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AthFest 2006: Dexter Romweber
Though He May Have Gleaned Up His Act, The Primitive Rock Of Romweber
Remains As Dangerous And Dirty As Ever. A New Film 20 Years In The Making
Documents His Growth As A Musician And As An Idiosyncratic Individual
A film about Dexter Romweber? This is the
same cat from the Flat Duo Jets who cap
tivated this writer's awkward pimply libi
do the split-second “Crazy Hazy Kisses" leapt off
of the grooves of Athens, Go.: Inside/Out? The
same primitive rocker who beat his poor guitar
so hard one night at the old Uptown Lounge
that he broke the damn thing? (The show
was able to continue only after he begged
a replacement, surely the lender fearful
that it might meet the same fate.) The
same guy who ruminated about having
sex with ghosts and witches who were
trying to poison him as casually as
others discussed weather? Hell yeah!
Yes, his erratic behaviot has gener
ated as many stories as his jaw-
dropping. rockabilly-inspired guitar
playing.
This is the same Dex who en
dured a period when he couldn't
finish a song on stage and finally
renounced music totally, only to
descend into a vicious depression.
His is also the riveting redemption
story where he fo» qht off his demons
and resurrected ms passion for mu
sic. Possibly in better voice now than
ever before, rivaling Sleepy LaBeef
and Jay Chevalier, his from-the-hip '50s
primitivism continues to blaze with an
intensity that transcends any sludgy, un
holy night club. His dark unpredictable spirit
has wowed audiences worldwide and inspired
musicians from Jack White to the Reverend •
Horton Heat to Neko Case. Yeah, THAT Dexter
Romweber is the subject of Two-Headed Cow, a
new documentary from the makers of Athens, Go.:
Inside/Out.
Often ambivalent, Romweber seems reticent
when it comes to praising the film. “The thing
about it is that you can't get everything about
one's life in 70 minutes,” he says. “It's pretty
personal, but there's so much to one's life. They
didn't get it all in there. That's okay. I respect
that. It's a documentary. You can't get it all...
One thing about the film is that I did not want
to offend anybody. I didn't want anybody to get
hurt by it. But it's a pretty neat film," he adds.
"There's a lot of neat footage. They don't put a
of music in there. There is a enough, but it's
total."
Although the struggle between the light and
sides of Romweber hasn't always served
him well, it has certainly generated plenty of
Tony Gayton, Lisa Wells Fincannon
Bill Cody all saw that quality as well,
starting work on Two-Headed Cow back in
1986, after the footage for Athens, Go.:
Inside/Out was in the can. For various
reasons, the film was shelved in 1987.
There it sat until 2004, when the
filmmakers found Romweber after the
testy breakup with his Flat Duo Jets
partner Chris "Crow" Smith; Dex was
freshly sober and back on more solid
footing.
“You know how Richard Burton's
character in Night of the Iguana had
bankrupted his emotional bank ac
count?" says Romweber. "He can't
afford to do things. Everything is all
in the red. That's pretty much how I
felt concerning drinking. My emotion
al bank account was empty. I could
not (drink) any more—for now."
While others might keep such a
transition private, "I wanted to get to a
point to where I was honest about tell
ing the story as I knew it. I think people
respono most to when people are being com
pletely human or real. I figure, why not use
the public as my therapist?" he says, and laughs.
Even the liner notes on the 2004 album Blues
That Defy My Soui Romweber's latest, display his
translucence about his foibles: he thanks both
lithium and Adderall. He also thanks various
saints, a sign of his consuming spirituality. "I try
to maintain a real spiritual connection, always,
but certainly on-stage," he says. "That doesn't
exclude the dark side of things. You can't hide
that away. It's gotta be dealt with. It's gotta be
expressed. You gotta be honest about it. I try to
use my shows as a catharsis for that dark side in
me."
Romweber says he sees a similarity between
Two-Headed Cow and Crumb, the documentary
film about R. Crumb, another conflicted artist:
“I thought it was extremely similar, but this is
a rock-and-roll movie. There's live audiences,
there's drugs, there's traveling, there's reflection,
there's down periods, there's depression, there's
triumph, there's tragedy, there's, urn... a whole
searching aspect to the whole thing. There's an
alienation—the modern American artist as an
alienated guy.
"There's all that," says Romweber, “but when
you get right down to it, it's a profile of a Land."
In fact, it's the tumultuous redemption story of
visionary roots rocker: Dexter Romweber. 'Nuff
said for now, but ask him about it some more
after Wednesday's screening of the film at the 40
Watt—he'll be on hand following the film for a
Q&A session.
Gretchen Wood
WHAT: Two-Headed Cow 1
WHERE: 40 Watt Club
WHEN: Wednesday, June 21,8:30 p.m.
HOW MUCH: $5 (FREE! w/ AthFest wristband)
WHO: Dexter Romweber
WHERE: Lunch Paper
WHEN: Thursday, June 22,11 p.m.
HOW MUCH: $3
WHO: Dexter Romweber Duo
WHERE: AthFest Main Stage
WHEN: Saturday, June 24,6 p.m.
HOW MUCH: FREE!
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