Wednesday, July 26, 2006

They might be wizards

It's Harry Potter week here at Brevity, for reasons beyond my control. Last weekend was "Harry Potter Day for Adults." (I went. Without an invisibility cloak, mind you.) This weekend I promise to review the book I'm reading, If Harry Potter Ran General Electric. And tonight I attended a free concert of the band Harry and the Potters (with opening act Draco and the Malfoys).

Setting aside the legal issues for a moment -- see Author's Note below -- it was an interesting experience. In the books, Draco always seems a bit jealous of Harry's unearned fame. The same holds true here, as the opening act was the better band.

Draco and the Malfoys are guitarists in Slytherin ties who have a 1950s surf rock sound to accompany their lyrics, which are pretty funny. Song titles include "Voldemort is Awesome" and "Hippogriffs Deserve to Die." A highlight of the set is "99 Death Eaters," sung to the tune of "99 Luftballoons."

Harry and the Potters are two brothers whose energy makes up for their lack of comparable songwriting talent. (Interestingly, one of the Malfoys changed into a Gryffindor tie and played drums. He's like the Dave Grohl of the wizarding world.) They think they're punk, but sound more like a ska version of They Might Be Giants.

Many of their songs take under a minute to perform. I felt like I was watching Calhoun Tubbs: "Harry Potter: wrote a song about it. Like to hear it? Here it goes..."

The main act also benefits from some marketing magic, with T-shirt slogans like "My guitar is a horcrux" and "Save Ginny Weasley." I was tempted to purchase, but then thought better of it.

Author's Note: look for a future post entitled "The law of tribute bands." Seriously.

6 comments:

Brando said...

Nice Calhoun Tubbs reference.

And I definitely think there should be international accords governing tribute bands.

Courtney said...

So since Draco and the Malfoys produced more interesting music, does it follow that evil is more fascinating than virtue?

(Or am I beginning to sound like the dope-smoking lit prof in Animal House? It's a distinct possibility.)

Neel Mehta said...

Brando: Calhoun Tubbs was the king of brevity. None of his songs were longer than fifteen seconds. Ahhhh-haaaaa! Thankyouverymuch!

Quinn: Evil certainly has to work harder than virtue. They can't just put on a pair of glasses and a scarlet and gold tie.

I understand there's a lot of dope smoking in Cascadia.

Courtney said...

It's where Animal House was filmed, too.

K-Lyn said...

Dope? In Cascadia? I don't know what you are talking about! I'm sure that was incense at the outdoor Tom Petty concert last night!!! Lots and lots of incense...

And were the groupies of these bands wearing this?

Courtney said...

Ok, K-lyn, that's so much trashier than I was picturing it when you described it!