By the time this issue hits the streets you’ll have just enough time to throw on a fun frock and head to the Eagle Tavern for another night of great live music culminating with an appearance by a local band who are currently riding high on the crest of a well-deserved wave of media attention and single-handedly carry the torch of the avant-garde garage rock and cinematic psycho-soul music with a flair for the theatrical. That band is Mon Cousin Belge, a perplexing and enigmatic group of talented and internationally diverse players who currently reside in San Francisco and believe me, we are all better for this.
I’ve caught this band live a couple of times and was so transfixed and astonished by their shows I found it difficult to tackle the prospect of writing about them. They are definitely a band with a story, a group of distinctly different artists committed to their individual work yet oddly bound by a coincidental meeting one fateful day on the patio of The Lonestar , a Soma drinking establishment. From that day forward Mon Cousin Belge have stunned audiences with their heavily stylized, moody and mesmerizing original compositions as well as interpretations of songs popularized by other artists as diverse as Glen Miller, John Cale, David Bowie and Shirley Bassey. The undeniable figurehead of the band is the charismatic and very foreign Emile, an extraordinary vocalist from Belgium who speaks no English at all and has performed with many local artists, when he is allowed to enter the country. Emile is also addicted to plastic surgery and has had 39 procedures to date. He is nearly perfect and a genius when it comes to working a wig but when he approaches that microphone and sings, you know he’s tapped into something bigger than all of us, a gift that can hardly be contained by just one person. His is a dangerous talent and can shake you to your very foundation.
Last year MCB recorded an original song for a Falcon Video feature The Velvet Mafia called “Going Down.” This song and actual music video can be viewed on the Mon Cousin Belge Myspace page, along with a few of the bands earliest performances and lots of other information. But the big news about “Going Down” is it was nominated in the best music category for a GAYVN award, the most respected and recognized honor in gay adult entertainment, and for the first time ever the award ceremony was held here in San Francisco last weekend at the Castro Theater.
Emile attended the awards surrounded by faux paparazzi to the red carpet, stealing the attention from the assembled, shaved, greased tanned and steroided-into-oblivion perfect men of porn, for a few minutes at least. I was given the readers digest condensed version of Emile’s night at the GAYVN awards but highlights included lots of alcohol, almost getting kicked out of the event three times, trying to control the rented spotlights outside of the event, and interrupting a lifetime g-string achievement award presentation to some gay wardrobe icon. The following day Emile ran into a local castro merchant who had been to the event as well and asked him if by chance he had lost his wig that night. Emile sheepishly confessed that he woke up missing his hair-piece and the merchant told him that he had figured out as much because he found it in a toilet in the castro theaters bathroom! Their song didn’t take the prize but somehow that image really rates as a winner in a Valley of the Dolls sort of way. I’d like to think a spiteful porn star found it and marched it straight to the can and indignantly flushed it. At any rate it’s a crowning achievement for an unusually brilliant band and their fearless foreign frontman. Tonight you can catch the soon to be legendary Mon Cousin Belge headlining at the eagle at about 11:30. The opening acts are The New Thrill Parade from Santa Cruz who sound pretty theatrical and twisted and fun and White from L.A. who among other things have recorded a theme song for Butt Magazine called “Butt Theme” so they gotta be pretty cool. They also have collaborated with Kid Congo Powers, Stephin Merrit of the Magnetic Fields and Roddy Bottum of Imperial Teen. I should point out that all three bands have completely informative and interesting Myspace pages which include a few songs to listen to and lots of pictures and stuff. Myspace.com is like the farmers almanac of indie and underground bands—or rather every damn band in the world really. If they’ve got a name you can almost bet they’ve got a Myspace page and it’s a tremendous wealth of all the information you’ll ever need about up-coming shows and a bands pedigree and background and how many “friends” they have and how many of them are famous friends, I mean really famous. Maybe you’ll have to keep your eyes peeled at the show for some of those famous friends to walk in the door. This is all going down on Thursday March 1st at the Eagle Tavern starting at 9:30. Be in the presence of greatness.