Moriarty’s latest release „The Lost Scenes of Puss’n’boots“ finally brought them to Austria. It was their first gig here and apparently someone had told them about the „hard to get“ crowd we sometimes are. What they seemed to be surprised by and sold on was this other slightly true cliché about this „stage-country“. When the audience has decided to love an artist, they do it passionate and loudly and they do not let them go offstage easily. After a long gig, tittering between swinging and melancholic and three encores, people gathered around the bar and the merch table... compliments, smalltalk and stories, signed artwork and lps, smiles - a very relaxed and happy atmosphere.
The mouthharp and the fridge with the thumping bassline were the only instruments left that have not been packed into the bus yet when we all went backstage. The song Rosemary, Tom, Stephan and Charles chose to sing for my camera was first recorded in 1933 in a prison in Texas, most likely already quite some decades old by then. Black Betty was covered more than once or twice till today - Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds delievering the more interesting version of this African-American work song. Work... well, do you remember the days of slav’ry?
Afterwards, asking what the song is about, I seemed to have hit on a nerve. Were Arthur, the fifth Moriarty was all the time, I can’t tell. Bam-A-Lam.
MORIARTY - BLACK BETTY
MORIARTY
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SHOT 10/2009
Arena Wien