Blogs

2011 Movie Reviews
posted on 04/02/2012

What Hitch Taught Me
posted on 12/16/2011

Disturbing Things That I Don't Want to Acknowledge
posted on 11/14/2011

Minivans, News and More Proof That I Am a Jackass
posted on 10/28/2011

The Danger in Thinking that Everything Happens for a Reason
posted on 10/04/2011

Reactions to News of Twin Sightings
posted on 09/23/2011

The Intersection of Joy and Fear
posted on 09/15/2011

Comments

Streaming Media
04/14/2012 by friday

The Intersection of Joy and Fear
09/20/2011 by Long Lost Aunt Sandy

The Intersection of Joy and Fear
09/16/2011 by muchgooder

The Intersection of Joy and Fear
09/15/2011 by Bob

Religulous
09/14/2011 by muchgooder

Religulous
09/08/2011 by Bob

Thoughts on One Year of Fatherhood
08/31/2011 by Amy

When Your Ex-Girlfriend and Your Old Band Meet

Created on Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Home Blog 2010 July

Last night we took in a concert by The Swell Season in beautiful downtown Buffalo. It was our first visit to Asbury Hall, a former church-turned-concert hall (fill in the blanks here). The group is better known as the duo from the movie Once (my review here).

I'm not big on concert reviews (it was a really nice show) so I'll get right to what I think is the interesting back story behind this band. The man in the group (Glen Hansard) met the female (Markéta Irglová) when the latter was a 13 year old in Czechoslovakia and the former was touring with his band, The Frames. They kept in touch over the years (insert Joe Rogan's bit about developing talent in the "minors") and they got together when she turned 18 (coincidence, I'm sure).

So anyway, they go on to write some music and that is all well and good. At some point someone decides that the music might make a decent movie. And against all odds, it works. It really works and the main song from the movie gives them international notoriety. Hansard tells stories where the duo would draw a handful of people to a venue and then 6 months later (after the movie broke) there was a line down the street when they returned..

To sum it up, Hansard and his band toured all over the world for years with a little success (more so in Europe). This girl turns 18 and he turns her into an international star.

I guess my first question is, how does the band feel? They now travel and perform with the duo but they are not in any way featured in the show. The Swell Season music is much slower than the hard-driving music that The Frames are known for. Are they grateful? Jealous?

And what of Irglová? She and Hansard actually broke up after the movie came out. She made it fairly clear that she didn't want to do this for long but she's still at it. It must be a bitch to turn your back on money, fame and adoration. But how long would she want to tour with her ex-boyfriend?

And then there is Hansard. He is clearly the talent in this equation. He wrote the hit songs and his voice is absolutely incredible. So now he tours with his ex-girlfriend (they seemed to get along ok) and his band (he seemed to perk up when they played a couple of their songs). Things are good now - would he dare to change it? He'd probably prefer to tour with the band but they probably wouldn't do it as The Swell Season. Truth be told, Irglová is a marginal talent at best (worse, she cut her hair so that she now looks like a boy). She was completely robotic and unemotional during her three or four songs. She did get quite an ovation each time she took the mic but I think a lot of that was politeness. Hansard clearly was what people wanted to see.

I believe they are touring for the rest of the year - who knows what will happen after that. There was a Winnebago parked outside the church - I wonder if they all travel together. That must make for a fun cross-country drive.

The opening band, The Low Anthem, joined the group on stage for their final song (a sweet Irish anthem). One of Anthem's members is a very young lady (who seemed to squeak every other note when she brought out her clarinet - yikes), and she couldn't take her eyes off of Hansard during the final song. Sequel, anyone? I'd call it Twice. Brilliant, I know.