Solar Energy, Nikola Tesla, Feminism: Prom Night With Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark

The Band

Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark is a band comprised of Andy McCluskey and Paul Humphreys. As a pair, they look like they could have starred in 1980's Merchant-Ivory films or 'Chariots Of Fire'. 

 

In reality, they are actually associated with one very iconic John Hughes film. I had the great fortune to see their songs performed live recently. It's difficult to focus on any one aspect of their journey. OMD has a legacy of mastering pure electro-pop, and they remain true to their sound. So let's begin with where they are TODAY. They released an album in 2013 called 'English Electric'.

OMD's English Electric album

This new release by OMD is solid. Check out OMD's latest video for the song 'Metroland' (it's an adorable video.)

From the lengthy (when non-acronymed) name of the band, to each melody and lyric they've put forth, this is a duo that doesn't cut corners. If they do something, they will do it right. Scientifically so. And as I witnessed recently, when they perform they give everything they can to make that song everything it can be. 

It's not about over-performing for the sake of personal gain, and it's not about selfish absorption of energy from their loving audience. It's about the output of energy (at just the right level) to make each song function at its most optimal, propelled by the current that runs from the band to the audience and back again. Electricity in its purest form, still. And they clearly loved that energy as much as we, the audience, did.

Electricity (and Solar Energy)

What has always attracted me to their songs and lyrics has been a sense of sweetness and intelligence. And their passion for science is always evident, as in one of my favorite conclusions to any song –– in 'Electricity':

The alternative is only one

The final source of energy 

Solar electricity!

I've been a solar energy advocate for most of my life. My father worked for a solar power company for several years in the late-80s. Our home in Portland, Oregon functioned on solar energy without a single hitch. It was very much a a solution, even back then. Even in a city and state known for being cloudy for much of the year. The sun is strong enough to power every place on Earth easily, and completely. We all know that, or should. But yes. OMD proposed the use of solar power via their song's lyrics in 1979...!

Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark are essentially forward thinking futurists like their hero Nikola Tesla. Which brings me to 'Tesla Girls', a song they released in 1984. 

Nikola Tesla (and Tesla Girls)

'No! No! No!' 'Tesla Girls' is not just a means to pay homage to their hero, famed electrical engineer and futurist Nikola Tesla, a man greatly responsible for the use of electricity as we've known it; the song gives pause to appreciate smart girls. 

Nikola Tesla

This is a band who announced to the world that they appreciated women for their brains. (Imagine that...! :)) Aside from the more obvious reference suggested by 'Tesla Girls', that certain women having a magnetism similar to electricity––and that attraction being tough for a man in love to understand––these are men who were so ahead in their thinking they resolved to admire what so many scientists have long suggested: that women tend to be smarter than men. OMD embraced that idea instead of hiding from it. So, yes. 'Tesla Girls' is a feminist song by a group of men in the 1980's.

Tesla girls, Tesla girls

Testing out theories

Electric chairs and dynamos

Dressed to kill, they're killing me

But Heaven knows their recipe

(No No No)

You wouldn't believe me if I said

The things I've seen went over my head

I've been patient Heaven knows

I've learnt the rules and how it goes

I can't sit still or settle down

And when I walk I don't touch the ground

See those girls they're heaven blessed

I guess it's so they know best

Tesla girls, Tesla girls

Writing in their diaries

Now and then they'll watch TV

Now and then they'll speak to me

But Heaven knows their recipe

The Show

A lifetime of loving Orchestral Maneouvres in the Dark did not prepare me for how much I would enjoy their recent live performance at San Francisco's Regency Ballroom on April 12, 2013. I was looking forward to the show and didn't want to set my expectations too high. And then the actual experience exceeded all of my expectations. Here's a photo of me at the end of the show (lingering after the majority of people had filed out) feeling moved by the glory of synth-pop I'd just witnessed.

This is how it went: the crowd that gathered at the Regency Ballroom kept growing until the place was filled to capacity. It was a packed house, and I'd never seen the popular venue as crowded. Everyone was smiling, happy to be there. People were genuinely being nice to one another. Multiple strangers complimented me on my jacket, and my iPhone cover––fittingly, an 80's 'cassette tape' one (pictured below.) People in attendance were being friendly for no apparent reason. 

My cassette phone cover

I realized that people who love this band are just sweet people. Because O.M.D. is what one would call a 'nice' band, and that's a wonderful thing to be. I also had this tremendous sense of 80's nostalgia as I looked around, despite the fact that the audience age-range was broader (and younger) than one would expect for an original 80's electro-pop band. But that's just it: 80's electro-pop still sounds exciting and this style of music gains new fans every day. There was so much vibrant energy, everywhere! Reminding me again of the very band we were waiting to see and their super-fast song 'Electricity'. I made a bet they'd close the show with that one, and I was right.

If You Leave

I also knew the band has a funny love-hate relationship with arguably their biggest hit: 'If You Leave'. Before breaking out into his fantastic 80's style dancing when the music begins, Andy McCluskey amusingly said at another recent show: 'We don't normally play this song but we will for you tonight. It's a song that ruined our careers. We were doing great as an alternative band 'til we wrote this... [music begins] It's still fucking great, mind you!' See that great performance below.

I was interested to see how they'd introduce the big song at the Regency Ballroom. I could tell everyone present was a dedicated fan like myself, people who know and love the entire oeuvre of The Manoeuvres. Not just one big song from that one soundtrack, made especially popular by the prom night romance of that epic love triangle of Andie, Duckie and 'Blaine? His name is Blaine? That's not a name, that's a major appliance!' 

Prom Night

As O.M.D. themselves have said, despite (and in large part, because of) everything it represents... "It's still a fucking great song." And that is not a subjective sentiment. It IS a f%#!ing great song. Everyone who breathes will agree in their hearts and minds, even if they wouldn't declare it out loud. Just as it brought odd couple Andie and Blaine together for a kiss, closing out an incredibly poignant and romantic movie, 'If You Leave' is a song that anyone belonging to any clique, group, subculture, or what have you, can agree upon. Because it's a song that fully accomplishes what it sets out to do. It's romantic. When they played it for us, their captive audience, I suddenly realized I'd never before heard as beloved a pop song as that one performed live. It was such an amazing feeling to be in the midst of a roomful of people in a state of euphoria over that song, one that everyone associates to either the memorable romance of 'Pretty In Pink', a prom night fantasy or a reality of their own.

Enola Gay

The show was incredible, packed with all their greatest songs and a few new tunes. Some of my favorites aside from the aforementioned 'Electricity', which closed out the encore as the final song of the night: "Secret', 'Souvenir', 'Enola Gay', Walking On the Milky Way', 'So In Love', 'Joan Of Arc', 'Locomotion', 'Messages'. They played them all. Here's a quick video of 'Enola Gay' from the night that gives some idea of how the show looked and felt.

Tesla Girls

And they also played 'Tesla Girls' that night –– for the first time in a long while, as Andy explained. Lucky us! I'm so glad they did.

Mini-Tour of Alfred Hitchcock's 'Vertigo' Locations

James Stewart in San Francisco for 'Vertigo'

I made a video recently showcasing some of the locations featured in Alfred Hitchcock's 'Vertigo', and the video made its official debut last week on TCM's Movie Morlocks. 

Filming at The Hotel Vertigo

Making this video was geographically sensible... since I live very near these spots! I also figured fans of 'Vertigo' who are not living in San Francisco would enjoy a closer look. 

Hotel Vertigo chair 

My very talented friend and fellow blogger, Kimberly Lindbergs –– of the ultra fabulous Cinebeats –– writes for Movie Morlocks, and she asked me if she could feature the video on TCM's blog once I'd finished it. I wasn't expecting that added incentive, and I didn't anticipate being interviewed about some of my other video adventures. Somehow, it all came together! 

'Vertigo' graphic mirror at The Hotel Vertigo

Here's the mini-tour video :)

For her Movie Morlocks piece, Kimberly even added this photo & we discussed my 'Rear Window' theme from Halloween 2009 :)

'Rear Window' for Halloween

I hope you enjoy the interview and the video. And be sure to check out the other solid & fresh hits on Cinebeats and TCM's Movie Morlocks, if you haven't already.
On Location with Alfred Hitchcock's 'Vertigo'

When Jane Birkin Sang Serge Gainsbourg, via Japan, in San Francisco

The best event of last year, for me, took place on December 2nd, 2011. (It's been a busy year so far, so I'm just posting about it now :)) As a late birthday present from my husband (my birthday is actually Sept. 29) I went to see Jane Birkin performing live & in person in San Francisco. The show was at the Regency Ballroom & it was called 'Serge Gainsbourg and Jane via Japan.' 

Here's the foreword for the show, from her website.

"Why do another tour, another concert? Well, when it was going to be conventional, I too wondered why I was singing Serge again, even if it was celebrating the 20 years after Serge's death, even if it was a very personal 40 years since "Melody Nelson" but what did I have to offer... I'd done it all before, Serge in pop, arabesque, classic quator, 14 musicians, 6 musicians, a harp, a squeeze box, violins... this year others have started, their "Serge" was a new point of view, their interpretations... so I started contemplating, putting it all off...

Then there was the Japanese disaster ... of unbelievable horror, earthquake, tsunami, and then the ghasly news of the nuclear horror...What to do? I have known these people for forty years... "go there" I thought... tell them that back home folk are thinking of them, but get there, "and do what ?" What can I do? ...the only thing I can do... a concert... So this is the immediate result of that concert, Sachiko had fixed up the best Japanese group of musicians in four days! "I'm coming to Tokyo" we were Friday, by Monday I was there... When Gluzman asked if I wanted to do the concerts for Serge in America... I said "yes, BUT with these Japanese musicians. I had found my reason... Here we come... Serge Gainsbourg and Jane via Japan"

I didn't realize how overwhelming it might be for me, seeing Ms. Birkin, (who happens to be the namesake of my cat, Jane, a.k.a. Mary Jane Goodnight -- named for Mary Tyler Moore, Birkin & Bond girl Mary Goodnight) from that close proximity. 

We were lucky enough to be seated in the very front row. The show was beyond anything I could have expected in its tastefulness, simplicity and musicality. The choice of Gainsbourg songs that made the lineup were impeccable. It was a solid and stoic production in every sense. It was easy to feel the profound love and the respect that went into the entire project. Her singing voice has never sounded better. Jane Birkin has aged in a way that one can only aspire to. And she looked natural and gorgeous, a true testament to how a woman can age gracefully and remain true to Her Self. 

It was also a unique experience for me to see one of my personal idols –– in person. And despite the infinite Birkin references in today's media –– her style, the movies, the music, the Hermes bag, her relationship with Gainsbourg –– this was Jane Birkin, a woman who was intriguing long before the general public knew about her. 

Her first marriage was to John Barry, after all, when she was extremely young. I can never understand how that isn't more telling about her natural charms than her relationship and collaborative efforts with Gainsbourg. To be married to (not one, but two of) music's greatest geniuses is a feat not even the most famous women have achieved. Short of seeing someone like Francoise Hardy perform, or to be in the presence of the dearly departed Audrey Hepburn (I've mourned her passing since the day it happened, in 1993), this was the closest I could have been –– or might ever be –– to one of my female idols. I have actually felt this woman's influence on my soul, so I had to hold back tears a great deal throughout the show. 

Prior to the show, I was so excited, anticipating how it would feel to see this living legend, one of my idols, in person.

At the Regency Ballroom, prior to Jane Birkin's performance

When it was over, it took everything I had not to rush over to her so that she could hug me. I felt like she should hug me, not the other way around. Strange but true. And I felt elated.

Then I realized I had developed a headache from the pressure of holding back tears. She was so lovable. The entire room was in love with her. My husband bought tickets for the Jane Birkin show to be nice to me & went along knowing how much it would mean to me... He never expected to enjoy the show as much as he did. I know he didn't expect to feel such adoration for this bubbly, unique woman with her indescribably palpable presence. She still prances and smiles in her special way. She's still the same Jane Birkin she's always been.

I have some great footage from the show and I'll update this post with some clips soon. Meanwhile, here are some photos from the evening –– along with a video I found from a fellow attendee.

Jane Birkin at the Regency Ballroom in San Francisco

Jane Birkin performing in San Francisco