jack book review:

Dusty Pictures:

photos 2001-2002 by Cathy Petch

reviewed by David Bateman

Experiencing The Silver Hearts live, over the past few a years at a variety of venues in Peterborough and Toronto, has become, for me, one of those infrequently frequent, much loved pastimes that I comfortably wander in and out of, nourished by a nostalgia for the present that this remarkable 13 piece band satisfies anew each time I hear them. Described as Depression Era Punk this remarkable group of musicians have begun to receive national attention at a variety of folk festivals, bars, the Sunday series at the Rivoli, and a live Harbourfront taping. Currently on tour in Western Canada the band fills the stage with a theatrical presence that has been called "huge, raunchy and boisterous, lurching, wailing and cacophonous and full of debauch and heartache."

Sex goddess and band member Cathy Petch plays the saw with elegant abandon, and in her spare time - which she has precious little of - chronicles the life and times of The Silver Hearts in a series of intimate portraits recently published by wordworks and edited by Andrea Forsell and Jeramy Dodds. Layout by David Chambo is suitably understated as each portrait appears in the centre of a solid black ground, elegantly underscored with a single line from a Silver Hearts tune.

Divided into three sections - Instruments, Instrumental, & Instrumentation - this black and white photo essay of sorts gradually moves from detailed studies of the instruments into handsome portraits of the women and men who comprise The Silver Hearts. I see this precious little text on an end table beside Sam Shepard and Jessica Lange's bed on their farm in Virginia. I see it in my backpack as I wander into the next Silver Hearts performance at The Montreal House, where I am destined to smile and cry salty beer tears onto the pages of my autographed.