'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)