Bach-Bukowski (Skinnyfest2)

A strange juxtaposition on paper and on stage, the poetry of Charles Bukowski and the music of JS Bach, although superficially thrilling, are too much at odds with each other to really impress.
Nonetheless, a spectacular performance, Willem van Ekeren plays a selection of Bach from 'The Well Tempered Clavier' while singing poems from the anything-but-tempered 'The Last Night of the Earth Poems' by Beat degenaerate Bukowski and the end result sounds vaguely like Nighthawks-era Tom Waits. But just because two things fit together doesn't mean that they should, I'm sure Bach would be horrified by the words of a man that couldn't hold down a job, a girl or a drink.
Indeed the focus is very much on Bukowski, neither the most poetic nor wise of the Beats. The songs start when the poems start and end when they do. When van Ekeren tells of how the combination came about, it dawns that there is no deeper meaning, there is really nothing that links the technically and aesthetically advanced composer with a writer whose scorn for traditional society permeates his every word.