Fjodor and Zechs Marquise @ NKC Park 10Nov2012

As I entered NKC park Fjodor were just beggining to play and I was immediately captured with their stunning display of ability.

Wonderful stuff.

Their music is clearly propelled by drums and the guy playing them was all just one flexible muscle, in shorts, full of energy and already dripping wet. Sound was not too loud and it was cristal clear, vibrant and refreshing and beautiful.  Bass was communicating with the audience and guitarist played impressively fast changing chords with lightning speed and with exquisite audio-results. I just stood there in front of the stage, my jaw hanging open, transfixed and overjoyed through their set. I liked how they communicated with each other and I loved how they looked happy and surprised by audience reception. Can't wait the album that they announced and I'm really looking forward to seeing them play again soon.

After some rearranging, Zechs Marquise assumed positions:

The thing with me and Zechs Marquise music is simple.

They were introduced to me by a friend when their Getting Paid album just got out. This is firm rock stuff, King Crimsony melodic figures and psychodelic overtures envoking kind of lust for life, joie de vivre, unleashed passion urging scenes and feelings Hunter Thompson could think of and peruse. When I listen to it I am overrun with desire and kind of fine nostalgia of times passed, times containing unsafe sex, smoking and illicit substances. Later on, I got their earlier album Our Delicate Stranded Nightmare (2008.) which is more ambiental and wonderfully theatrical and instead of  producing sense of dissapointment (as it wasn't similar to Getting Paid) it just made perfect sense. Where they're coming from and what are they coming towards. And I hardly waited (lusted, actually) to see how it will sound like live.

It was great.

As they performed songs from both albums it also made perfect sense live. Sound was really good and audience attentive so all the parts, even ambiance sounds and odd pings, were audible. Guys were in good spirits and talkative and I was impressed with how fresh they seemed in the light of their busy itinerary (I suspect I would be less than perky if I woke up every day in another country and had a gig to perform every night). There were oodles of couples in the audience and people danced, Saturday night was imbued with festive feeling, even Mate Škugor danced and had good time and didn't dedicate whole evening just to control if everything is running smoothly.

Yet smoothly it ran. And it was great.
After the show I scuttled absent-mindedly through Park Ribnjak and into my car followed by my ferverous nostalgia. Bubbling cauldron of x-rated ideas bubbled away happily in my mind.

Family Affair - The Revival Tour 2012 @Mocvara 06Nov2012

Most people, even the ones that surmise to know me well, I do not strike as a familial person that values much bonds of biological connectedness and for most of the concept those people are right.

Family is not blood bond. Family is love bond.

Even my brother, about which I most of the time feel only mild contempt, is a person I fiercely fight with and whose opinion I take into consideration even when it is polar opposite of my own. We grew up together, laughed together, cried together, broke each other's noses, ended one another's relationships, spat on one another's values and in the end we always found it in one's self to say things as they are and have a cup of coffee together afterwards. It is a demanding, turbulent love that never ceases to expand the borders of our tolerance and it is a love that gives the greatest gift of all - certainty that there will always, no matter what I do or what life will bring, always there will be that person in my corner giving me support and cheering me on.

That is what I mean saying that "family is a love bond"...

... and that is what Chuck Ragan's music speaks to me.

I could hardly wait his Revival Tour to come to Zagreb and now I've seen them play I can only say I wish I knew more musicians like that. More people like that.

They started as a family - all together on stage, sharing goodwill and good music with one another and with us:

And they continued to play, coming into spotlight one by one, communicating and supporting and performing.

I especially liked Cory Branan who proved to be excellent storyteller in live performance. He is so cute; with wavy hair and big blue eyes and yet so expressive and explicit  it was wonderful to see that discrepancy in action.

As you can see, Ginsberg lost his mustache (I was shocked for a minute or twenty - he looks great with them I was perplexed why he'd give them up).

Emily Barker is so beautiful none of the promo pictures give her justice and also has exquisite voice. As I usualy dislike female vocals and can bear only few of them this fondness surprised even me.

Jay sang some king of sailor song that I cannot remember the name of for the life of me but that was really great...

... and as there were so many of them and they just played one after another without pause it was a bit much for Tuesday after work. Nevertheless, the music was great and the feeling of camaraderie warm and persuasive.

They even bonded with one of the audience as our ambassador of goodwill:

Great, heartwarming performance and emotion-stirring experience.

Chuck Ragan has a tatoo "Forever Family".