Oakland, Berkeley, And East Bay News, Events, Restaurants, Music, & Arts
Best of the East Bay 2005
Most Charismatic Performer
Marty Anderson of Okay
This isn't David Lee Roth-style charisma, now. You won't catch Marty doing scissor kicks off the drum riser -- in fact, due to Crohn's disease, Fremont's answer to Brian Wilson is primarily housebound and rarely performs live, and certainly can't tour. But High Road and Low Road, Marty's two simultaneously released new albums under his Okay moniker, are shockingly massive planets of sound and candy-coated fury, a lo-fi carnival of bouncing keyboards, gently strummed guitars, random blasts of art rock noise, and his cartoonishly nasal voice. It's an alternate universe every bit as escapist and invigorating as anything Freddie Mercury or Diamond Dave ever dreamt up. And indeed, Marty is even playing a few shows around town, leading a seven-person mini-orchestra while dressed in a bright-orange ski hat and white lab coat/Jesus Christ Superstar robe getup, with a handful of fireworks hidden up the sleeve for the set's quieter moments. I don't live in my head no more, he croaks to the tune of "Amazing Grace," and he's right -- now he's living in yours.
Readers' Pick:
Kelly Rice, the Catholic Comb
TheCatholicComb.com
(Sorry, no information is currently available for other years in this same award category.)
