The Great and Powerful

Holy Hannah, cats.

Friday, at last.

So I'm back to writing about some post-grunge guitar driven alternateen-anthems once again. I wrote, a while back, about a concert experience that turned me on to one of my favorite bands, The Get Up Kids. I mentioned, in passing, seeing the band Ozma as an opener. You know what? I still dig Ozma in their own weird way, even after all these years. 

One could get the sense that Ozma, hailing from Pasadena, frequently got labeled some variation on the derisive 'Weezer Lite', a term I heard hurled at them during that show. I dug their sound, though. Personally I found it to be similar enough but distinctive and unique in their own right, enough that I half heartedly sought out their music after the show. Unfortunately their performance was eclipsed in my eyes by that of The Get Up Kids, and I soon forgot about the little emo band that could. About a year later, killing time in study hall, a friend of mine fired up a certain f s program that shall remain nameless. Agog that she had installed it on a school computer (it was a different time, then) I asked to see what she on on the horrendously under powered pc. Among the tracks was Ozma's awesome introductory track with which they had opened their show - 'Domino Effect'.

"Oh my god Ozma!" I shouted.

She cocked her head, conjuring. "Oh yeah, we were at that show together, huh?" We weren't super close, if you couldn't tell... 

I loved the song and listened to it on that pc in the computer lab whenever I had class in there. But then time passed, she graduatued and the teacher cleaned out the hard drive. I forgot all about Ozma and that song. I was about to go off to college myself when I was poking around a Best Buy, looking for something I can't recall, when I saw that album by Ozma, Rock and Roll Part Three. I immediately switched gears and went gung ho for Ozma, throwing it into my car's CD player on the way home. The night of the concert came rushing back to me, hearing those songs. The excellent opener, the eversoslightly Western tinged 'The Ups and Downs', the crushing and epic 'Battlescars', a song whose power and heft still drive me crazy today. As much as I love those tunes, though, I still can't get over the bizarre and hopelessly pleading love letter to the genius pixie, 'Natalie Portman' - it's a strangely written track that rocks, never the less. A churning, rolling affair of power chords, octave-riffs and morose lyrics, singer Ryan Slegr wails the final lines of the song in resignation and frustration, belting "There's nothing! There's nothing! There's nothing I can do!" It comes across as an amazing mix of heartbreakingly sad and a touch absurd. Basically, I love it.

The band split in the last decade, only to get back together in the last few years. To be honest I've fallen out of step with Ozma, not really following their developments, but I still love Rock and Roll Part Three. There are some fantastic songs on there that not only feel great but they bring me back so vividly to that unbelievable great show. Give it a listen.