Jay jay Johanson, CCOP, Porto, 28.04.2023.

© Mondo Bizarre Magazine/Paulo Carmona

 

words: Paulo Carmona (freely translated by Raquel Pinheiro); photos: Paulo Carmona

I didn't even took a flowers bouquet! Damn it!

How could I know I was on my way to a celebration? Neither I nor the others who were there could. No one knew that they were going to a reunion party with an old friend that not seen for a long time.

Well fellows, that is how Jay Jay Johanson sees it. He is probably one of the warmest and most tender solo artists I have ever seen. He celebrates the end of each song with effusive gestures of thanks and love for others.

The set started with Why Wait Until Tomorrow; So Tell the Girls That I'm back in Town and There's no Easy Way to Say Goodbye revealing all its happy, nostalgic and contemplative melancholy. Closed in on himself and leaning on the microphone's tripod from where he enjoys picking up the songs, he walks around the stage, gently, with a slight smile stamped on his face. He plays with his voice, oscillating between dark low tones and midium highs filled with melodies and harmonies.

From trip-hop to electroclash through synth-pop, wiith melodic jazz breezes everywhere, I found myself having sensations only bossa nova can give. Perhaps it was the beautiful cadence of Erik's keyboard sounds, with Jay Jay Johanson's smooth, nostalgic vocals that make this magic. I don't know, but it was the feeling I was left with.

The heat in the CCOP room is such that Jay spares no effort and several times fetches water to offer and cool the audiencec A very elegant and nice gentleman, that's what he is.

She Doesn't Live Here Anymore gets a big ovation. But not the biggest of all. Meanwhile he introduces Erik saying he was once his dance teacher, if you can believe it. Met, of course, with laughter and squeals and happy hooting. The biggest ovation came from Heard Somebody Whistle.

After a short encore Jay Jay returns with a glass of white wine on his hand and makes magic with his voice by singing acappella, just leaning on himself. Brilliant! Someone beside me comments on the fact and lets it out in an emotional tone, that said gentleman has the best of voices.

The concert ends with Jay Jay Johanson greeting everyone who’s there in front of the stage and immediately dives into the middle of the audience and get lost in hugs, kisses and photos. Interestingly, to accompany this session, Frankie's My Way is heard interpreted by Sid Vicious, the legendary bassist of the Sex Pistols, and soon after, Elvis Presley's In the Ghetto. I don't think anyone would be waiting for it. Not even me! Superfun!

© Mondo Bizarre Magazine/Paulo Carmona

texto e fotos: Paulo Carmona

Nem um ramo de flores levei! Ora bolas!

Como saberia eu que ia a caminho de uma celebração? Nem eu, nem os outros que lá estavam. Ninguém sabia que ia para uma festa de reencontro com um amigo de longa data que já ninguém via há muito tempo.

Pois é, meus caros. É assim que Jay Jay Johanson vê a coisa. É provavelmente, um dos artistas a solo, mais calorosos e ternurentos que alguma vez vi. Celebra o final de cada música com gestos efusivos de agradecimento e de amor ao próximo.

O set começou com Why Wait Until Tomorrow; So Tell the Girls That I’m Back in Town e There’s no Easy Way to Say Goodbye; pondo a nu toda a sua alegre melancolia, nostálgica e contemplativa. Fechado sobre si e apoiado no tripé do micro onde se diverte a agarrar as canções, volta e meia deambula pelo palco, suavemente, de sorriso ligeiro estampado no rosto. Brinca com a voz, oscilando entre tons graves soturnos e médios altos repletos de melodias e harmonias.

Do trip-hop ao electroclash, passando pelo synth-pop, com brisas de jazz melódico por todo o lado, não é que dou por mim a ter sensações que só a bossa nova pode dar. Talvez seja a bela cadência dos sons dos teclados de Erik, com as vocalizações suaves e nostálgicas de Jay Jay Johanson, que fazem essa magia. Não sei, mas foi a sensação que ficou.

O calor na sala do CCOP é tanto que que Jay não se poupa a esforços e vai buscar água por diversas vezes para oferecer e arrefecer o público. Um senhor muito elegante e simpático, é o que ele é.

She Doesn’t Live Here Anymore leva uma grande ovação. Mas não a maior de todas elas. Entretanto, apresenta Erik e diz que em tempos foi o seu professor de dança, imagine-se. Risos, gritinhos e apupos felizes, claro. A maior ovação aconteceu em Heard Somebody Whistle.

A seguir a um curto encore, volta de copo de vinho branco na mão e faz magia com a voz ao cantar à capela, apenas apoiado em si mesmo. Brilhante! Alguém ao meu lado comenta o facto e deixa sair em tom emocionado, que aquele senhor tem a melhor das vozes.

O concerto termina com Jay Jay Johanson a cumprimentar toda a gente que está logo ali, na frente do palco, para logo a seguir mergulhar no meio da audiência e perder-se entre abraço, beijos e fotos. Curiosamente, a acompanhar esta sessão, ouve-se o My Way do Frankie interpretada por Sid Vicious, o lendário baixista dos Sex Pistols, e logo após, In the Ghetto do Elvis Presley. Acho que ninguém estaria à espera. Nem mesmo eu! Super fun.

© Mondo Bizarre Magazine/Paulo Carmona

Hi and Happy Sunday with Who Took Harry Down? by John Mercy.

Good morning with Awakening by Las Robertas. Have a nice weekend.

Tangerine Dream, Casa da Música, Porto, 26.04.2023.

© Mondo Bizarre Magazine/Marcos Leal

A Space-Time Odyssey

words & photos: Marcos Leal

Last Wednesday night the Suggia room at Casa da Música served as a spaceship for the German trio Tangerine Dream, so that the audience in Porto could embark on a sidereal journey on their unique visit to our country held within the scope of Musica & Revolução (Music & Revolution) 2023 cycle.

The trio that currently performs under the name Tangerine Dream is composed of Thorsten Quaeschning, Hoshiko Yamane and Paul Frick that were not even born at the time of the band's formation which highlights the transformative and evolutionary component of a project founded by Edgar Froese in 1967, which remained a member over the years until his death in 2015 and of which Thorsten Quaeschning was the “chosen successor”.

The audience at Sala Suggia highlighted the timelessness and transversality of a project that has been with us for several decades. Grandparents and grandchildren could be seen in the audience, people who grew old with the music of the electronic pioneers and people who came to discover its origins and evolution.

The trio entered the stage a few minutes after 21:30 under a round of applause, taking their places on the machines. Thorsten in the center, on a level above the stage, like the commander of a Star Trek, greeted the audience with a timid voice recording in Portuguese, immediately starting the musical journey that would last for more than two hours, to the sound of syncopated and pulsating melodies from Stratosfear, a theme from 1976. From then on, time came and went not following any temporal order. The screen behind the band served as a window into the world and imaginary of Tangerine Dream and giving context to each theme played by them, with images reminiscent of graphics from video games to sci-fi cinema, also referring the work done for cinematographic soundtracks. As an example Betrayal a theme of the 1977 film Sorcerer.

© Mondo Bizarre Magazine/Marcos Leal

The journey had several stops and sound and visual landscapes with themes such as Tangram (set 1), Raum, Love On A Real Traim, Los Santos City Map, Continuum, Portico, among others from the vast repertoire. From the oldest and most recent work which the current line-up manages to approach in a very coherent way, bringing the oldest themes closer to the most recent edited work that results from archival work from samples left by the former founder Edgar Froese.

Despite the long concert, the audience asked for an encore with a standing ovation. The band followed with a long one theme, some people ended up leaving early, considering Thursday was a workday.

An the end, Thorsten introduced the remaining members greeted with with applause by the audience and a promise of a return soon, after a few good years without visiting the city.

Already heading for the stage exit, Thorsten steps back to ask for a final round of applause for the late founder of Tangerine Dream.

The show reached the end with the satisfied feeling of the audience having witnessed history.

© Mondo Bizarre Magazine/Marcos Leal

© Mondo Bizarre Magazine/Marcos Leal

© Mondo Bizarre Magazine/Marcos Leal

Good mornig with our Middle of the week Song - Rollercoaster Love by Los Luchos, Rollercoaster Love is the first single from Província 70 their that had its digitak release yesterday, the day Los Luchos came to be thirsteen years ago and will have a physical release by Martelo Pneumático. The album lauch is Monday, May 1st @ Piano Bar in Aveiro. Have a nice day.

Tim Hecker, gnration, Braga, 21.04.2023.

© Mondo Bizarre Magazine/Telma Mota

 words: Neno Costa (freely translated by Raquel Pinheiro; photos: Telma Mota

Tim Hecker (b.1974, Vancouver, Canada) is a reference in the electronic music world. A sculptor of environments his discography is an experimental journey that providing unusual itineraries, tinged with evocations and spirituality.

The performance at gnration in Braga was the pretext for the presentation of his latest record No Highs (April, 2023). With a sober presence on stage shrouded in a constant haze inviting immersive states, Tim Hecker offered an endless dive into the minimal universe. We were dragged into a resounding, ascetic, almost shamanic waterway, against which it would not be worth fighting.

We allowed ourselves be led on an oceanic journey through territories without words, in which we swim inside ourselves, led by layers of sound that merge, blend and generate new landscapes, in a lycergic, hypnotic and involving continuum.

© Mondo Bizarre Magazine/Telma Mota

 texto: Neno Costa; fotos: Telma Mota

Tim Hecker (n.1974, Vancouver, Canadá) é uma referência no mundo da música electrónica. Escultor de ambientes, a sua discografia é uma viagem experimental, proporcionando roteiros insólitos, tingidos de evocações e espiritualidade.

A atuação no gnration, em Braga, foi pretexto para a apresentação do seu último trabalho, No Highs (Abril, 2023). Com uma presença sóbria em palco envolta numa constante neblina convidativa a estados imersivos, Tim Hecker ofereceu um mergulho infindável no universo minimal. Fomos arrastados para um agueiro sonoro, ascético, quase xamânico, contra o qual não valeria a pena lutar.

Deixamos-nos conduzir numa viagem oceânica por territórios sem palavras, em que nadamos para dentro de nós mesmos, conduzidos por camadas sonoras que se vão fundindo, mesclando e gerando novas paisagens, num continuum licérgico, hipnótico e envolvente.  

© Mondo Bizarre Magazine/Telma Mota

 

Hi with Blacklight Shine by The Mars Volta. Have a nice afternoon.

Amazing Songs & Other Delights #44 - The Dulce et Decorum Est edition by Raquel Pinheiro

 

Amazing Songs & Other Delights is back with a new programme the #44 - The Dulce et Decorum Est edition that airs tomorrow on Yé Yé Radio: yeyeradio.com/(or on the app)

Dulce et Decorum Est is a line from Horace's Odes of which the full sentence is "Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori" (it is sweet and fitting to die for one's country) used as the antithesis, "The old Lie", as an expression of senseless loss of life of the glorious meaning in Horace by Wilfred Owen in his poem of the same name. 

April 24th is the eve of 25 de Abril (April 25th) that came to be know as A Revolução dos Cravos (The Carnation Revolution) a military coup d'etat that deposed the 48 year Military than right wing running  dictartorship (28.05.1926-15.04.1974)  in Portugal leadimg to the demise of Portugal's Colonial War (1961-1975)

Owen wrote Dulce et Decorum Est while a soldier in the trenches of WWI. Wilfred died seven days before the 1918 Artistice Owne's poems were mosty written between August 1917 and September 1918 and live on. 

The programme opens with Christopher Eccleston reading Owen's poem and ends with the choir of prisoner soldiers in Merry Christmas Merry, Mr. Lawrence singing the 23rd Psalm. 

Not all songs relate to war. At least not in the strict sense of war. Some approach daily struggles, the hardships of working people or racism or injustice. The Portuguese songs are from before the end of the dictartoship. From a time when every word had to carefully measured, inuendos or love, romantic and longing song spoke what could not be said. Although Reinaldo Ferreira poem sang by José Afonso is rather to the point, the soldier will only return home in a pine box. Chico Buarque's Construção is a critique of the Brazilian social situation under the Brazilian military dictatorship (01.04.1964-15-03-1985).

Both Dulce et Decorum Est and 23rd Psalm can be read bellow the tracklist.

Dulce et Decorum Est by Wilfred Owen

Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,

Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,

Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs,

And towards our distant rest began to trudge.

Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots,

But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind;

Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots

Of gas-shells dropping softly behind.

Gas! GAS! Quick, boys!—An ecstasy of fumbling

Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time,

But someone still was yelling out and stumbling

And flound’ring like a man in fire or lime.—

Dim through the misty panes and thick green light,

As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.

In all my dreams before my helpless sight,

He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.

If in some smothering dreams, you too could pace

Behind the wagon that we flung him in,

And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,

His hanging face, like a devil’s sick of sin;

If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood

Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,

Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud

Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,—

My friend, you would not tell with such high zest

To children ardent for some desperate glory,

The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est

Pro patria mori.

23rd Psalm as in Ryuichi Sakamoto's version for Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence 

The Lord’s my Shepherd, I’ll not want;

He makes me down to lie

In pastures green; He leadeth me

The quiet waters by

My soul He doth restore again

And me to walk doth make

Within the paths of righteousness

E’en for His own name’s sake

Yea, though I walk in death’s dark vale

Yet will I fear no ill;

For Thou art with me, and Thy rod

And staff me comfort still

My table Thou hast furnished

In presence of my foes

All previous shows: www.mixcloud.com/infoyeye/stream | www.mixcloud.com/raquelpinheiro/stream/

Hi and Happy Sunday with Slow Burn by Rose City Band.

 Good morning with Must Be Tear by Lael Neale. Have a nice weekend.

Good moring with our Middle of the Week Song - punkt by bar italia. Have a nice day.

Bill Callahan - Theatro Circo, Braga, 15.04.2023.

© Mondo Bizarre Magazine/João Vilares

In A State Of Deep Contemplation

words & photos: João Vilares; editing: Raquel Pinheiro

Bill Callahan takes to the stage accompanied by Matt Kinsey (guitar) Jim White (drums) and Dustin Laurenzi (saxophone) for what thesecond concert of his European tour - ranging April 14th to 27th and in addition to Lisbon and Braga includes Madrid, Valencia, Barcelona, Bordeaux, Rennes, Paris, Lille, Brussels and Amsterdam, in a total of 13 shows.

The completely sold out spectacular Theatro Circo’s Main Hall, in Braga was the perfect atmosphere for what Bill announced: "As we're coming out of dreams/ And we're coming back to dreams", from the chorus of First Bird.

The motto was set for the script of an American folk story about simple people in a wild land where poetry and overwhelming love are in the most mundane things and therefore so easy to get caught up in the feelings that are also, after all, of our own.

Without ever introducing himself or any member of his band and parsimoniously interacting with the audience, Bill Callahen made it clear that he was there for the music and that his extraordinary voice, the details of White's jazzy drums, the almost psychedelic solos of Laurenzi's saxophone and the perfection of Kinsey's guitar were more than enough of a business card. If it was!

Predictably, Bill Callahan has mostly gifted us with songs from his latest album, Reality (2022). There was, however, room for other more or less inescapable themes of his discography, like Cowboy (Gold Record, 2020), Small Plane (Dream River, 2013), Drover (Apocalypse, 2011) or, already in the encore, the beautiful Too Many Birds (Sometimes I Wish We Were An Eagle, 2009), not before visiting Smog in Hit The Ground Running (Knock Knock, 1999) and Keep Some Steady Friends Around (Rain On Lens, 2001).

Natural Information served as a farewell to Portugal and, despite the inevitable feeling of missing one or another song, it did not prevent getting us "in a state of deep contemplation".

© Mondo Bizarre Magazine/João Vilares

© Mondo Bizarre Magazine/João Vilares

Hi with Half Asleep by Helen Money & Will Thomas. Have a nice afternoon.

Hi and Happy Sunday with Sub by Deeper.

Good morning with The Boy With a Smile by Arthur Russell. Have a nice weekend.

Nick Oliveri, Hard Rock Cafe, Porto, 13.04.2023.

© Raquel Pinheiro

             

Raw Power

 words & photos: Raquel Pinheiro

There are front row seats and then there is from row standing by the stage, almost upon it, with Nick Oliveri a few centimeters from you. Or crouched, leaning against the stage monitor that happens to be on the floor. Either way, surrounded by fellow concert goers, gathered in a semi-circle, all going with the flow (pun intended). Flow, in your face, straightforward, energetic, speed up, semi-calmness interrupted by loud, abrupt screams or a shouting shortly broken by some mellowness are some ways of describing Nick Oliveri’s concert at Hard Rock Cafe in Porto.

It is Nick, dressed in black trousers and trainers and dark green t-shirt with a Nick giving a middle finger salute, an acoustic-electric guitar, a microphone, a raspy voice, and us. There are no barriers, no middle-men. We’re there, absorbing the rawness, feeling the sway of the floor boards, our jumpiness and singing along, dancing, grooving as on full gear as the man on stage. It’s a give and take from both sides, feeding from each other energy.

From Kuyuss’ Green Machiche till the end of the encore, Nick’s head, forehead and guitar become increasingly wet and sweaty, glittering water lines running down the black wood body. Between beginning and end there are Kuyss, Mondo Generator, Queens of the Stone Age songs, and boy do those songs rock the boat and throw us for a loop. Oliveri’s delivery is fearless, down to earth, to the heights of true punkness veering into daredevilness, or totally diving into it. At a point, my notebook gets a spit, or was it a drop of sweat? Both?

By Feel Good Hit of The Summer we’re loud singing and screaming the hallucinated acceleration of Nicotine, Valium, Vicodin, marijuana, ecstasy and alcohol in a maniacal crescendo, then Nick picks it up, but we’re back to those words Nicotine, Valium, Vicodin, marijuana, ecstasy and alcohol that if the vice squad was around would have lead to an interesting evening. The floor seems to want to give, will there be a stage invasion? Not really, but we’re closer to the stage if such thing is possible since we’re pretty much clued to it.

But before we got there we had been through the night’s moving moment, the heartfelt and out-there-hello-psychedelia rendition of Nick and us singing Auto Pilot, us kind of being the spirit of Mark Lanegan to whom Oliveri dedicated the song both used to sang on Queens of the Stone Age.

The leave, lost and broken love songs Gonna Leave You and Another Love Song, also part of the menu, retained their directness. We sang more, Nick sang more too, and loud, and loud we too were, played on fire, fast and furious. As the end approached it all got rather explosive with the cover of G.G.Allin’s Outlaw Scumfuc. Roky Ericson’s Bloody Hammer, dedicated to Ricardo, from Sonic Blast was another shot of intensity. As it was the final Nick & Mick (as in microphone) frantic incantation and incarnation of the banshees leaving everyone breathless. 

© Raquel Pinheiro

© Raquel Pinheiro

Good morning with our Middle of the Week Song - Mercury in Retrograde by Hands and Knees. Have a nice day.

 Hi with I Have in me All the Dreams in the World by Isa Leen. Have a nice afternoon.

Hi and Happy Easter Sunday with Dare Me by Beach Fossils.

 Good morning with Eye Witness by Me Lost Me. Have a nice Easter weekend.

Good morning with ou Middle of The Week Song, this week the song is an double-bass instrumental Waldeinsamkeit (and untranlatable German word for being alone in nature, in the woods) taken from André Carvalho's Translation Vol II. Have a nice day.

Amazing Songs & Other Delights # 43 - The It's Spring Again edition by Raquel Pinheiro @ Yé Yé Radio's mixcloud

Amazing Songs & Other Delighs # 43 - Amazing Songs & Other Delights # 43 - The It's Spring Again edition as the titles says brings us back to Spring. From two excerpts of Igor Stravinsky The Rite of Spring to Miguel Feraso Cabral's upcoming singe, Alegado Suspeito, through Bill Prichard singing a poem by Patrick Woodcock, The Sundays, Éme e Moxila, Donovan and more, Spring is celebrated in spirit, tone and, of course, in the work itself. The Beatles' Here Comes the Sun appears once more, it matches several seasons, here by the Glee Cast.

Monday, March 27th 2023, 3-4pm
Running time: 60:02:48

Tracklist:
01: Igor Stravinsky - A Sagração da Primavera (excerpt) by Vortice Dance Company)
02: Bill Pritchard - Lance (Patrick Woodcock poem)
03: Blanche - Bottles
04: David Van Auken - Blossom
05: Cory Hanson - Twins
06: Éme e Moxila - Estocolmo 1984
07: Douglas Dare - Doublethings
08: Donovan - The Lullaby of Spring
09: Glee Cast - Here Comes The Sun (The Beatles cover)
10: Gordon Grdina | Mat Maneri | Christian Lillinger - Stand By
11: Lael Neale - Faster Than The Medicine
12: Lola Flowers - Saudades
13: Miguel Feraso Cabral - Alegado Suspeito
14: Rodrigo Amarante - Hourglass
15: Suarasama - Sea Fish
16: The Gift - Primavera
17: The Sundays - Skin & Bones
18: Igor Stravinsky - The Rite of Spring (excerpt) by The London London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Sir Simon Rattle

All previous shows: www.mixcloud.com/infoyeye/stream/ | www.mixcloud.com/raquelpinheiro/stream

Matt Elliott @ Mouco, Porto, 01.04.2023.

© Paulo Carmona

 

words: Paulo Carmona (freely translated by Raquel Pinheiro); photos: Paulo Carmona

In a cool April spring night the crows and blackbirds arranged a meeting which was also attended by white doves and hummingbirds.

What? Well, that's right! Just as many see only grey shadows and melancholy in Matt Elliott's songs, many others must feel what I felt last Saturday at Mouco. Among of all the dark musical semblance loaded with sarcasm, pain and loss, there are soft, slightly perfumed and bittersweet breezes passing by that, in a way, make everything lighter. Beauty appears between the shadows giving them some colour. Not much, not much, but enough to slightly warm souls. Like a paradox. Aren't there people who order coffee in a cold cup? There you go.

It all begins with a sketch of a solitary instrument, be it the folk guitar or the saxophone that complains to itself about its bad luck. Then it stays in a minimalist loop waiting for the following instrument to fill in the loose spaces of the music left adrift. And stays there jumping between the folk guitar and the sax and the sax and folk guitar, from where that dark and serious voice appears. But, of course, it doesn't end there. Matt knows how to adorn the thing. If he does know, my friends. Supported by the diaphragm, he lets out screams as a lament and delirious verses in medium tones. And the guitar cries happily. Sometimes it's flamenco, sometimes dark folk and classic. From time to time, a guitar distortion prolonged in space and time shows up, all very well executed. In The Day After That and Flowers for Bea it seems that we are wandering around in pencil drawings of an animation by Tim Burton.

Matt Elliott knows how to thank the surrendered crowd. He is affable with his audience and berates himself for talking too much. He also went as far as to apologize to future generations for his generation's environmental blunders. There are laughs and smiles in the room because it's funny, then back to the beginning. At the end Matt makes a cordial farewell with a bow and a farewell wave. The man is a sharp and scathing troubadour, pained and incisive, but also friendly and a gentleman. Just as I like it.

It's past eleven and the night is cool. I am appeased with everything around me. I turn my coat’s collar up, put my hands in my pockets and count the cobblestones.

© Paulo Carmona

texto e fotos: Paulo Carmona

Os corvos e os melros marcaram um encontro, ao qual também compareceram pombas brancas e beija-flores na noite fresca deste Abril de Primavera.

O quê? Pois, é mesmo isso! Lá porque muitos só vêm sombras cinzentas e melancolia nas canções de Matt Elliott, muitos outros deverão sentir o que eu senti no passado Sábado no Mouco. No meio de todo aquele semblante musical sombrio carregado de sarcasmo, dor e perda, há brisas suaves, levemente perfumadas e agridoces que por ali passam e que, de um certo modo, tornam tudo mais leve. O belo surge por entre as sombras a dar-lhes um pouco de cor. Não muita, não muita, mas o suficiente para aquecer ao de leve as almas. A jeito de paradoxo, não há quem peça café em chávena fria? Então.

Tudo começa num esboço de um instrumento solitário que se queixa sozinho da sua má sorte, seja ele a guitarra folk ou o saxofone. Depois fica em loop minimalista à espera do instrumente que se segue e que vai preenchendo os espaços soltos da música deixada à deriva. E fica ali a saltitar entre viola e sax e sax e viola, de onde aparece aquela voz soturna e grave. Mas é claro que não se fica por ali. Ele sabe adornar a coisa. Se sabe, meus amigos. Apoiado no diafragma solta gritos em forma de lamento e versos delirantes em tons médios. E a guitarra chora alegremente. Às vezes é flamengo, outras folk escurinho e clássico. De quando em vez, aparece uma distorção de guitarra prolongada no espaço e no tempo. Tudo muito bem executado. Em The Day After That e Flowers for Bea, parece que andamos a deambular em desenhos a lápis de uma qualquer animação de Tim Burton.

Matt Elliott sabe agradecer às hostes rendidas. É afável com o seu público e auto repreende-se por falar de mais. Também chegou a pedir desculpa às gerações vindouras pelas asneiras ambientais da sua geração. Há risos e sorrisos na sala, porque é engraçado, mas depois volta tudo ao início. No final despede-se cordialmente com vénia e acenos de despedida. O homem é um trovador agudo e mordaz, dorido e incisivo, mas também simpático e um gentleman. Como eu gosto.

Passa das onze e a noite é fresca. Estou apaziguado com tudo o que me rodeia. Levanto a gola do casaco, meto as mãos nos bolsos e conto as pedras da calçada.

© Paulo Carmona