Grumpy Little Men

I, like many, was in love for a time with Stephin Merritt. Or more precisely, I was in love with the idea of him, which was of course a weirdly fake version of him based on the songs of the epic Magnetic Fields album 69 Love Songs along with the accompanying interview which revealed a funny, sensitive soul would quote some of the things I could, or some of the things I could, or the things I wanted to be quoting or whatever, and who seemed to have interesting, quirky friends, and who also liked to drink.

Of course, 69 Love Songs came out in 1999 which is a long time ago in pop music matters as well as my imaginary love life. Since then Stephin Merritt has been accused of racism and sourism several times and I have fallen in and out of love with Sufjan Stevens enough times to make Stephin Merritt well, a long-forgotten fairytale.

That said, I approached the Magnetic Fields concert on February 22 in Town Hall with a healthy bit of curiosity. I had just read a blurb in the Times about Mr. Merritt's dislike of performing live, and his habit of getting annoyed when people applaud. Which is kind of weird, even if you have a sensitive ear. I mean, dude, it is what people do when they are sitting in a velvet seat and like what they are hearing. Take it as a compliment, even as it is inflicting incredible pain on you.

Additionally, I hadn't paid too much attention to the Magnetic Fields since about 2001. Would I know any of their songs? Surely they would never sing "Book of Love" again since it was covered by Peter Gabriel?!?!?!!?

Alas, they sang "Book of Love." And it was beautiful. It was also their last song, so I am jumping the gun. The set was long and varied, and contained some hidden gems from 69 Love Songs as well as 6ths tunes and Gothic Archies songs. Claudia is more or less the frontman er woman in terms of banter and keeping the audience afloat. The musicianship was mixed - Claudia can play the piano well enough, but the empassioned cello solo which began a song I did not recognize (wait maybe it was "Born on a Train") was undermined but the cellist's wandering pitch. Sigh. Perfectly good pop music undone by too much Yo-Yo Ma.

Stephin for the most part sat in his own little corner of the stage, wincing every time the audience applauded, and generally looking like he was at a party thrown for him, but his dog just died. He was a grumpy little man.

I realized however near the end of the show, that he KNOWS he is a grumpy little man. He's in on his own joke. He knows he is the Eeyore at the party...or as in the song he forced Claudia to sing, a "tiny goat."