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The Codetalkers | 01.24.03 | The State Theatre | Falls Church, VA
“Everybody’s got a little karma to pay, when the world comes tumbling down.” Bobby Lee ushered us all into that understanding and led us out on the same belief which helped me rest easy, knowin’ that at least I would be hearin’ some damn fine music if Armageddon happened right then. Ya see, fire can take on two modes of change, that of destruction and that of transformation. What Bobby Lee Rodgers, Tyler Greenwell, and Col. Bruce Hampton all share is this powerful sense of the building intensity of music. They open up to its power and let if flow. When it hits you, you just want to get up and dance within the fire the spirits create through them.
By T. Smith |
The Codetalkers went off on a wandering jazz crusade throughout the night but it really began in full force during the initial moments of, “Fixin’ To Die.” When Col. Bruce chimed in preachin’, “Put down your cane and move!” you could feel the palpable waves of healin’ energy in his commanding voice within the swirling beauty of joyous sound. This band is the best traveling medicine show out there.
“I’m So Glad,” had this slow funky stomp to it like they were walkin’ through waste deep mud and it was allgood. Of course they shifted into high-octane bootleggin’ wonder with Bobby Lee and Col. Bruce going way out on their distinct six-string assault that left me real happy.
During, “Ferry Boat,” Bob hit every note with his voice and guitar during his episodic solo endeavor that clearly demonstrates his gift with music. Not many folks can sing each note they play, and I have only really seen two people that can. It is no surprise that both of them have played with shepherd Bruce.
“Basically Frightened” had Col. Bruce helming the ship that night with his unique perspective. It just has this bounce, and when he goes off with his Fiji-medicine inscribed instrument of change, you better listen. There is just something about the sound he squeezes out of that guitar that mystifies me and I suppose that’s just as it should be.
By T. Smith |
Bobby Lee played the mouth trombone in a manner that if you were unable to see, you would have thought the real brass was callin’ up the spirit. That lead into “Compared to What,” and dare I say, they cannot be compared to anything, they just are. Bobby again went off on down the line singin’ every note he played but this attack was more furious in its possession. He is one of the best out there: ego-less and pure.
After all that they returned to, “Basically Frightened,” and when the Colonel started talking about having sex in astral projection I think I died, twice.
The intro to,“Spoonful,” was one of the most dynamic cosmically mind-melting things I have heard in a damn long time. CB howled along with his deliriously wailing guitar. They all seemed to shuffle along to this outrageous unseen force that will leave anyone punched in the gut with awe.
I have to say one thing though. Bobby Lee has created a downright sinister juggernaut at the behest of some cosmic demiurge. See, he’s combined his old hollow body Gibson with a Leslie and he’s split his strings between a bass amp and his guitar amp. For now we will call it Ike. I don’t recall all the finer talking points, but I know what I heard that night and it scared a big ole toothy grin upon my face. The simultaneity of the bass, guitar, and organ through one man’s outrageous musical manifestation is something that one could say came out of necessity, but we all know it was just the power of the sixes, or, from getting stuck in an Abe Vigoda nightmare.
By T. Smith |
I cannot really tell if it was for the last thirty minutes or thirty years of the show that they brought it all together weaving in and out of “Saturn” without ever really singing so, but it’s return was all there, again and again, spinning through every possible voice that spoke through them earlier in the night as if they were “lookin’ down from outer space,” gnawing on a big ol’ chunk of jazzifried funk with the “Lovelight” on. That was what I needed to hear to heal, and whatever it is that plays through them knew that.
I also have to say something about Tyler: the drums were no longer drums. That fella can thunder through anything with finesse and a sweet touch that most folks hittin’ the skins cannot even fathom. He doesn’t say much on stage with his blood voice for he leaves that up to his appendages, but when he does say some through the throat, listen closely. Even if you don’t quite make out what he actually says, you know it was right on.
The Codetalkers are speakin’ a language we can all understand: the code we all share. More importantly, they speak in ways that go straight to you if you are open. They have this ability to turn directly to you and look you in the eye with a smile, and hit the notes to send you home in a better way than when you showed up on their doorstep. Everyplace they play becomes our very own collective epicenter of healing and change. They were touched by the great beyond to remind us all that we are the codetalkers.
Laurin Wollan
JamBase | Virginia
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