Bill Callahan at the Memorial Union Terrace
There is no one right way to celebrate America, and the Memorial Union Terrace did its part to provide something for everyone during the Rhythm And Booms spectacle Saturday night. Before the sun completely gave way for the fireworks, UW-Madison chemistry professor Bassam Shakhashiri gave a delightful demonstration of how chemicals work to produce the firework display most people had come to see. And while the ashes of the main event’s fireworks slowly worked their way up to feast on our atmospheric layers, contemporary folk superhero Bill Callahan gave a sobering reflection on what it actually means to celebrate Independence Day in the first place.
Sobering can be a misleading adjective to describe Callahan, though. His earthy guitar picking and ocean-deep baritone voice create road-weary and knowing commentaries that remain stoic under the most dreadful disasters. He routinely takes ordinary objects and goings-on, like streams and tumbleweeds, and spins them into colossal waterways of information fighting through dams of logic. And with a discography that runs nearly as deep as his voice, his knowing diction is earned. For one of the night’s several highlights, he reached back to “Say Valley Maker” and seemed to point triumphantly to the firework’s floating residue when he sang, “Bury me in fire and I’m gonna phoenix.”
But that was the only holdover from Callahan’s work in Smog. The rest of the set stole from Callahan’s solo recordings, with the most poignant moment provided by his latest, the terrific Apocalypse. “America!” fit right in with the Independence Day festivities, and several audience members added in the obligatory “Fuck yeah!” to tie the first verse to Team America: World Police. But by the time Callahan got around to his point and hit the clincher, “Well everyone’s allowed a past they don’t care to mention,” all jokes were lost. There was something more important happening.
It could be argued that feeling of greater purpose was true of the entire evening, too. Something truly magnificent happened at the Terrace Saturday night; and depending on whom you ask, you might get very different answers about what, exactly, was so unforgettable about the evening.
