PERFORMANCE ART REVIEW : The Dark Bob Attempts a Crossover at Highways

Perhaps inside of every performance artist is a closet pop singer. The temptation to mix body gyrations, flamboyant costumes and raw vocal power becomes too strong for the extroverted performer who usually does all that anyway.

So, with his pencil-thin goatee, pointy Captain Kirk sideburns and balding jet-black hair, performance artist The Dark Bob attempted such a crossover Thursday night at Highways in Santa Monica. In “Tales From the Dark Bob,” songs, manic monologues, action painting and a belly dancer combined into an evening that skidded around themes of absurdity often revealing a bitter core of political realities.

On hand to accompany him was an ensemble known as The Dark Band--Paul Brown on electric bass, Paul Castellanos on violin, James Hoskins on cello, Myrna Neuberg on percussion, plus a bearded oud-player named Rico and a belly dancer named Kadi. Playing arrangements that were created mostly by ear, the group blended rock styles a la Andy Warhol’s Velvet Underground with a visceral Arab pop sound.

The results proved as much a satire on concertizing as a concert itself. The Dark Bob’s sophisticated wit and extended delivery carried the proceedings, essentially an odd, pan-cultural, stand-up comedy act.

His talent as lyricist dominates less-developed skills. Songs such as “Everyone Knows” succeed mostly from use of rapid-fire sentences filled with philosophical bantering, recitations of current events, religious reflections and proclamations that love is the most profound of all experiences.

Prerecorded, electronically processed monologues were inserted between musical numbers, as The Dark Bob lip-synced to them. Other highlights included extended bluesy soloing on the oud by Rico and a transcendental arrangement of the song “Heroes” by David Bowie and Brian Eno.