Bluefinger: Starting Tonight!

Ah, crap — I knew I was forgetting something in my intro to the weekend rundown… In case you haven’t been paying attention, writer Creg Lovett has been working his ass off to cover this weekend’s debut of the Catastrophic Theatre‘s new play, Bluefinger: The Fall and Rise of Herman Brood, over at DiverseWorks. And believe me when I say that, well, it’s pretty badass, from all reports.

Why’s this a big deal? Well, it’s the story of famous/infamous Dutch rockstar Herman Brood, a guy who was obscure on this side of the Atlantic to the vast majority of Americans…until, that is, a guy named Charles Thompson decided he needed to write an album in tribute to Brood’s life and music. If you’re not up on your music trivia, Thompson’s probably better known either as Black Francis or Frank Black, aka the lead singer, guitarist, songwriter, and frontman of seminal indie-rock band The Pixies.

So back in 2007, Black Francis (let’s just call him that, for simplicity’s sake) wrote a well-regarded album about Brood, entitled Bluefinger. And now, right here in our very city, the Catastrophic Theatre folks have adapted Francis’ album into a full-on rock opera about both Brood and Francis — and director Jason Nodler was able to get Francis involved directly in the project (including coaching the band playing his songs), as well as consult with friends and family of Brood.

The end result, from all reports, is a mind-blowing piece of drama that delves into the psyches of two amazing, intense musicians, two icons, one of whom inadvertently helped to create the other. Oh, and it stars former Sprawl/Middlefinger (and current Lick Lick) singer/bandleader Matt Kelly as Brood and ex-dead horse./-Plus and Minus Show singer/guitarist Michael Haaga as Francis, with parts and music played by other local scene luminaries like Matthew Brownlie (of Bring Back The Guns) and John Duboise (Two Star Symphony).

Check out Creg’s articles here and here for more, and hey, John Lomax has it covered pretty nicely in the Houston Press, too…

It’s too late to check out opening night, I’m afraid, but the play runs from tonight through December 18th, Wed.-Sat. Not completely sure, but I think the non-opening night ticket prices run by the Theatre’s pay-as-you-can scale, so nobody should be left out.