SPARKS 21

Ron and Russell Mael, a.k.a. Sparks, had a luminous (or should I say: ludicrous) idea for the promotion of their 21rst album. One day, not to long ago, the bold and the beautiful stopped in their tracks, looked at each other and exclaimed: why don't we play the 20 first ones as an introduction to our coming of age album? One album a night plus one encore? There must have been a short trembling of air in their Pentagon before a grin and a smile moved the curtains and an unisono "Yes" escaped their mouths. Normal people would have bombed the idea the next morning, but not the duo known for wit, exuberance and propaganda. They formed a backing band, started to rehearse their 240-and-some-more-songs, and booked the London Carling Academy for twenty nights. Tickets could be bought from one to twenty-one shows, the latter being the Golden Ticket to Sparks Paradise. A bargain, for L 350.
Yes, 240 songs had to be learned, adding up to 4.825.623 notes (please check this for yourself, we may have missed one of two), arranging ends to songs that faded out on the albums along the way. An effort on a both artistically and commercially unparalleled level, a historic feat that won't fail rock historians to notice and put in their books. This is stuff the Guinness Book of Records is made of!

And so the Nice Guys kicked of the extravaganza on Friday May 16, playing their 1972 Halfnelson album in front of a crowd of devotee's, coming from all over the place: Vancouver, San Francisco, Hollywood, Long Beach, New York, Australia, Hawaii, Sweden, Moscow, Germany, France, Holland, Great-Britain, and wherever else they've been hiding over the last thirty-something years.

And did they have fun! Where Russell had to learn most of his songs by heart, finally, the fans produced them effortlessly, singing the words they dreamed so many dreams, before he could even spit them out himself. Clapping the claps, churning the "Ooh's" and "Aah's" on every big beat, only dumpfounded by endings they only knew as fade-outs on the albums.

They already stepped up the ante the second night, when the Golden Boys disguised a woofer in tweeter's clothing. More people had arrived, the whole congregation indiscreetly sang along when R&R marched in the Girl from Germany.

Kimono my house, the third night, was sold out!

This celebration will continue on an almost daily basis, culminating in the happy delivery of #21. Because, as Mr. Young will remember, it's better to burn out than to fade away.

Will this town, 36 six years later, on June 13, be big enough for these exotic creatures of the deep?