Oh Fortuna/ Marc With A C/ Hot Lava, PopFest, Flicker, 8/16/08

Marc with a C

Photo Credit: Brook Pifer

by Casey DeHoedt
08/19/2008

For the last Flicker show of PopFest, I had arrived – sadly – late. The exterior empty... Oh man, is everyone still stealing some extra moments for sustenance? Entering the theater/stage/bar the place was packed as Oh Fortuna was crowded on the stage. Some sat idly on the couch, others stood on the wooden folding chairs.

”If I don’t wake up, I’ll never stop dreaming,” sings JT Bringardner. The crowd chants and claps along before the synth amps into a full-bodied harmony.

I usually refer to Oh Fortuna as glam-twee; glam from presentation, and twee for the obvious. The glam certainly sparkled as the multi-member band matched in their KC and the Sunshine Band/ABBA uniforms of white jumpsuits and rainbow ornamentations. Their merch table (the only thing I can really see from my position) is a spread of glow-in-the-dark star shaped sunglasses and their free demo. Dreamy and whimsical, and fitting to their celestial sounds.

“C’mon let’s get some bodies movin – let’s get sweaty!” says Bringardner before their last song. The reverb of the synthesizer echoing up into the rafters as Oh Fortuna sings of light-hearted joy. ”I’ll believe it, I’ll believe it all when I’ve seen it all,” sings the chorus of voices as the last few overtones dangled in the air.

“That was really awesome” is all that could be heard afterwards.

Marc With a C and his acoustic guitar stood up next. An Adonis of Atari, the Prometheus of pocket protectors: Marc With a C puts the pow in power ballads. His cherubian face, pajama pants and bare feet the antithesis of Oh Fortuna’s colorfully constructed costumes. He looks like the guy who just got up from a late night of D&D and pizza and just had to “sing a song.” Marc With A C relates sagas of geekdom and the romantic stigmas that (un)accompany this realm.

Somewhat more of a standup comic than a musician, Marc packs his set full with quips between and within songs. “I’ve seen a lot of bands give things away, but I haven’t seen anything ‘Pop',” as he tosses Poptarts (and granola bars) to the crowd.

During a song, Marc develops an intimacy with the crowd as he shares his soul-searching experience on quizilla.com. He’s Veronica Sawyer. He has a thing for Christian Slater. Well... that’s not true. I mean, he liked Pump Up the Volume but he didn’t like Kuffs. He loves everyone he meets... Except Christian Slater – whom he actually has never met.

This is what Marc tells us as he expresses his love for everyone (except Christian Slater), even for people who go to monster truck rallies, drink Busch beer and beat up his mom.

“I’ve always wanted to jump off a stage in Athens... Now I did... It was fuckin awesome,” says Marc after he’d stepped off the seven inch rise of the Flicker stage and approached a female in the crowd.

Lastly the quartet from Richmond, Hot Lava, took the stage. I felt myself feeling entranced from the combination of the encroaching storm outside, and the smooth alto of Allison’s lead vocals. There’s something sort of late Pixies-ish about their music. Sleazy bass riffs, minimalistic key hooks and pop drum beats as their songs are structured on builds and releases of dynamic.

The atmosphere of Flicker’ Saturday shows was fun. As the sets progressed, attendance had filtered but the mood was jovial as everyone took an initiative to meet and greet with one another and shoot the well-received breeze drifting in from the West.