any size (as long as they're not members of the clergy).

Momus

Not surprisingly, Momus' current CD, the patronage "concept" album Stars Forever, got lots of play. The songs on Stars Forever were sold, for $1000 each, as musical "portraits", with the money going to cover legal costs associated with a certain song on Momus' last album. In addition to performing songs for a few of the "portrait sitters" in the audience -- cartoonist Adam Green and record label Minty Fresh, as well as a marriage proposal song -- Momus extended the concept, creating song portraits for selected audience members for $10.

The first of these, in which Momus attempted to "paint" hyperactive audience-member Camilla, was a terrifying demonstration of the dangers of involving extroverted people in Audience Participation bits. Camilla first groaned in mock-horror at her portrait, then was induced to create her own song about Momus in return (did he give her $10 for the favor? I couldn't see), leaving the normally unflappable Momus...well...flapped.

Momus and Camilla

The second portrait subject?

Momus and Cynthia Plaster-Caster

Chicago's adopted-celeb Cynthia Plaster-Caster, known since the sixties for her plaster effigies of rock stars'...erm...credentials. With faux-beatbox backup from a portrait-hopeful audience member, Momus spun a tale rooted in rock history, liberally borrowing hooks and lyrics from other songs. He might create songs on the fly, but Mr. Currie is no freestyler -- like most of us, he's at his cleverest when given plenty of time to prepare, and his off-the-cuff material is hit and miss at best. He scores major points, however, simply for being willing to give it a whack.

There may well have been more portraits, but the pain-killer haze from my root canal the previous morning was making it clear that I'd have to take my leave of Momus and friends a little early. Otherwise, I'm sure I could have watched Momus' antics for another hour.

George Zahora is Splendid's Editor. He really did have a root canal last week; it was that or get a lobotomy and review the new issue of Buddyhead.