Reviewed By Stefan Weisman
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After being struck by a rare neurological disorder drummer, Dougie Bowne,
lost
his mobility and speech. A few years later he founded the "Circuit
Foundation"
to provide disabled people with comprehensive, up-to-date information on the
Internet. I attended a benefit concert for the "Circuit Foundation" at the
Manhattan club "Tonic" on Thursday January 27, 2000. Yoko Ono, along with
her
son Sean Lennon and Yuka Honda were members of the concert's final band,
which
also included two drummers and a rapper, who at times played the didgeridoo,
an
Australian Aboriginal instrument.
Yoko wore a cute yellow shirt that said something like "Frank's Towing Company" on the back and was embroidered with the former owner's name "Mike" on its front. As the band set up she complained several times that her mike was not on or not loud enough. Sean said with a smile, "Please, make sure her mike is on at all times." He and the audience didn't want to miss anything. Unfortunately, Yoko sat throughout much of the performance making it difficult for anyone but those in the very front of the sold-out hall to see her. Clearly this jam session was mostly spontaneous, and probably because of that Yoko's performance was less than stellar. She seemed to add her famous twitters and shrieks only hesitantly, and her voice did not always gel with the hip-hop dance music that dominated the first half of the set. Things did improve as the performance went on, and I was surprised how long the band lasted -- at least 45 minutes, I think. After the pop/dance music gave way to more ambient sounds Yoko seemed far more comfortable and her voice fit in well. Sean started to do little imitations of Yoko's patented warbles and then the two of them had a fun little dialogue/duet going back and forth. At one point, Sean handed his microphone over to an audience member, who easily joined in with the band's loud wall of sound. Later, a youngish Asian man came up to the mike and recited from Beckett's "Waiting for Godot," while the band played a quiet and beautiful background music. As he recited, another band member stood up with a knitted pineapple mask over his head and he did various goofy poses and gestures. It was silly, but I liked it. Although the performance as a whole sounded a little under-prepared, it was surely fun to be there.
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