ROGUE REVIEW: PC Muñoz's Left Hook
It’s a second trip to the Rogue Festival that earns an out-of-town performer a spot in the Rogue family. Proof that a branch on the Rogue family tree has been extended to PC Muñoz came in his Friday night show at Ashtree Studios.
Many Rogue performers and volunteers put down money and took a seat to listen to the funky music of Muñoz and his San Francisco-based band. Plain and simple, people were still raving about Munoz’s shows from last year.
Part of that has to do with Muñoz’s undeniable stage presence. He’s laid-back, but commanding, kind of like if Zack De La Rocha from Rage Against the Machine was a fun-loving Bay Area beatnik instead of an angry revolutionary.
The other part of Muñoz’s appeal is easy: the music. He’s a combo singer/rapper/spoken word poet, who plays with a band (this year dubbed PC Muñoz’s Left Hook) schooled in the ways of big fat basslines and outer-space sounding funk.
Also on Muñoz’s side is unpredictability. Out of nowhere you’ll hear jingle bells in a song. Or we’ll take a detour from playing his own music, and do something totally inventive. Friday night, he went to each row of the audience and assigned them a topic to talk about, while the band improvised music to go along with the chatter.
The show is a left hook all right -- and a knock out at that.
Two additional notes: 1. Muñoz’s band features Fresno boy Danny Zingarelli on “electronics” and back-up vocals. 2. Saturday night’s show is being filmed as part of a documentary about the band.
Playing: 10 p.m. Saturday (3/1) and 7:30 p.m. Sunday (3/2) at Ashtree Studios, 1035 N. Fulton St. Cost: $4. Rating: PG-13.
Comments:
Don't mis the remaining two pc munoz shows. The band is tight, the show is smart and creative, and the audience participation is NOT painful.
Posted by: John Beynon at March 1, 2008 9:53 AM
¿What’s up with the lack of a tilde in muñoz? You’re writing and living in Aztlán… ¿right?
Posted by: Chango at March 1, 2008 10:34 AM
For you, Chango, consider it changed.
Sorry, I just couldn't figure out how to put one on the Beehive at midnight.
Posted by: Mike Oz at March 1, 2008 11:23 AM
Here's another vote for the 'you MUST see PCMunoz' team.
( I don't know how to do a tilde, and even when writing
about northern Europeans, I don't know how to do umlauts either, but I loves that PC's ever-creative stuff he does)
Posted by: blake at March 2, 2008 12:13 AM
Another vote for "You MUST SEE" pc munoz's left hook! This is too special to miss.
Posted by: Mia Paschal at March 2, 2008 1:29 PM
Before the Rogue Festival, I will admit I had not heard of pc muñoz but there was a definite buzz about this performer in the media. So I did a little research, I read the Rogue program, and visited his MySpace profile. There I listened to selected musical works, and excerpts from reviews by musicians as well as major media outlets. In particular, I was intrigued to find a review by the avant-garde composer and musician John Zorn.
The Ashtree Studios provided the ideal location for pc muñoz's left hook. Bright colored walls framed the four-member live ensemble against a background of contrasting color. The open space established an intimate setting where the boundaries between the artist and the audience were blurred. So when pc muñoz introduced his next piece, it felt as if he was having a conversation with you, and when he directed the audience to engage in conversation for a live recording session, it felt more like a collaboration than audience participation.
Listening to pc muñoz's left hook, the words and improvised accompaniment on bass guitar, drums, electronics and percussion instruments, I was reminded of the elegance of minimal narrative and percussion sometimes found in experimental, avant-garde and foreign film. From the piece about the young girl who first thought about breathing when she was at her grandmother's to California to the recording inspired by John Cage's 4'33'. It felt as if I was being guided through a series of recollected experiences that were both universal and personal at the same time.
After the show, I had an opportunity to visit with pc muñoz and purchase a copy of the twenty haiku CD. It's such a cool concept and an amazing work and I must admit that it hasn't left my car CD player since the show! Recently, I had a chance to visit the twenty haiku website that pc muñoz had told us about during his show, and it inspired me to finish writing this review. :)
While there has been a lot of publicity about the Rogue ranging from its history to play synopsis to performer interviews to reviews, one thing that hasn't really been touched upon is how the Rogue Festival engages us in the process of discovery. For the discovery of an artist that one really likes does not end with the Rogue Festival. It begins at the Rogue Festival and it continues long after the show is over…
If you are interested in the twenty haiku project I mentioned earlier, go to:
http://twentyhaiku.com/flash/
Posted by: Silvia at March 6, 2008 5:23 AM
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