 Getting To Know... Peter Sellers was a true comedic genius. Brighid Mooney helps us get beyond the Strangeloves and the Clouseaus. |
 Couch Festival Too lazy to go to a real film festival? Try one of our couch festivals. This month: "Gone To Bollywood..." |
 Unearthed Brighid Mooney looks at a lesser-known pub rock live album, Dr. Feelgood's Stupidity. |
 Been There Camouflage Nights' Ian McGettigan, a bottle of alcohol, and a flaming axe highlight this month's Been There. |
 Globetrotting Russell Bartholomee continues this month with Part 2 of his look at Paris. |
 Hello In There Dolemite. 'Nuff said. |
 Being There’s City Guide This month’s rundown of some of the things happening in a few North American hotspots that we feel our readers might be interested in. |
 11x5 Our contributors pick five things they're digging this month. |
Been There!
The Moment: Ian McGettigan, a bottle of alcohol, and a flaming axe. Camouflage Nights at The Horseshoe Tavern in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, April 22, 2005.
By Adam M. Anklewicz
What makes a great rock and roll show? Music? Laughs? Skills? Spectacle? Camouflage Nights have all of that, and on a boring Friday in April, fellow Being There writer and wife Lisa and I headed to the famed Horseshoe Tavern to see a new band with familiar faces.
Camouflage Nights are ex-Thrush Hermit members Ian McGettigan and Rob (Tigre) Benvie. Benvie is also formerly of The Dears and currently in Presse. Camouflage Nights are not just McGettigan and Benvie; on disc they are joined by any combination of many people, including Feist, Buck 65, City Field’s Matt Murphy, Sloan’s Chris Murphy and many more. Joining McGettigan and Benvie on this day were Nobu Adilman and members of Presse.
What immediately got my attention about Camouflage Nights (well, other than the ultra-catchy free download on their website) was Ian McGettigan, a bottle of alcohol and a flaming axe. Yes, Ian McGettigan, a bottle of alcohol and a flaming axe. What can beat that? Well perhaps combining that with great dance-rock music, yeah that makes it better. But did I mention the flaming axe?
If you’ve never seen McGettigan on stage, then what you need to know is that this is a man who will entertain himself and in turn get the entire crowd having endless fun. Energy and humour seem to drip off of this man. You can see a mostly naked Ian McGettigan hanging from the roof of a truck in Thrush Hermit’s farewell documentary, Learn to Party, and I think most of the partying was due to McGettigan.
Back to The Horseshoe Tavern, the band was tuned and they began to play. Benvie looked to his right at the stage door and gave a smirk as McGettigan came out from backstage with a flaming axe in one hand and a bottle of alcohol in the other. Taking a swig of booze and spitting into the fire, the flames exploded, leaving the small club cheering. Though apparently fire breathing is common for McGettigan, it was not something I had expected to see at a non-stadium rock show.
As McGettigan stood back and let the music play, he hung the axe in the air and unknowingly let flames fall to the floor. The people who had noticed the fire were also the ones whose drinks would have only made the fire worse. After a few more spectacles of flying flame McGettigan finally noticed a piece of the floor was blazing, and he decided to try to stamp out the fire. As the flame climbed McGettigan’s legs, he was able to get the fire out and resume the rock and roll.
McGettigan took his place on stage with the rest of the band and got into the music, creating some of the best danceable rock music I had seen in a while.
Camouflage Nights are playing the occasional show through Ontario, with their one-sided 12” single and getting ready for their debut full-length. Visit http://www.camouflagenights.com
Camouflage Nights are ex-Thrush Hermit members Ian McGettigan and Rob (Tigre) Benvie. Benvie is also formerly of The Dears and currently in Presse. Camouflage Nights are not just McGettigan and Benvie; on disc they are joined by any combination of many people, including Feist, Buck 65, City Field’s Matt Murphy, Sloan’s Chris Murphy and many more. Joining McGettigan and Benvie on this day were Nobu Adilman and members of Presse.
What immediately got my attention about Camouflage Nights (well, other than the ultra-catchy free download on their website) was Ian McGettigan, a bottle of alcohol and a flaming axe. Yes, Ian McGettigan, a bottle of alcohol and a flaming axe. What can beat that? Well perhaps combining that with great dance-rock music, yeah that makes it better. But did I mention the flaming axe?
If you’ve never seen McGettigan on stage, then what you need to know is that this is a man who will entertain himself and in turn get the entire crowd having endless fun. Energy and humour seem to drip off of this man. You can see a mostly naked Ian McGettigan hanging from the roof of a truck in Thrush Hermit’s farewell documentary, Learn to Party, and I think most of the partying was due to McGettigan.
Back to The Horseshoe Tavern, the band was tuned and they began to play. Benvie looked to his right at the stage door and gave a smirk as McGettigan came out from backstage with a flaming axe in one hand and a bottle of alcohol in the other. Taking a swig of booze and spitting into the fire, the flames exploded, leaving the small club cheering. Though apparently fire breathing is common for McGettigan, it was not something I had expected to see at a non-stadium rock show.
As McGettigan stood back and let the music play, he hung the axe in the air and unknowingly let flames fall to the floor. The people who had noticed the fire were also the ones whose drinks would have only made the fire worse. After a few more spectacles of flying flame McGettigan finally noticed a piece of the floor was blazing, and he decided to try to stamp out the fire. As the flame climbed McGettigan’s legs, he was able to get the fire out and resume the rock and roll.
McGettigan took his place on stage with the rest of the band and got into the music, creating some of the best danceable rock music I had seen in a while.
Camouflage Nights are playing the occasional show through Ontario, with their one-sided 12” single and getting ready for their debut full-length. Visit http://www.camouflagenights.com
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