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I am proud of the fact that I still have never seen the musical Tommy. [That isn't entirely true. I did see more than I wanted to during a high school lip-syncing competition where some theater tech people decided to put on a fifteen-minute version of the show. It kind of sucked. I mean, they had a mirror made out of tin foil that Tommy broke through and some stage explosives that went off when that happened. I know what you're thinking. They cheated, right? I mean who else has explosives that they could use in their lip syncing? Well, don't worry, they didn't win.] I like the Who. I have listened to the albums. I'm a fan. I just don't think that I have to see this to enjoy it. It is enough to know that there is something else. The songs though stand for themselves.
Gram Rabbit's second album, Cultivation, works in the opposite way. The songs are strong (my personal favorite being "Bloody Bunnies (Superficiality)") but it wouldn't surprise me at all if someone were to tell me that they were part of something else like a musical. In fact, I would go out of my way to see that musical. There are enough David Lynch inspired musical interludes on this album to suggest that there is a set change or a costume change happening behind a closed curtain somewhere. Most of the songs deal with the same theme of isolation caused by the American culture. You could create a story to thread the whole thing together and make a pretty wild show. I would go see that show. And I'd skip the lip sync competition.
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