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Event
Todd Snider - Feb. 22nd at The Grizzly Rose
Peace Queer: The bio
By Cokie Roberts
I was told to meet Todd Snider at the 3 Crow Bar at 1 o'clock in the afternoon. This was impossible, as Todd Snider was not at the 3 Crow Bar at 1 o'clock in the afternoon. But he showed up at 1:45, sweating and claiming to be followed. As Todd is not normally a paranoid person (ed. note: this is not true, he is quite paranoid), I wondered aloud whether his pursuers were angry that he is releasing Peace Queer, album filled with politically charged, potentially divisive material. He said, No, that's not it at all. Actually, I was a little too close to that Tonya Harding and Nancy Kerrigan thing. For some of us, thatll never be over. Never.
None of which brings us to the matter at hand. I'm hired to do a job here. Swear to God, hes calling this thing Peace Queer. So I ask, why Peace Queer?
What, too commercial? he said. I don't care. My intention is to outsell Thriller. And not just the Michael Jackson one. Ultimately, I believe this record will sell 6.8 billion copies. That's not one in every home. That's one in every hand. Well, roughly every other hand, cause most people have two hands. And on the day that happens, I guarantee America and parts of Canada world peace.
A pipe dream? Hardly, for fans of rock n roll, folk, country and Americana music have long been held in Snider's sway. His last album, 2006s The Devil You Know, landed him on The Tonight Show With Jay Leno and Late Night With David Letterman, and it appeared on numerous year-end Top 10 lists. Sitting across from him at the 3 Crow, his personal charisma is in evidence. And how. The humble, youthful man from Beaverton, Oregon is a real swashbuckler. And Peace Queer is just the beginning of his typically unique vision. It is the first in a trilogy. Even as we celebrate the release of Peace Queer, Snider is already working on the follow-up, with Rolling Stones producer Don Was. After that, there will be a rock album called Shit Sandwich.
I'm gonna make it in real time, he said, his piercing blue-grey (sometimes they seem green, too) eyes shining towards a success-filled musical future.
For now, though, were here to discuss Peace Queer. And Peace Queer is, assuredly, the bomb. The albums cover, which depicts Snider being held at gunpoint by a shirtless hippie, nods to the violence that is at the heart of all peaceful endeavors.
Clearly, anyone who looks at the photograph can tell that I had been abducted by an international league of peace queers and forced to write protest music. You know, for their cause, he said. But, write this down cause its true and its important: I grew sympathetic to their cause. In fact, the more often we paused for the cause the more sympathetic I grew. Maybe I was Patty Hearst shifted, but I don't care. I'm in. I believe in our mottos and cant wait to hear our slogan.
Indeed, the mottos are telling.
Our first motto is Thou Shalt Not Kill, Snider explained. Our second motto was, Thou Shalt Not Steal, but then we realized wed kind of lifted the first motto. So we dropped the second motto and just went with the one.
Peace Queer starts with revelry, and the album includes a Civil War sea shanty, a plaintive cover of 1960s classic Fortunate Son, a spoken-word number, a rocked-fueled meditation on contemporary culture (Stuck On The Corner), and a Fred Sanford-ish funeral dirge. The emotional centerpiece of the album is the wistful Ponce Of The Flaming Peace Queer.
Were very proud of that one, Snider said. It ties up the story.
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LocationThe Grizzly Rose
1124 Front St.
Boise, ID 83702
United States
Categories
| Minimum Age: 21 |
| Kid Friendly: No |
| Dog Friendly: No |
| Non-Smoking: No |
| Wheelchair Accessible: No |
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