Dan Bern's "Anthems" -- Tony Peyser's Blue State Jukebox

Tony Peyser's "Blue State Jukebox"

August 18, 2005		ARCHIVES
Dan Bern's "Anthems" Tony Peyser's "Blue State Jukebox" Review ---> GET YOUR COPY HERE <--- If you don't know the name Dan Bern, I am especially pleased to make the introduction. Since 1996, this Midwestern-born fellow -- who lived in L.A. for years and now resides in New Mexico -- has made eight albums and two EPs. More than almost any artist I can currently think of, he is a perfect match for the BuzzFlash, Blue State Jukebox, blue state state of mind. To instantly provide the 411 on his cheeky sense of humor, Bern's back-up band is The IJBC -- as in International Jewish Banking Conspiracy. Leave it to a 21st century singer-songwriter to take an infamous anti-Semitic slur away from anti-Semites and reclaim it as a prop for his populist agit-pop propaganda. The Bern express moves in two modes: seriously goofy and seriously passionate. The opening track on one of his albums from last year -- did I mention he's prolific? -- is the laugh out loud classic, "President." In this song from My Country II, Bern waltzes into 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue and remakes it into a left wing hootenanny. Here's a verse that gives a sense of the whole enchilada: "My first day I offered statehood To Cuba & Mexico Cuba: 1 state, Mexico: 6 All or nothing, that's how it goes No more border patrols & human smuggling We'll deal with our own neighborhood And a few more stars & some green in the flag Seems like it might be good And maybe Israel & Palestine Will follow our lead and just combine And then become Israelstine -- who knows? Anyway, that's my first day." On the same album is a song in his other mode: "After The Parade Is Over." Bern inhabits the soul of foot soldier in the war on terror who's now in a wheelchair and contemplates a certain sacrifice he's made for an uncertain goal. Songs don't get much more powerful than this and Bern manages to pull it off without paddling into preachy waters. Bern has his head in the clouds and his feet firmly planted in the 1960s. No, wait: I'd better include the 1950s, too. You can draw a musical line that goes right from Woody Guthrie to Bob Dylan to Bruce Springsteen to Bern. He even goofs on this in a song fittingly called "Talkin Woody, Bob, Bruce, Dan Blues." No artist ever singed by the double-edged "New Dylan" label has ever toyed with it in such a loosey-goosey manner. Since 9-11, Bern has been more creative than ever. While he is a knucklehead of some stature, Anthems -- a five-song EP -- is in his more reflective mode as he grapples with the big issues of the day. That whoosh you hear between the music and lyrics is the sound of Bern swinging for the fences. The first track gets things started with cryptic lyrics and a jangling Tom Petty vibe. I'm reminded of a line by Walter Salas-Humara, a smart alt-rocker who once insisted that some songs need very little lyrically to flourish. His example was The Rolling Stones' "Tumbling Dice." Salas-Humara dared anyone to cite any other words in the song besides those two in the title. I couldn't, but I can attest that the notion of tumbling dice says a lot about Fate and how we're all at the mercy of it. I mention this because the whole shebang in this Bern song is in the words of the title: "Revolution Begins In The Basement." When the Democrats were recently shunted off into some subterranean congressional room to launch their own hearings into Rovegate, I found myself humming those words from Bern's song. It's a sly reminder that rebellions that topple top leaders rarely begin on the top floors. "Biggest Thing Man Has Ever Done" is a shaggy Woody Guthrie song from 1961 that I bet had a big influence on Bern. It's full of swagger and braggadocio as it recounts the exploits of a "lonesome traveler" throughout history who fought all manner of tyrants and always managed to come out on top: "I beat the daring Roman, I beat the daring Turk Defeated Nero's army with thirty minutes work I fought the greatest leaders and I licked them everyone And that was about the biggest thing that man had ever done." Bern recorded this last August, left out some verses and wrote one of his own where he begged listeners to vote George W. Bush out of office. While he came up short in this particular battle, this song underscores that even the noblest causes sometimes get the short end of history's stick. The fact that Bern puts in a Guthrie cover here bears witness to his willingness to not just stylistically reference his influences but put them front and center. On "Where Is The Love," Bern downshifts into a more contemplative gear. As opposed to moxie, he reveals some decidedly mixed emotions. This track made me think about a play I read recently: John Patrick Shanley's multi-award winning Broadway smash, "Doubt." In the introduction, Shanley persuasively argues that doubt used to mean wisdom, but in our in-your-face times, any sign of it is considered weakness. Bern is a wise enough fellow to admit he, too, has his doubts. He wistfully admits some days not being sure who he got out of bed and dressed for, how stars remain annoyingly out of reach and wonders if he sometimes just sings "to move the air." All these doubts lead to love summoning men and woman to join one another in the promised land. After he unleashes those last hopeful images, Bern's harmonica playing takes over. It felt as comforting as an old friend patting you on the back, telling you you're okay and to stop being so hard on yourself. The harmonica again puts on the front burner Bern's Guthrie and Dylan-esque wayfaring roots. On "We Will Not Be Divided," Bern spits on both hands, points to center field and hits it out of the park. This scuffed up, nine-minute epic is a modern progressive's equivalent to Guthrie's "This Land Is Your Land." Geography is initially center stage as Bern travels all over creation, including Big Sur, Gettysburg, Boston, Little Rock, Cairo and Tel Aviv. As the globe and our solar system are spinning, Bern also throws in biographical references and it's a Who's Who of liberal America: Thomas Paine, Emma Goldman, Eleanor Roosevelt and the holy trinity of Abraham, Martin and John. (Bern will no doubt update this song in concerts and ten bucks says he's already slipped Cindy Sheehan onto his left wing honor roll.) His artistry here is in shorthand as he summons forth all these places and people but lets us fill in the blanks. Bern's canvas is huge as he even sails into outer space in search of inner peace and finds it in a community of like-minded souls. The only folks who shall not be moved by "We Will Not Be Divided" are registered Republicans. "Take Back The New Millennium" is every bit as good as "We Will Not Be Divided" and perhaps even a little better. Bern starts out by looking back at the hopefulness that surrounded the last days of 1999, a time for bonfires of one's petty vanities and moving on boldly into the future. With the 9-11 attacks, Bern quickly makes tracks to getting things back on track with this chorus: "Time to take back the new millennium This one was gonna be ours Take back the new millennium This one was gonna be ours And no oil family power Making your enemies cower Planes smashing into towers Gonna keep us from the world we deserve Take back, take back Take back the new millennium." These are fighting words, words that can inspire people to do whatever they can to stand up and speak out in dark times like these. All of Bern's strummy songs are fairly intoxicating as you get caught up in his fever dream of positivism and activism. With the exception of "Revolution Begins In The Basement," all the tracks are just Bern on guitar and harmonica. The bravest thing any artist can do on any stage or recording studio is accompany themselves without a band. There's simply nowhere to hide. If it works, you're a hero. If it doesn't, you look like an untalented ninny. Bern's raw songs somehow feel lavishly produced, when in fact they're virtually solo, acoustic demos. This proves once and for all that no amount of orchestration means anything if the lyrics don't say something. And on Anthems, Dan Bern says plenty. ---> GET YOUR COPY HERE <--- * * * Tony Peyser writes political poems every day for BuzzFlash and draws editorial cartoons twice weekly. His new music column, The Blue State Jukebox, is now a monthly feature for BuzzFlash. Mr. Peyser (who loves referring to himself in the third person) is shamelessly using BuzzFlash as a springboard to help him land his dream job: becoming the new Washington Bureau Chief for Talon News.