What happened to Porl in 2008??

[cheyler]

Just out of curiosity (possibly the wrong word there...), does anyone know the thinking behind Porl's 'transformation' into the space being on tour during 2008?  The gigs in 2005-6 were great, then the bizarre new persona...  I'm not judging, fine by me, but for some weird reason I find 2008 quite difficult to watch, some weird hangup on my part probably (figured I'd save you all from having to tell me that in a thousand replies).  I can't sort out whether it's a tribute to Wes Beech (look it up) or Richard Wilson (fewer of you will need to look it up).  I can't help but put in my opinion regarding the 'Pearl' thing.  In this instance I am judging; it's just goofy.

[dsanchez]

Hi cheyler,

welcome to curefans.com!

I think Porl's look in 2008 have to do with their 'transformation' into Pearl last year.

[Ulrich]

... does anyone know the thinking behind Porl's 'transformation' into the space being on tour during 2008?  The gigs in 2005-6 were great, then the bizarre new persona... 

No, I don't, can't help you with this. Gotta agree he kinda looked "bizarre", but I honestly didn't care much. I thought the 2008 gigs sounded great (as good as, if not better than 2005/6!), that was the most important thing to me.
Back in 1985-87, that was the time when I cared a bit more about the haircuts and the clothes and all that - I still think The Cure looked good in many old photos of that time, but nowadays the music is the much more important part for me! (Ok, back then I loved the music too, of course.)

[cheyler]

I definitely didn't mean to imply that the visuals affected the enjoyment of the music, occurred to me later that it might come across like that.  Remember that old saying 'children should be seen and not heard'?  I always thought 'music should be heard and not seen'.  People get far too involved in the visual part, the fashion, the whatever, which has/have nothing to do with the creation/enjoyment of music.  But the exception to that last rule is definitely live gigs!  And DVDs.  And CDs.  And 'unofficial analog or digital live documents'.  Especially.

[cheyler]

Hi cheyler,

welcome to curefans.com!

I think Porl's look in 2008 have to do with their 'transformation' into Pearl last year.

That probably the answer right there, well said.  Thanks for the welcome by the way.

[Ulrich]

Yeah, I think dscanchez has the correct answer here.
Porl is a true artist, going his own way in a unique style.

I always thought 'music should be heard and not seen'.  People get far too involved in the visual part, the fashion, the whatever, which has/have nothing to do with the creation/enjoyment of music. 

I agree. Music can bring up visuals in your mind, these shouldn't be disturbed too much by other images...

But the exception to that last rule is definitely live gigs!  And DVDs.  And CDs.  And 'unofficial analog or digital live documents'.

And videos! Back in the 80's these were so important. The Cure's success was based on the music (thank God for that), but the Tim Pope videos played a part as well!
Nowadays I don't care much for videos any more, to be honest.

[cheyler]

Like the difference between books and movies.  Books always create mental pictures that surpass anything on film.  Especially horror movies, the screen going black or the camera moving away from some unspeakable whatever is the better choice than getting right in there and taking a swim.  Completely unrelated but what the hell.