Laralette's Mad World at Cat's Art MusikCircus

Laralette Lane performed last week at Cat's Art MusikCircus and I didn't write anything.  Since I've been writing these for a while, one of the considerations in not writing things is whether anyone is going to think 'what did he mean by that?'

Well, I didn't mean anything by that, I just didn't write anything.

Laralette Lane and Joaquin Gustav are difficult subjects for an article as neither changes the set very much.  It's not my purpose to judge that as every performer's objectives are different but they are quite different from mine so that makes things difficult, at least to some extent.

Hammering cover songs is about on par with Luke Skywalker shooting up groundhogs (or whatever they were) from his jet speedster (or whatever it was) on planet (whichever) in a "Star Wars" movie (I have no idea which one).  So, yah, it's about like that.  It's fun, if you like shooting groundhogs, but ultimately comes the realization that the number of groundhogs is not diminishing but your interest in shooting them fades rapidly.  So it goes with groundhogs and cover songs.

But ...

A cover song acquires magic depending on what you do with it.  There is no magic in covering a song like it was done on the CD as the Chinese have been pirating US music for decades.  If you want your version of a song to have value beyond something that's a discussion point in a rice paddy, you need to do something different with it.

"Mad World" by Gary Jules is a song Laralette likes to cover as there are some parts of the lyrics which have most unusual turns of phrases.  He even knows grammar so I assume he must be a Brit.

I find it kind of funny
I find it kind of sad
The dreams in which I'm dying are the best I've ever had
I find it hard to tell you,
I find it hard to take
When people run in circles it's a very, very
Mad world, mad world

Laralette takes the song and she sings it in her own sweet voice but, unlike the androgyne who sang it originally, she makes it real.  In this way Laralette makes a song her own and this is what sets her covers apart from singers who are trying to be someone else.  It's that kind of authenticity that makes the Circus happen.  I identify strongly with those words and Laralette's delivery has a poignance that I don't hear in the original.

It isn't always about being a guitar virtuoso as interpretation uses whatever tools available to build whatever you like.  Laralette isn't a guitar technician and sometimes she even makes mistakes but what she may not realize is so does Voodoo.  Even so, it's all part of the Laralette persona, just as much as her laugh.

This is a difficult thing to write without sounding patronizing as my purpose is to encourage not to deflate.  There is more to Laralette than we have heard yet and that's not a criticism as the same is true for everyone who performs there; it's one of the big reasons for going to the Circus.  Maybe there's an Angry Lara who must sing something in response to something that really is burning her and she needs her Angry Woman voice for it.  I don't know what will come but she is young and it's most interesting to watch / listen to her evolve just as with everyone else playing there.