Anything's possible at Bern's weekend shows

By J. MARK DUDICK
Daily News correspondent

Published: September 24, 2005
Last Modified: September 24, 2005 at 08:46 PM

Eons before Nazi stormtroopers twisted and perverted the symbol toward their evil purposes, the swastika stood for health, wealth and happiness. After more than 60 years, Dan Bern, a Jew of Lithuanian descent, is restoring the ancient symbol to its original intent.

In "The Swastika Song," he sings of a white one to give to his bride, a black one his uncle dyed, a green one for football (a Notre Dame sign) and a pink one signaling gay pride.

And the chorus goes something like this:

"Well it stands for John, Paul, George and Ringo/ stands for Groucho, Harpo, Zeppo and Chico/ looks like four sevens, which is 28/ which is half of Joe DiMaggio's hitting streak/ My little swastika/ my little swastika/ you can do what you want/ but I'm taking it back/ it's not your anymore/ It's mine now."

As any of Bern's avid Anchorage fans know, this sensitive and disturbing issue isn't the first or his last undertaking. Other irreverent tunes ranging from sports to terrorists grapple with "music to beat Bush by," a new messiah, high-school shootings, Pete Rose and Tiger Woods, the Oklahoma bombing, Marilyn Monroe, alien abduction, chick singers and the "Talkin' Al Kida Blues."

In a recent phone interview from his home in New Mexico, Bern -- in his usual reedy, doleful lion voice -- said to expect the unexpected for his shows at Snow Goose Theatre this weekend. After several years of nonstop touring, the singer-songwriter took off a chunk of time to let his mind and body heal.

Next, Bern quickly touted his opening act, Hamell on Trial. Both performers have opened for Ani DiFranco, and Hamell wowed a small Anchorage crowd earlier this year.

"He'll come out with great intensity," Bern said. "He's not like anything an audience has seen before."

Indeed, Blender magazine gushed: "Hamell hasn't lost his knack for describing true crime and evoking existential outrage … no folk-punk or anti-punk plays harder or louder."

Added Bern: "I'd leave my couch to go see him."

It's also on that couch that he's written a pile of new songs, which he'll try out in Anchorage and later in November take into the recording studio. That scenario makes predicting a set list kind of difficult, he warned.

"That's why I'm coming up there."

The writing part's no problem. Sure, it's a solitary, individual endeavor full of pitfalls and strange self-revelations, Bern said.

"I used to think I was happiest when I wrote. But that's not true. I mostly write when I'm unhappy."

And he could come up with 10 songs a day just from perusing the newspaper. But eventually quantity yields to quality, and he'll question the timelessness of his work and the risks involved.

"People like John Lennon and Ray Charles wrote from the inside of their hearts. We all feel. The challenge for a songwriter is to tap into those feelings."

But some songs are timeless and might not grab folks the first time. And some songs might sound better with a full band. Until they're played in front of a crowd, something in the process isn't complete, Bern said.

"You have to play it to find out how it feels."

The new tunes veer into uncharted territory because for the last five years -- especially since 9/11 -- Bern has preached politics in what he calls "positive, uplifting ways."

"The election seemed like such a necessary opportunity, I put all other songs on the back burner."

As mentioned, one EP, "My Country II" (2004), featured music to help defeat President George W. Bush's run for re-election. To that extent, Bern chronicled overheard conversations at gas stations, in diners and at concerts, and he felt optimistic that the right candidate would win. Now, soldiers are dying in war and people are drowning because government officials botch hurricane-disaster relief. What's happening is clear as day, Bern said.

"Those guys in Washington, they're the evilest politicians to ever get elected."

During the incessant touring, Bern also wrote a novel, "Quitting Science" (2004), under the pseudonym of Cunliffe Merriwether. The book extends Bern's sometimes raunchy 5- to 8-minute storytelling to a 319-page picaresque romp. He wrote it in order to survive. What else can you do on the road while cooped up in a van for days and months on end, Bern explained.

Like most of his creative musings -- onstage or in print -- the result proved more than he anticipated.

"It took me by surprise. I only started out to write a short story."

Freelancer J. Mark Dudick lives and writes in Anchorage.