'Come Feel Me Tremble'
Westerberg high

AT FIRST GLANCE, Otto Zithromax and Rick Fuller seem to have made the ultimate fan's mash note to the Replacements' resident fall guy, Paul Westerberg, with the help of fans' snaps and much concert footage culled from the singer-songwriter's solo tour last year. But then you realize that, oh yeah, Zithromax is actually Westerberg's pseudonym – and Come Feel Me Tremble starts to seem more like t-he Mats' "Bastard of Young" music video composed of one black-and-white shot of a speaker blasting the song. Depending on how you feel about Westerberg's shambling persona and conflicted feelings toward fame, the video could be seen as either self-indulgent, contemptuous, or brilliant, coming from, at the time, one of America's premiere erratic proto-indie live bands. Like that video, Come Feel Me Tremble (premiering here thanks to the Noise Pop Film Festival) specializes in long, stationary shots – this time of Westerberg singing and playing electric guitar before adoring audiences – so your enjoyment of it should be proportionate to your devotion as a fan. The hardcore will undoubtedly be in heaven. But for sometime-faithful like myself, Tremble still leaves room for the definitive Replacements (and even Westerberg) doc. See Rep Clock for show times. (Kimberly Chun)


July 23, 2003