Yo La Tengo 2008 Hanukkah Diary

Night 1, 12/21/08

At 8:30, Oneida took the stage of Maxwell’s, resplendent — a word I rarely call on — in maroon sports jackets and amazing one-chord pummel. OK, they changed chords occasionally, but I’m going to have to insist on maroon. I won’t pretend I wasn’t somewhat concerned about their grasp of the holiday (wondering in the process if I was wrong about the name Baby Hanoi Jane connoting Jewishness) when they hit us with Mott the Hoople’s “Death May Be Your Santa Claus,” and a new original called “Supersonic Santa.” But their seasonal bona fides were demonstrated with an FCC-friendly version of Jonathan Richman’s “She Cracked” and their [popup url=”http://www.yolatengo.com/ylt/duvall.png” width=”587″]transplendent[/popup] set closer, “Hanukkah, Bitch” (containing the couplet: “This ain’t the season of the witch/ It’s Hannukah, bitch” — to which we offer a hearty amen).

supersonic oneida

We’ve been Paul F. Tompkins fans for as long as we’ve been Mr. Show fans, so it was a thrill to finally get him to take part in our Hanukkah shenanigans. He too had Christmas on his mind, but having told us about his 12 years of Catholic school, we couldn’t begrudge him that. Especially when it took the form of vivisecting his least favorite Xmas song, “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year.” He closed his set by recounting the most amusing moments of his mother’s funeral — a pitch-perfect example of stand-up simultaneously hilarious and moving. In a packed rock club. Remarkable.

We played night one as a quartet, accompanied by the great Janet Weiss on drums. Played a few seasonal numbers (“Eight-Day Weekend” and Barry/Greenwich’s “Heaven Only Knows”) and located New Wave Hot Dogs‘s “House Fall Down” in the section of our repertoire labeled Songs We Haven’t Played in 15 Years. A recent recon mission revealed that Blue Oyster Cult no longer do that bit where they all play guitar at once. So as long as that move was available, we snagged it for ourselves, with Georgia and Janet both axing it up during “Little Honda.”

todd barry was wrong

We asked Paul F. Tompkins if he had a Jewish song he’d like to sing with us, and he suggested “Ring of Fire.” The conflict between our desires to be accommodating hosts and to stick to the format were resolved when Paul promised to Jew it up a bit. He added a verse and chorus telling the story of Hanukkah, and Janet on the digital trombone was a holiday miracle of sorts.

welcome to hoboken

We ended the show with Mr. Britt Daniel on hand to sing some Jewish-penned favorites. “Public Image“! “Mother and Child Reunion,” the impact of which might’ve been blunted when some dullard started the song in the wrong key. A powerhouse “Me and Mr. Jones,” and a tear-jerking of “This Guy’s in Love With You” brought the evening to a most glorious close, if I say so myself.

me and mr. daniel

Tonight’s proceeds went to The Jubilee Center of Hoboken, as suggested by Matt from New York

Night 2, 12/22/08

Eight nights of gala entertainment don’t just grow on Hanukkah bushes. For months, we ask performers far and wide if they’d consider taking part, irrespective of the unlikelihood of a “yes.” In the process, we acquire quite the collection of nicely-worded no’s — though it’s true, not everybody takes the time to reply. And then out of the blue comes a response like the one from the Magnetic Fields, and the next thing you know they’re taking the stage at Maxwell’s. Squeezing an upright piano amongst our bric-a-brac meant that Stephin Merritt was positioned all the way on stage left, obscured for many by the p.a. column (and for many others by what one observer termed the “tallest audience in history”). They played a gorgeous set to a pin-drop quiet audience (the only interruption came when the back bar beer cooler spontaneously combusted). Might be hard for others to pick a favorite number, but not for me: I’m going with the old Sixths selection, “Movies in My Head,” as sung by the original Wasps’ Nests vocalist, Georgia Hubley.

For the second night in a row, the comedy set zeroed in on holiday music. In fact, John Hodgman even claimed to be wearing the suit that Paul F. Tompkins left behind Sunday night, as he exposed the dirty (and I do mean dirty) secret of sexy Christmas songs. Not satisfied to enumerate “Christmas Is Coming” and “I Saw Mommy Kissing Sana Claus,” he whipped out a ukulele and closed with a version of Eartha Kitt’s “Santa Baby.” Suffice to say, one can expect a spike in the local birth rate nine months from today.

alcoholic eggs

We took advantage of the real live piano by opening with the alternate version of “The Weakest Part” and inviting Claudia Gonson and Sam Davol to sit in while Georgia tinkled the ebonies and ivories on “Don’t Have to Be So Sad.” If you’re scoring at home, we did “Guess I’m Falling in Love” (one from Column Jewish Songwriter) and “Five-Cornered Drone” (one from Column Rarely Played).

Stephin Merritt graciously agreed to take part in the encore, despite his ear woes. His only request was that he be accompanied by just one of us, and that the accompaniment be extra sloppy. I’m no doctor, but I was happy to comply on a way off the cuff version of Irving Berlin’s “Be Careful, It’s My Heart.” Next we invited Doug Gillard to join us for a few tunes, starting with a surprise second Tin Pan Alley number, the Gershwins’ “A Foggy Day.” Graham Gouldman’s “No Milk Today” followed, complete with Doug on official nylon-string guitar intro! And then it was the Dictators’ “Next Big Thing.” Did it really take us six Hanukkahs to do this one?

be careful, it's my ear

happy birthday, doug!

We try not to repeat ourselves from year to year, but there are some performers that are simply unstoppable. And so, for the third consecutive Hanukkah, we ended one of the nights with my mom singing “My Little Corner of the World.” It is this completely unbiased chronicler’s opinion that she knocked it out of the park. Not only that, she’s the only participant who can definitively tell us the correct way to light the menorah.

mom

The night’s proceeds were split between Burma Border Projects of Worcester, MA, as suggested by Paul from Brooklyn, and the Burmese Refugee Project of New York NY, as proposed by Celina from Brooklyn. Additionally, in my haste to appease some impatient members of the on-line community, I neglected to mention our third annual collection of mix cd’s, put together by James. Opening night’s was compiled by Aesop Rock and night two’s was by Steve Shelley. Nor did I thank Liz Clayton for all the photos. Thanks, Liz!! See you tonight!

Night 3, 12/23/08

If you love Steve Coogan even half as much as we do, then you’ll know why we spent the hour from 7:30 to 8:30 updating each other “they’ve reached the Chiswick roundabout,” as our designated driver Brian — John Zorn and a string-changing Marc Ribot in tow — re-enacted Knowing Me Knowing You With Alan Partridge‘s attempt to have Roger Moore as a guest. But in true modern Hollywood fashion, our remake had a happier ending. Roger Moore may have been stuck in transit from Heathrow so long that he missed the show entirely; Zorn and Ribot, on the other hand, arrived from their Lower East Side to Maxwell’s jaunt just a few minutes late (that’s a guess — I was too nervous to actually consult a timepiece), and shortly thereafter were blowing our minds with improv highwire. And then they were gone, just like that. Poof.

Slovin & Allen were next, hopeful that it would go better than the last time they followed John Zorn. Though inexplicably light on Christmas material, they were no less informative than John Hodgman was the night before. Slovin & Allen have recently immersed themselves in the written works of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, and read some illuminating excerpts from those books. They concluded their set with one of the most astonishing pieces of comedy I’ve ever witnessed–a breathtakingly choreographed and heart-stoppingly hilarious bit about coping with tragedy and comedy’s role in that, specifically September 11th. . . . And the Hindenburg.

We invited Smokey Hormel to sit in with us, and opened the set with a selection from the score we did together for Old Joy, previously unplayed live. I thought “Don’t Say a Word” came out especially well, with Smokey’s gorgeous slide work an excellent complement to Georgia’s singing. On the other end of the sonic spectrum, we took “Out the Window” for a spin, and played “I Heard You Looking” for the first time this week, with Why?‘s Yoni Wolf on organ. The Jewish favorites were “I Wanna Be Your Lover” (like us, Smokey contributed to the I’m Not There soundtrack), Neil Diamond by way of the Monkees’ “A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You” (Smokey can also be heard on Neil’s American Recordings sessions), and a tribute to the late Robert Mulligan with the Dictators’ “Stay With Me” (we’ll let you puzzle that one out).

The concert was for the benefit of Seacology, out of Berkeley, California, and thanks to Emily from Maplewood for the idea. The mix CD was courtesy of WFMU‘s Gaylord Fields. Liz took most of the photos. Unfortunately she got in over her head with on-line poker during the Zorn/Ribot set, but Stephen Hunking was able to provide a couple of action shots, just to prove that it really existed. See you tonight.

Night 4, 12/24/08

Performers differ when it comes to preparation. The band prayer skyrocketed in popularity around the time of Truth or Dare. While on tour with Why?, we always knew they were about to go on when we heard (Tuesday night’s guest) Yoni Wolf singing Leonard Cohen’s “Bird on a Wire.” And then there’s Jennifer O’Connor, who spent a contemplative three hours in Holland Tunnel traffic. That would leave me useless, but hey whatever works. She turned in an exquisite set to open night 4 and, not to peek too far behind the curtain, I think she was able to summon up an extra dollop of poignancy when she needed it by recalling that jerk who wouldn’t alternate merge. Beautiful version of Carole King’s internationallybeloved classic “Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow”!

It’s the season of giving, and so it didn’t seem completely inappropriate for North Jersey Prilosec salesman Mark Levinsky (aka Jon Benjamin) to be flinging free samples into the audience. In the process we learned a few things about heartburn, which I guess falls loosely into the category of useful information, and about how Levinsky became a father, which I’m pretty sure everybody in the audience is trying to forget as fast as possible.

Jon Glaser was unfortunately sick in bed and couldn’t make it. But he did send a letter for Jon Benjamin to read, accompanied by a photo and a six-foot sub (which turned out to be one foot, but we’ll blame that one on Blimpie’s). It’s the thought that counts, but I will confess to not expecting the references to the audience as “dumb fucks,” “dickheads” and “fucking losers.” We’ll chalk it up to just how bad he’s feeling, and hope for a speedy recovery.

For the first and maybe last time this Hanukkah, we played as a trio from start to finish. Opened with the quiet version of “Big Day Coming,” featuring Georgia jamming on the guitar. We played a let’s-see-if-we-remember trifecta with “Tiny Birds,” “Paul Is Dead” and “Shadows,” and saluted the night’s mix cd compiler Russell Mael with a cover of Sparks’ “Angst in My Pants.” Inspired by Jennifer O’Connor, we too played a Carole King number, “I Gotta Dream On,” which on further review turns out not to be a Carole King composition at all! Was written by Gary Gordon, something of a mystery man on the internet, so we’ll just take it on faith he’s Jewish too and leave it at that. Took a couple of requests for “Detouring America With Horns” and “Cherry Chapstick,” the latter of which we audibled into a quiet version, and then closed by coming full circle: Georgia singing about “jamming on a guitar” on Jan Terri’s barn-burning “Rock N Roll Santa.”

Thanks to John from Portland, Oregon who suggested that Mercy Corps be the night’s charity. This post may be conspicuously photo shy when you see it. Liz is back home in Indiana, and Stephen couldn’t make it last night, either. We entrusted the job to a teenaged volunteer who sadly didn’t approach the sending of the photos with the same gusto she has for text messaging. We’ll add them when they arrive. See you tonight!

Night 5, 12/25/08

Twenty-four years and twenty-three days after we first shared the Maxwell’s stage (our very first show), Antietam opened night 5 in stellar fashion, and you know I’m not just saying that because I was helping out on piano and organ. They mostly played songs from the amazing Opus Mixtum, but also managed to touch all the holiday bases with guest singer James dueting with Tara on “Christmas Never Comes (When You’re Alone),” which Josh wrote for Tralala, followed by Graham Gouldman’s “For Your Love,” with both Georgia and James on percussion (and me on faux harpsichord). A knockout “Stowaway” left everybody flat on their backs, in most cases metaphorically.

Fred Armisen appeared as singer-songwrtiter Joshua Rainhorn, and performed a number on piano catchy enough that he had the audience singing along with its “wine and cigarettes” chorus in no time. If you’re like me, you went straight to the bookstore to look for that Kierkegaard novel he referenced during the verse.

If Fred’s segment felt a little short, maybe he was conserving his energy, because he played the whole set with us, mostly on percussion, but also on guitar for “Little Eyes” and “Black Flowers.” He also split the singing with James on the latter song; in fact we came up with that arrangement only by Fred’s request. Somehow he even found the time, alleges one observer, to send a text message (although the photographic evidence provided is unfortunately Zapruder-like in its inconclusiveness). Like Antietam, our special material spanned the holiday spectrum: We opened with Big Star’s “Jesus Christ,” and played Sloan and Barri’s “Things I Should Have Said” and Carole King (this time for sure!) and Gerry Goffin’s “Take a Giant Step.” Tara played guitar on “Demons,” as she did when we recorded it for the I Shot Andy Warhol soundtrack, and “Deeper Into Movies.” Josh sat in (literally) on an ultrapercussive “Nuclear War.”

For the encore, we coaxed Cyril Jordan all the way from San Francisco to Hoboken to play a short set of Flamin’ Groovies songs. Georgia has been overheard calling the Flamin’ Groovies her favorite band ever, and I’ve learned the hard way not to argue with Georgia. We opened with “You Tore Me Down,” went back to the Teenage Head record for Jewish songwriter Randy Newman’s “Have You Seen My Baby,” and finished up with the 1-2-3 punch of “I Can’t Hide,” “Slow Death” and “Shake Some Action.” As Moby Grape put it so eloquently: pow pow pow.

note Gil

Thanks to Dawn and Max for tonight’s pictures, and to Leila for last night’s. The night’s proceeds were split between two New York City groups: New Immigrant Community Empowerment (NICE), as suggested by Raquel from Jackson Heights and NYLAG’s Justice at Work Project, proposed by Elena from Queens. The mix cd was compiled by Georgia, who says that Fred was not texting, but consulting his notes about the next song.

Night 6, 12/26/08

Having Lambchop on hand to open night 6 was like having a holiday family reunion, minus the drama. There are multiple reasons why we’ve made record after record in Nashville, and one of them is certainly the chance to eat hot chicken with those guys. Their set was gorgeous, mixing songs from OH (ohio) with a few covers, some more aptly chosen (Bob Dylan’s “You’re a Big Girl Now”) than others (Kurt’s What State Is Hoboken In topical shoutout to Caroline with the Wedding Present’s “Kennedy”). Were it not for the music stand in front of him, you would never have guessed that James was a fill-in on bass.

We were very excited to have the one, the only Marky Ramone on hand last night. Though by his own admission no standup comedian, he wowed us with a bawdy joke about a trip to Manny’s, before turning serious and offering a prayer to the man upstairs, a prayer that did take a number of curious digressions into Ramones historical trivia. He followed that by reading an excerpt from his writing, not from his autobiography Hey Ho Let’s A Drummer’s Life, but from his erotic novel Lady Wainsworth’s Desires (to be published next Valentine’s Day by Scribner’s). He concluded his appearance with a mini-drum clinic, inviting “the guy from Yellow Tango” on stage. Only momentarily nonplussed to discover the guy was in fact Georgia, they played short excerpts of “I Just Want to Have Something to Do” and “Blitzkreig Bop.” Marky had just enough time to hit on Georgia before splitting to his car, where his wife was waiting.

We opened night 5 by — there is no other word for it — crucifying “Jesus Christ,” so started night 6 seeking redemption, and besides it gave us the opportunity to sing “Jesus Christ was born yesterday,” which I’ll bet is going to have Alex Chilton wishing he thought of that line when he hears about it. With William Tyler of Lambchop helping out, we did a mess of songs we hadn’t tried yet this year: “Did I Tell You,” “Song for Mahila,” “My Heart’s Reflection” and “Moby Octopad,” maybe a few more. Next we brought up Marky Ramone to play the Ramones’ “Babysitter” and Richard Hell’s “The Kid With the Replaceable Head” (Marky was a Voidoid too). Did we really forget to do a Misfits song? Afraid so. Closed with Roky Erickson’s version of “Heroin.”

Eight nights of Hanukkah would not be enough time for us to play all our favorite Flamin’ Groovies songs — that’s more of a job for Lent. So there was no way we were going to send Cyril Jordan back to San Francisco without an encore. We reprised “You Tore Me Down” and “Shake Some Action” from the night before, and added Dylan by way of the Groovies’ “Absolutely Sweet Marie,” “Second Cousin” and “Dog Meat.”

We donated the night’s proceeds to Zumix in Boston, as suggested by Jane from NYC. Dawn and Stephen took the photos. And James pulled triple duty: he made the cd, too! The end is in sight. As Homer Simpson said as he jumped Springfield Gorge: “This is the greatest feeling in the world!”

Night 7, 12/27/08

At some point during the planning stages of some Hanukkah, our pal Phil Milstein took a break from posing baseball and pop culture trivia questions to suggest we bring Willie Alexander to Hoboken to perform. It was hard to believe we had never thought of that before, but that’s why you have friends. It didn’t work out for whatever that year was, but last night there was not just Willie Alexander, but Willie Alexander and the Boom Boom Band, all original members (well, don’t know that for sure, but all of these guys) on stage at Maxwell’s, opening night 7. No clue when the last time he’d played the area was, could easily have been decades ago, but time has not made his music any more describable (and believe me, we were trying, long into the night). He did some of the classics (“Hit Her Wid De Axe” and “Dirty Eddie“), but not all the classics (no “Mass. Ave.,” no “Kerouac”), and some I didn’t know. If I had a nickel for every time I heard John Cameron Swayze mentioned in a rock song, I’d have a nickel, and I’d have pocketed it last night.

Whenever his busy schedule will permit it, we love to get Rabbi Alan Sugarman join us for his popular segment Ask a Rabbi. This year’s edition had a particular tension, falling as it did in the midst of the escalated fighting in the Middle East (which, to give you an idea of the bubble we occupy during these shows, we did not even know about until the rabbi started talking of it). Nevertheless the rabbi maintained his trademark good humor, correcting misconceptions about Judaism (actually invented in the 18th century, it turns out) and explaining why we love Chinese food so much (we don’t — it’s the Chinese themselves we’re fond of, for taking over the Jews’ hated immigrant status). The rabbi’s concluding remarks about the power of faith even amidst its seeming absurdities struck a surprisingly and appropriately (under the circumstances) somber chord.

We started our set with a reprise of “Sugarcube” (from night one) and then brought on David Mansfield to play the remainder of the set. We played a slew of quiet numbers, David adding preposterously amazing pedal steel to “The Cone of Silence” and “One PM Again.” “Let’s Be Still” was called for the first time in years, rearranged on the spot with both Georgia and me on keyboards. The Jewish songbook selections were “She May Call You Up Tonight” by Michael Brown and “Off and Running” by Toni Wine and Carole Bayer Sager, from the fab soundtrack to To Sir With Love. We turned up the volume for the end of the set, with David adding satisfyingly ferocious violin to “Mushroom Cloud of Hiss.”

We returned to the stage as a trio, to play the Customs/Lyres classic “Long Gone,” which we went to the trouble of learning before realizing that Peter Greenberg didn’t write it. (Gil Divine sat in on flashlight when my lyrics proved unreadable.) Then we invited David back, accompanied by Willie Alexander. Figuring that the only thing better than one Michael Brown song was two, we cajoled Willie into singing “Walk Away Renee,” as heard on The Boston Incest Album, for what turns out to be the first time since he recorded it. He expressed some trepidation, but it sounded amazing to me. Then we went back to his ’60s group, The Lost, for “Maybe More Than You,” suggested by Todd-o-phonic Todd. It was hard to believe we hadn’t thought of that before, but that’s why you have friends. We bid a fond farewell to David, and finished up Willie’s encore with his arrangement of “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’.” There’s a special feeling that comes from playing a song you’ve heard on record for 25 years with the guy who made that record, and I hope you all get to experience that at one time or another.

To close the show, we brought David Cross back on stage. Figuring the only thing better than one song from the To Sir With Love soundtrack was two, he sent us home with a tear in our collective eye with his tender version of the title song.

The charity for the night was the Community Partnership School of Philadelphia , as suggested by Joseph from Philadelphia. Stephen took the pictures. It was my turn in the mix cd hot seat. Final countdown, baby!

Night 8, 12/28/08

I hold in my hand the final Hanukkah recap. At 8 pm, Joe Puleo added the final touch to his Larry King menorah, and at the stroke of 8:30, Zooey Deschanel‘s mix cd was turned off. Metal Mountains took the stage to perform a mesmerizing set, all of which we hope to hear on their forthcoming release on Amish. Helen kept apologizing for one thing or another — none of which discernible to this listener. In fact, the only thing she left out was the one thing we were upset about: We had no idea they were going to be so punctual, and as a result missed the beginning of their show!

It wouldn’t be Hanukkah without an appearance by Todd Barry, and it was most certainly Hanukkah. Todd congratulated the audience on winning the lottery by getting to see him (because no one knows who’s going to play when they purchase their tickets), and then turned in a hilarious set of material, both old and new. And when we say new, we mean it: an anecdote told at dinner became a brand-spanking-new Todd Barry bit. Breaking tradition, he could find nothing to mock in night 8’s charity, the Common Sense Foundation of Durham, North Carolina (suggested by David from Durham), but true to form did not leave the stage before taking issue with nearly every guitar, amplifier, and other piece of equipment of ours. He did go unusually easy on the drum kit, I wonder why.

We opened with the Beatles‘ “Not a Second Time,” reworked into a holiday-appropriate “Not a Ninth Time,” then came “Let’s Save Tony Orlando‘s House” and a bunch of other songs, most of which were being heard for the first time this week. Team Metal Mountains joined us for the middle of the set, and I thought they were especially stellar on “Fourth Time Around” and “Saturday.” With the help of P.G. Six on guitar, we sang “The Way Some People Die,” one of “Dave Schramm‘s contributions to Ride the Tiger, which was planned without knowing that Dave would be in attendance. (Had James ever played that song, we were asked later. A: I don’t think so.) We closed with “Eight Days a Week.”

We took a few requests during the encore: a last run-through of “Autumn Sweater” and a one-night-only “You Can Have It All.” Georgia strapped on a guitar for Blue Oyster Cult’s “This Ain’t the Summer of Love,” vacating the kit for the drumming dynamo that is Todd Barry. Finally, Georgia sang Carole King’s “You’ve Got a Friend,” and if there was a dry eye in the house, it wasn’t mine.

So many thank yous . . .

Just in case it hasn’t been obvious, these shows are being worked on in pretty much every waking moment, and not just by Georgia, James and me. Our crew — Joe, Gil and Mark — were in constant motion, and Suzanne and Brian took on an unhealthy workload as well, especially in preparation for this week. I want to thank Stephen Hunking again for the t-shirt designs and photos (including today’s). Todd Abramson and everyone at Maxwell’s make us feel so welcome, and that’s really saying something, as anyone who’s ever had a house guest for eight days can attest. See you next time, if there is a next time. Happy Hanukkhah.

November 14, 2008

Hi everybody,

As members of the Yo La Tengo mailing list (and readers of the finest blogs) may know by now, we’re going to play another series of Hanukkah shows this year at Maxwell’s from December 21st to December 28th. As of this writing, all shows are currently sold out online, with the exception of December 24th and 25th. You can find links and ticket information here. Inflation may be rampant, but not here: tickets will be $30, just like last year. Shows will begin at 9:00 on Friday and Saturday, and 8:30 every other night. There’ll be a musical act in addition to Yo La Tengo, some comedy, and maybe something else. We’ll see. But just like last year, we will be enforcing a strict “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy about the lineups. Mostly because we won’t know until the last minute, but — we cannot tell a lie — also because we’re ornery that way.

There is one thing we can tell you. The Feelies will not be playing with us during Hanukkah, scout’s honor. But we will be doing a gala New Year’s Eve show with the Feelies, merely New Jersey’s greatest rock band ever, and Vivian Girls at the Wellmont Theater in Montclair, NJ, home of Stephen Colbert and Don Fleming. Tickets will be $35, or a mere $115 less than it costs to see Steely Dan. (To be fair, if you’re paying per chord, Steely Dan is priced competitively.)

As Joan Rivers asked so poignantly: can we talk? With all the economic turmoil turmoiling about us these days, it’s not that easy to suggest that you spend what’s left of your money with us. But if you’ve ever attended these Hanukkah shows before, we hope you’ll agree that they are unique evenings of entertainment (and if you haven’t, here are lengthy descriptions of the 2005 and 2007 editions). We don’t take a penny from these shows, and no performer receives anything beyond their expenses. The word benefit is an often abused one, but we promise you, the money you pay is being passed along to charity.

Which brings me to the next point. Over the years, from time to time people have offered unsolicited suggestions about where we could donate the proceeds from individual shows, suggestions we have frequently taken. So let’s solicit them this year: If you work for a non-profit organization, don’t hesitate to tell us about it. We can’t guarantee that we’ll select you as one of our recipients, but we will absolutely consider it.

I guess that’s it. Hope to see you in December.

Ira, Georgia and James

 

September 01, 2008

Hi everybody,

On October 5, Georgia and I will be participating in what used to be called the MS Bike Tour, but what now goes under the somewhat more ungainly name Bike MS New York City Traffic Free. Call it what you will, we will be be riding 30 miles around Manhattan, unless one or both of us decides to go wild and make a dash through the Lincoln Tunnel and take a spin around New Jersey too. (That’s what we did in 2005, Georgia topping out at 45 miles, me clocking in at 60.) And in the process try to raise some money in the fight against MS.

If you would like to sponsor one or both of us, we’ll be very grateful.

Click here for Georgia.

Click here for Ira.

Thanks so much.

As East River Pipe put it so eloquently: helmet on,
Ira

 

March 21, 2008

Waltz Across Sixth Street

— or —

I’m With the Wristband

Did you miss South by Southwest but want to experience all the magic? Here’s what you do: (1) Put a name tag on your shirt. (2) Put three pair of headphones on your head, each one set to a different iPod on shuffle. (3) Head to the grocery store. Pick up a can of peaches and get on the longest checkout line. Wait your turn, then remember that you forgot the peanut butter; go back and get it, and then go to the back of the longest checkout line. Repeat until you can’t take it anymore. When you finally check out, no matter how much money the cashier asks for, pay $650. Then come home and check out any of the following clips:

  • Saturday March 8 was the premiere of The Toe Tactic and IFC News talked to writer/director Emily Hubley. On Tuesday, March 11, we played an IFC party at the Parish, and Ira got his turn under the harsh glare of the IFC News klieg light. The interviews and “Mr. Tough” can be found here
  • On Thursday March 13, we took part in a tribute to Lou Reed, performing “She’s My Best Friend” and “I Heard Her Call My Name.” Here’s a snippet. Watch for a cameo by Eugene Mirman!
  • Here’s our set from the Austin Music Hall later that evening, opening for My Morning Jacket.
  • The next day we played an acoustic set at the Other Music shindig. Videos have been posted for “Autumn Sweater” and “The Story of Yo La Tango”.
  • Later that night, Ira sat in on saxophone with Half Japanese! Click here for MP3’s from the set, and here’s some videos:

February 1, 2008

Hey everybody,

Having finally finished washing off the blue body paint and digesting our Super Bowl 6-foot sub, we’re ready to turn our attention to March Madness. The festivities begin on Sunday, March 2 when once again we (aided, abetted and enabled by Mr. Bruce Bennett) will be taking your requests on the airwaves of WFMU, helping that most excellent of radio stations raise the necessary dough to continue their most excellence for another year. We’ll be on the air with Gaylord Fields and Bob Brainen from 5 – 8 pm, eastern time, and we hope you can tune in on your radio or computer and throw some money WFMU’s way. More information can be found here.

Next you can find us on the side of the road, with the collective Yo La Tengo thumb outstretched and a sign that says TEXAS OR BUST. We’ll be in Austin for the popular South by Southwest cavalcade, with side trips to Houston and Dallas. We’re arriving in time for the film festival, where The Toe Tactic, a new movie we’ve scored, is screening. In between barbecue expeditions to Lockhart and Taylor, we’ll do some rocking with the My Morning Jacket, and some Freewheeling in Dallas, and maybe some other stuff too. Then we’ll come home.

For those of you who can’t catch The Toe Tactic in Austin, we’re happy to tell you it’s been selected for this year’s edition of New Directors/New Films. (If you’re scoring at home, that makes three years in a row we’ve been part of this festival, following Junebug in 2006 and Old Joy in 2007.) It will be showing at the Walter Reade Theater on Saturday, March 29 at 6 pm and at the Museum of Modern Art on Monday, March 31 at 9 pm. Tickets are on sale now.

The latter date of which just happens to be Opening Day.

Yo La Tengo 2007 Hanukkah Diary

Night 1, 12/4/07

Hanukkah 2007 began at sundown on December 4. Our first show at Maxwell’s began at 8:30 when Versus took the stage. But the gift-giving season started an hour or so earlier for Jon Glaser when he learned that his Detroit Tigers had landed Miguel Cabrera and Dontrelle Willis. ‘Tis the season to be jolly, indeed.

Versus were a near-miss for our 2005 holiday lineup, and we were thrilled to have them kick off this year’s festivities. They played a song by OMD, which not only didn’t I recognize, but it was nearly over before I put it together that those initials meant Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (Spellcheck be damned, I at least know how to spell the group’s name, even if I can only come up with two of their songs). Who knew they were Jewish? A sucker for the hits, that’s me, so I was particularly taken with the one-two punch of “My Adidas” and “River.” One complaint: Fontaine nearly but didn’t quite tell the joke about two peanuts walking into a bar and one was a salted. Other than that, like John Candy’s Pavarotti before me, I’m a happy guy.

Jon Glaser and Jon Benjamin’s 2005 Hanukkah appearance as the Brothers Italiano provided that year’s theme song, “Whatsa Matta with a Meatball,” and two years later, the very sight of them in the audience was inspiring some people to start singing it all over again, and I’m not talking about Georgia, James or me. Throwing popular demand to the wind, as is their wont, they appeared as Dave Franz and Dave Farina, the sons of Dennises Franz and Farina, and brought the house down with their telling of the story of Hanukkah. Things got a little tense when the topic of circumcision was raised (Dave was for it, while Dave considered it an abomination), though they found common ground over their fatigue (Dave had been up since 5:20 building a fort with his young son, and Dave was still suffering jetlag after arriving on the redeye from Chicago).

At about 10:30, we were coaxed from Maxwell’s luxurious dressing room, and made our way to the stage, resplendent in our finest Mardi Gras regalia, courtesy of our pals Dave and Sarah, throwing beads and chocolate Hanukkah gelt to the audience. Of course in the dark back room, it all fell to the floor, but–try to remember this homily all month–it’s the thought that counts. Our set began with James “Hanukkah Time” McNew’s version of Al “Carnival Time” Johnson‘s classic “It’s Hanukkah/Carnival Time,” complete with Mike, Steve and Jeff on horns. (We were too busy to get their last names!) James Baluyut from Versus withstood the gale-force winds on stage one more time to sit in on “Damage.”

For the encore, we were joined by Kim, who was able to come to Hoboken despite being in the witness relocation program. Bearing a passing resemblance to Jon Glaser, he performed a stirring version of “Autumn Sweater.” Then it was time for Mark Arm, who poured it on for a five-song tribute to the great punk-rock Jewish songwriters: the Circle Jerks (“Operation”), Vom (“Too Animalistic”), the Clash (“What’s My Name”–co-written by Keith Levene, now don’t you feel bad for doubting us?), Van Halen (“Ain’t Talkin’ ‘Bout Love“) and Kander and Ebb (“Life Is a Cabaret“).

See you tonight. Thanks to Liz for the photos. It’s too late for you to pick up last night’s Matmos mix cd, but who knows what James has planned for tonight? Well, James does, I guess.–Ira

Night 2, 12/5/07

If the holidays are a time for getting together with loved ones, then I can’t think of a better way to start night two of our little shindig than with the Clean. I have a vivid memory of riding toward the Lincoln Tunnel–this is something like 20 years ago– listening for the first time to a pre-recorded cassette of Compilation that a friend thought I’d like, and flipping my lid. Speaking of lids, the Clean’s were topped with black wigs, and had lots to say between songs, much of it profane. They opened strong with “Hold On to the Rail,” “Side On” and a world premiere “Factory Man,” and ended even stronger, with a triple play of classics–“Point That Thing Somewhere Else,” “Tally Ho,” and their Jewish number “Beatnik”–before closing with a gorgeous “Safe in the Rain.”

John Oliver was up next. We had never seen him do standup before. He talked a bit about walking the picket lines (as a Daily Show writer, he’s currently on strike–go Writer’s Guild!) and a lot about world affairs, both current and historical. If I had heard anyone talk about the British Empire so hilariously when I was younger, I’m sure I would have listened a lot more intently. An amazing anecdote about a childhood wardrobe malfunction was such a natural set closer that it was momentarily hard to believe he was still up there. Until he explained that the traditional end of a comedy set bores him, and he’d rather end on an uncomfortable pause–I knew we were going to love this guy. Someone in the audience had a question: Was John Oliver the voice of the Geico Gecko? That’s the way you end a comedy set. And the answer is no. (I’m pretty sure it’s Noel Gallagher.)

We started with “Green Arrow” and our holiday version of the Gary U.S. Bonds/Heartbreakers classic “Eight Day Weekend.” Hamish Kilgour joined us for the set-ending trio of “Deeper Into Movies,” “Big Day Coming” and “Little Honda.” During the encore, we were joined by David Kilgour, Robert Scott, and visiting dignitary Mac McCaughan. We did a few Jewish numbers (“Blitzkrieg Bop” and T.Rex’s “Solid Gold Easy Action”) and a couple of our favorite David songs (“Seemingly Stranded” and the Dovers’ “What Am I Going to Do,” as covered so poignantly by David and Martin Phillipps with the Pop Art Toasters.)

A delightful evening, we hope you’ll agree. See you tonight.–Ira

Night 3, 12/6/07

I’ve said it before, and I said it onstage last night, and I’m saying it again: Without the dB’s, it’s unlikely there would be Yo La Tengo. I’ll save the many reasons for the Director’s Cut of this diary, but suffice to say that sharing a stage with them on Thursday night was exciting and emotional beyond reason. Back to the classic quartet for the first time since their comeback shows, they opened with “We Were Happy There” from Repercussion. What followed was incredible. Some of the hits, of course–“Amplifier,” “Neverland,” “Love Is for Lovers,” “Dynamite,” “Big Brown Eyes” . . . who am I kidding, all their songs are hits in my book. And a selection of oddities– “Soul Kiss”! “You Got It Wrong”! “Christmas Time” revised to “Hanukkah Time”! “Excitement”!–that had me choked up from start to finish. They’ll be at Southpaw tonight, and so would I if I weren’t otherwise occupied.

In addition to being hilarious, so far the comedians this year have been exceptionally informative. In the wake of John Oliver’s history lessons, Eugene Mirman offered more in the way of helpful hints (although as on Tuesday night, the story of Hanukkah was recounted–I did notice a few discrepancies between Eugene’s version and that of Dave Franz and Dave Farina). Apparently–and I had no idea–when a bear attacks you, you shouldn’t play dead. If a bear attacks you in San Francisco, so much the better, you can just run downhill. It wasn’t all how-to stuff: Eugene also offered the harrowing tale of having the gas to his stove cut off.

We started our set with “Nuclear War,” and then went right into “Five-Cornered Drone,” produced on record by Gene Holder. We reprised “Mr. Tough” from night one, and when we got to the line about Todd-o-phonic time, a cheer went up from Todd-o-phonic’s many fans in attendance, a number that was swelling with each minute that his fab mix cd played. Gene joined us on guitar for “Cast a Shadow” (which he also produced), and along with Chris on organ and Will Rigby on drums for “I Wanna Be Your Lover.” Chris played guitar on “No Water,” just like he did on New Wave Hot Dogs. Peter Holsapple had to go home, so tour manager extraordinaire Joe put down his cricket bat and played Ace Tone on “I Heard You Looking.”

For the encore, Chris came back for our tribute to A Question of Temperature/V.O.T.E, the record we back him on. We could have done “Shapes of Things,” but it wasn’t written by a Jew, so we did “Heart Full of Soul” instead. Will sang “The Question,” from his classic Egon lp Sidekick Phenomenon. Then it was time for our surprise guest Jim James. He totally killed on “Solitary Man,” “Secret Agent Man” and the show-stopping (quite literally–it was the last song) “Hard Luck Woman.”

This is exactly what Adam Sandler meant when he named that movie Eight Crazy Nights. — Ira

Night 4, 12/7/07

Speaking of the dB’s, the first time I ever saw Chris Stamey perform (and possibly Will Rigby, though I’m not positive about that) was in Alex Chilton’s band. It seems they don’t loom as large in the histories of the era as others, but for me Alex Chilton and the Cossacks were right up there with Television in the can’t-miss department. We were blown away to have him join us for night four’s encore.

But I’m getting ahead of myself. First up were Endless Boogie. Careful readers of this diary may have detected a lack of complaining. Anyone who knows me knows me as a glass-half-full kind of guy. But I’ve got to lower the boom on Endless Boogie. Like Homer Simpson, I hate being lied to in song, and “Endless” Boogie actually played three songs during their 45 minutes. Where’s that at? OK, I’ll concede that all three were monstrous heavy grooves with the excess in all the right places. It pained me to miss a portion of their fantastic set, but a menorah emergency claimed some of my time.

It should come as no surprise that we at Yo La Tengo inc. are lovers of tradition, and one of our favorites is Todd Barry making fun of our charities. Tonight we were supporting the work of the Ponderosa Stomp, who are doing incredible work bringing America’s all too secret musical history to light. Or as Todd put it succinctly–“I’m doing a concert for free, so other people can get paid to play a concert.” (I put that in quotes for dramatic purposes, but it’s more of a paraphrase.) He was hilarious . . . and he has lovely hazel eyes.

“Detouring America with Horns” and “Evanescent Psychic Pez Drop” were among the rarely called numbers in tonight’s set. Jesper Eklow from Endless Boogie joined us at the end for our version of Roky Erickson’s version of “Heroin.” We closed with Big Star’s “Take Care.”

We took the stage for the encore with Alex. Correction, we thought we took the stage for the encore with Alex, but it turned out he was running a little late. We killed time effortlessly–truly, I doubt anyone guessed that anything was amiss. And then Alex arrived. We started with the Skeeter Davis by way of Carole King number “Let Me Get Close to You,” followed by the Kinks’ “Till the End of the Day,” which you’ll remember from such compact discs as Sister Lovers. Next, we brought up Tammy Lynn, a powerhouse singer that we were introduced to through the Ponderosa Stomp. We took a stab at “Time Is on My Side”–if Alex had played that song before, and I don’t know that he had, he was the only one on stage who had. We did “Femme Fatale” and “Hey! Little Child,” and then brought Todd Barry up–another fine Hanukkah tradition–to play drums on the finale of “Jeepster.”

Thanks again to Liz for all the photos. Halfway home. — Ira

Night 5, 12/8/07

Counting among our most proud and most disappointing Hanukkah memories simultaneously has to be the Hypnolovewheel reunion we arranged in 2001, or as it’s known in these parts: the year Hanukkah broke. Proud because Hypnolovewheel were one of our favorite bands and it was thrilling to hear them play those great songs again. And disappointing because who among us didn’t think that they were going to look at each other, offer a collective “Pins and needles, needles and pins, it’s a happy man that grins. Now what am I mad about?” and make the reunion permanent? It didn’t quite work out that way. Never let it be said that we of the Yo La Tengo are not forgiving, because a mere six years later, we invited Stephen “I Dream of Jeannie” Hunking to open night five with his new group Dew Claw, featuring original Yo La Tengo bassist Dave Rick on guitar. Dew Claw have a couple of fine records out on the Geodesic label, but nothing that would have suggested their keen eye for fashion. With a front line clad in pajamas, they rocked the back room and we were the better people for it by the set’s conclusion.

After a delicate four-year negotiation, we were finally able to convince Sarah Vowell to make an appearance. Perhaps she was waiting for a year in which the comedy slot was so educational. She fit right in with what I’m going to go way out on a limb and say was the most entertaining story we’re ever likely to hear about a cartographer, the sad (albeit in a hilarious way) saga of Charles Preuss.

Our lucky star was shining last night. Day two of our menorah debacle was clearly straining our Jewish cred, but fortunately my Aunt Judith picked that night to make an appearance to share with us some of her Kabbalah studies. It’s funny what a difference context makes. it had never occurred to me until I got back to the Maxwell’s bleachers and looked at the stage how much my Aunt Judith resembles Amy Poehler, if only Amy Poehler owned a wig.

Our set featured the usual shenanigans–a few songs we almost never play, some old favorites, and a seeming eternity when one of my guitar cables stopped working, only to mysteriously fix itself. We brought Dave Rick on to play our first single, “The River of Water,” then put Stephen Hunking in the back of the station wagon, and drove through the Midtown Tunnel for a two-song Jewish tribute. First it was Carole King’s “Sometime in the Morning,” sung by Stephen, followed by Blue Oyster Cult’s “E.T.I.,” sung by James, with monster guitar solos by Dave.

Alex Chilton was willing to come back for a second night of special guesthood, and we were thrilled to have him. We reprised “Femme Fatale,” “Let Me Get Close to You” and “Hey! Little Child” from Friday night, and worked up Brenton Wood’s “Oogum Boogum,” (as heard on Alex’s Set cd), an old Cossacks favorite, the Modern Lovers’ “Government Center,” longtime staple of Big Star’s repertoire T.Rex’s “Baby Strange,” and went back to Alex’s Like Flies on Sherbert record for the Bell Notes’ “I’ve Had It.” We even taught him a few words of Hebrew.

This is exactly what Dick Van Patten meant when he named that tv show Eight Is Enough. — Ira

Night 6, 12/9/07

This diary stuff’s a weighty responsibility. Did Anais Nin ever skip a day? Well, if so, all I can say is: take this, spy in the house of love. I’m back with another report. Night six got off to a rousing start when our pal Liz, who has already done so much for us this holiday season with her nightly photographs, succeeded where the combined efforts of Teams Yo La Tengo and Maxwell’s failed, and scored a replacement electric menorah. That’s a relief–we were skating on some thin ice, Hanukkahly speaking.

I almost plotzed when Redd Kross agreed to fly out here just to play Hanukkah. Almost as quickly as they agreed, it looked like they might have to bail. Guitarist Robert Hecker (“the only Scientologist in the group,” as Jeff McDonald introduced him last night. “That’s SCIENTIST,” Robert corrected him) has a teaching job that makes missing work very problematic, but when it turned out that Robert was willing to take the first flight home Monday morning and go straight to work, Redd Kross were back in. Thank you Robert and thank you Redd Kross! Man, what a show. They opened with two songs from their first ep (“Cover Band” being a seasonal selection, written by Greg Hetson), then “Linda Blair” from Born Innocent, and they never let up. They took Georgia’s requests for “Heaven Only Knows” (by the Jewish songwriting team of Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich) and “Look On Up at the Bottom” and pulled off a two-song Jewish tribute that was equal parts unlikely and incredible with songs by Anna Waronker and Peaches. And so much more.

Heather Lawless‘s comedy is like no one else’s, a stream of consciousness high-wire act of the sweetest self-laceration you’ll ever hear. There are barely any jokes per se. It’s just amazing to witness, and we were so glad to have her join our little cavalcade of whimsy.

It took us to night six to break out “Eight Days a Week,” which seemed an appropriate way to say hi to Redd Kross, who number Beatles interpreters supreme among their talents. Our weeklong revisiting of May I Sing with Me settled on “Out the Window” and I experimented with the concept of “Drug Test” played on a guitar with all six strings out of tune.

Redd Kross en masse joined us for the encore. We bid a fond adieu to Alex Chilton with “September Gurls” and then moved on to the wild world of the Jewish songwriter:
“Bus Stop,” “Who Loves the Sun” and finally “Calling Dr. Love.” I could have listened to Roy McDonald and Georgia play extended drum fills all night, but we had one more guest to bring up. In 2005, my mom concluded night one by singing “My Little Corner of the World” with us, as chronicled in that year’s Hanukkah diary. Sadly there was no photographic evidence of her appearance, which I thought was too bad, but qualified as circumstances beyond our control. My mom saw it another way, demanding another turn in the spotlight, and this time we’d better have photographers at the ready. She didn’t have to get all huffy about it–we wouldn’t have dreamt of not inviting her back.

Once again, she killed, and we all went home happy. — Ira

Night 7, 12/10/07

I wouldn’t say that we are limping to the finish line, no way. But the menorah situation is–there’s no other word for it–a disaster. Our just out of the box, brand spanking new model gave us 25 solid hours of electric candle action before bulb seven gave up the ghost. I can’t claim to know that much about Judaism, so someone else is going to have to answer this theological query: Is it possible we are rocking Hanukkah too hard?

A few weeks ago we were at the David Kilgour/Euros Childs show at Union Hall, where we saw Carl Newman in the audience. That gave us a terrific idea–let’s ask Carl to join our Hanukkah hit parade and do one of his rare solo shows. Carl had a better idea–why not bring the entire New Pornagaphers? And so that’s what he did, to open night seven. Things were going along just great, until they pulled ELO’s “Don’t Bring Me Down” out of nowhere, and then things went along even greater. These days the New Pornagraphers have a schedule busy enough to rival ours. Ten minutes after they left the stage they had vanished into the night. We barely got a chance to say thanks.

It was quite the coup we scored getting top comedian Peanut Butter to do a set. But I have to be honest–his timing seemed a bit off. More than a few times, he finished a joke, only to back up to add a key part of the setup. And he did tell the one about the flat tire at least twice, which was weird. Luckily, a hilarious member of our audience came to his rescue, throwing one piece of scintillating repartee after another toward the stage. Seriously, what are people thinking when they do stuff like that? “I’m making the evening better?” You’re not. “I bet I can be the most annoying person in the room?” Next time, we’d be willing to take that on faith. But ultimately what heckler could bear up under the relentless one-two punch of Peanut Butter’s twin catch phrases: “Smooth . . . peanut butter” and “chunky . . . peanut butter.” Only one thing was bothering me–I kept thinking that Peanut Butter looked just like someone else, and it was driving me crazy trying to remember who. Then it hit me: Vin Diesel’s brother Leonard.

We roared out of the gate with the Black Flag classic, “Dreidel Party,” and played a whole bunch of songs we hadn’t tried yet this week, including “Magnet” and “Saturday” with guest percussionist Jon Wurster. Tonight was also the night for our annual version of “Mushroom Cloud of HIss.”

For the encore, we brought out our old pal Bruce Bennett to play guitar with our new pal, the amazing Roy Loney, original lead singer of one of our favorite bands ever, the Flamin’ Groovies. When we heard Roy was coming to town to play the Norton holiday spectacular, we thought wouldn’t it be great if we could get him to come out a day or two earlier and play with him too. We started with “Have You Seen My Baby,” by noted Jewish songwriter (Academy Award winning Jewish songwriter, Roy helpfully added) Randy Newman–of the storied musical family: Alfred, Lionel, Carl–as heard on the classic Groovies lp Teenage Head. Then two more from that record–“High Flyin’ Baby” and the title tune–before closing with a “Slow Death” that was, at the risk of immodesty, quite nice.

Shame about the menorah, though. — Ira

Night 8, 12/11/07

Put a fork in us, we’re through! To get to the finish line we had to channel teachings from the solo careers of all four Beatles: “It Don’t Come Easy,” “All Things Must Pass,” Whatever Gets You Through the Night” and “Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey.” And now that it’s done, it’s the words of the Dave Clark 5 that leap to mind: “Glad All Over.” Glad that it’s all over, for sure. But mostly glad all over to have had such an incredible eight nights.

With all nine lights ablaze on the menorah, the last night began with the second half of our tribute to Matador Records as recent signing Times New Viking roared to the stage. One of our best memories of 2007 is being introduced to these guys, and touring the midwest and northeast with them. So it was especially meaningful for us to have them on board for our last show of the year. They pulled out a couple of new songs and closed with their cover of Half Japanese’s “Thing with a Hook.” Love that band.

We were able to bring back an old Hanukkah tradition when David Cross took the stage for “Ask a Rabbi” for the first time since 2002. As Joni Mitchell teaches us, life’s a circle, and in a very real sense, our Hanukkah series ended as it began, as the practice of circumcision proved no less of a hot potato for Rabbi Alvin Silverman than it did on night one for Dave Franz. Or was that Dave Farina? A wistful moment came when the rabbi expressed an unmistakable desire to find out what his corn chowder would taste like with a little bacon.

Our set began with our shout-out to our adopted home, “Night Falls on Hoboken,” followed by one more romp through “Eight Day Weekend.” “The Cone of Silence” fooled everyone by worming its way onto the setlist, and we closed with the holiday’s lone version of “Blue Line Swinger” and “Love Power” from the soundtrack of The Producers (the real one). “That’s our Hanukkah” cried James at its conclusion.

But we weren’t done yet. We brought Beth from Times New Viking up to play a little piano (at least she thinks she was playing piano–seated in front of my guitar amp, she couldn’t hear anything but me) as we did one more shout-out to our adopted home: “Hungry Heart.” As the second verse began, Howard Kaylan (aka Eddie of Flo & Eddie–and noted Yo La Tengo fan!) took the stage to sing backup, just as he did on The River. Thus began a thrilling six-song spin through the amazing career of Howard Kaylan. We did the Turtles classic “You Baby” (written by the Jewish songwriting team of Sloan and Barri), the pre-Turtles Crossfires’ “One Potato Two Potato” (which 20 lucky attendees of Thursday’s show picked up on Todd-o-phonic Todd’s mix cd), “Love Songs in the Night” from Howard’s supercool solo record Dust Bunnies (another Jewish number, this time from the pen of the legendary Michael Brown), followed by one last seasonal number, T.Rex’s “Metal Guru,” sung by James, with Howard adding the iconic backup part just as he & Flo did on the original. For our last donut choice, we went back to the Turtles songbook for “She’d Rather Be with Me.” If there was a dry eye in the house, it wasn’t mine.

What an amazing way to end an amazing eight days. — Ira

So many thank yous . . .

In this public forum, we’d like to take the opportunity to thank our crew, Joe Puleo, Mark Luecke and Gil Divine for eight days and nights of hard work. Suzanne Despres and Brian Gempp helped us in too many ways to enumerate. Stephen Hunking designed our t-shirts, and Tannis Root contributed their time to print them. Karl Heitmueller designed the great poster. Thanks to Matmos, David Cross, Todd-o-phonic Todd, Eye, and Yoshitomo Nara for the mixed cd’s. Almost all the photographs on this page were taken by Liz Clayton, but Lee Greenfeld and Leila Rosenthal also did some lensing. Jesper Eklow loaned us an amp. We were costumed by David Doernberg and Sara Parks. And a giant tip of the yarmulke to Todd Abramson and everyone at Maxwell’s.