Nick Cave
Date: September 17, 2009 We Call Upon the Author to Explain While not strictly a concert review, I can't help but recount the unexpected visit of Nick Cave to Canada's capital, touching down to give a reading from his latest novel, The Death of Bunny Munro. The Ottawa International Writers Festival scored a major victory in securing one of Cave's very few North American appearances in support of the book; and they were rewarded with a thoroughly entertaining evening. The format for the showcase saw Cave open with a passage from his novel, before sitting with local poet David O'Meara for an interview session, following up with another reading, and concluding with a question and answer session with the audience. The setting was the St. Brigid's Centre for the Arts and Humanities, a former church, making for the odd spectacle of hearing Cave's booming voice recite the profane sexual misadventures of his book's title character while people around me drank beer in the pews, all set against a religious backdrop. Well, it surely wasn't the first time that sex, violence, and religion intersected in Cave's writing, so perhaps it wasn't entirely jarring. O'Meara did a fine job, leading Cave through a series of interesting topics. Apparently, the most important lesson that the author learned in penning his first novel, And the Ass Saw the Angel, was that massive quantities of amphetamines only make you think that you're getting a lot of writing done. Predictably, the audience interaction was more hit or miss, with the most awkward moment coming from the opening questioner. That query came from the singer from the band that opened for Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds in Montreal last fall, giving a memorably bad performance that ended with a mutual exchange of boos between her and the audience. In some defensive online posts after that incident, she had said how much the Bad Seeds liked her and how she had been encouraged to audition as the new singer. Amazingly, she was back on the same delusion this night, trying to grill Cave about the lack of audition. Cave initially downplayed things, then remarked "ah yes, I think I remember you as the one who sent hundreds of emails to my assistant" before finally asking her to audition right there with "The Ship Song." When the girl was unsure how to start, he quickly dismissed her by informing her that she had failed the audition. Other questions were more fruitful, leading Cave to talk about Charles Bukowski (he's not a fan), audio books, and the surreal and hilarious script that he hammered out for a proposed Gladiator sequel. Cave's acerbic wit was on display often. After lamenting the fact that the press would always describe him as a gloomy figure--the Gothfather--no matter how much light and comedy he put in his writing, he deadpanned, "And that used to bother me as I lay awake at night in my coffin." It was also very interesting to hear such an accomplished songwriter talk about the art of writing, such as his belief that his older songs suffer from a need to fill in all of the narrative backstory rather than leaving some avenues unexplored. Cave ended the night signing autographs for the fans. The fact that the line snaked up and down the aisles was a sign of just how many people were excited to see Nick Cave make it to Ottawa to deliver such an engaging talk. <--Prev (Plants and Animals) | Next (Moby)-->Return to Concert ListReturn to Main Page |