Author: Ira

I’m trying to recall how Tony Maimone ended up on upright bass for three of our acoustic shows in 1988.  My best guess is we got to talking at a The Scene Is Now gig, and he offered his services.  Twenty-six years ago today was the middle one, a matinee at CBGB, on a dream bill with Peter Stampfel, Jad Fair, and a rare duo performance by Will & Amy Rigby.  Though numbers by all of the other acts were in our repertoire, it was only “Griselda” that we played that day (after we got the go-ahead, naturally).  Our set also included the Angry Samoans’ “Get Off the Air,” which went over well with my parents, and hopefully others.  Speaking of the airwaves, 16 years later we made our way to CNBC’s Fort Lee studio to take part in the short-lived McEnroe talk show.  In addition to our star turn of “Today Is the Day,” we were the house band, playing on the other guests, as well as in and out of commercial breaks.  Looking over the 10 songs used as bumpers, at least nine of which doubled as either tennis puns or guest-appropriate (we escorted Kevin Kline to the couch with Will Rigby’s “Dave“), I’m going to have to show a little tough love and suggest that if the host had worked as hard on his part of the show as we did, somebody might have watched.  No complaints whatsoever with his guitar work on our quartet version of “Beat on the Brat,” except that we have no recording of it.

 

Asked as we often are about our remaining show business aspirations, we usually answer that someday we hope to play live on August 4.   Without such a show to look back on today, we recall instead that precisely 14 years ago our “Sugarcube” cd and 7-inch were released.  Researching one of the b-sides, we were shocked to discover that the Looney Tunes theme was co-written by Eddie Cantor.

 

Seven years ago today, we already had 30th anniversaries on our mind, playing one such celebration for KUSF at Bimbo’s in San Francisco.  We pulled out every stop we could find, dotting our set with covers from their inaugural year of 1977.  What’s more, we invited Jonathan Segel, our old touring pal in Camper Van Beethoven, to sit in for most of the show on violin.  In a transparent move to ingratiate ourselves with local celebrities, we took a request for “Blue Line Swinger” from Quince’s Michael Tusk.  None of which kept the University of San Francisco from selling the station in 2011, exiling them to their current on-line home.

 

When Dave Rick became our original bassist, we knew that sooner or later he’d quit to form his own band with his buddy Jerry Smith.  What we didn’t know (and in fact, still don’t know, but are putting 2 and 2 together) was that he always dreamed of performing in New Brunswick.  Well, 25 years ago today, we did just that, playing a show at the Court Tavern with Spiral Jetty, and Dave promptly relinquished the bass chair.  A little over a year later, after Dave Schramm’s departure, from time to time Dave would return on lead guitar.

Peter from Long Beach, CA sent us four different anecdotes from four different days and we selected this one: I assembled a 4 piece ensemble to play Danelectro 3 and 2 (I think, can’t remember the numbers for sure), complete with timpani and the whole deal for my wedding.  Everyone was blown away by how awesome our wedding was, obviously.

 

After yesterday’s visit to the greater Cincinnati area, we got back in the car and made our way to Pittsburgh for a free, outdoor show in Hartwood Acres Park, four years ago today.  The person who booked the show had to convince the higher ups that we were suitable for their summertime series, so everyone was extra pleased by the great turnout and response.  We played our set, followed by a three-song encore that included the Farfisa stylings of Gil Divine on “Emulsified” and said good night.  People started making their way to the parking lot.  As we got backstage, we were introduced to the event’s big mucketymuck, who surprised us with his dry sense of humor, informing us that we played two minutes less than our contracted time.  I supposed it’s possible that he is capable of being the life of any party he attends, but as it transpired, in this case he was serious: He wanted us to go back on and live up to the letter of our agreement.  Looking at the rapidly emptying park, this made no sense, to put it mildly.  I did what I usually do in situations like this (although there had never been one exactly like it)–I headed over to where Joe was selling merch, and told him we had a tour management red alert backstage.  Joe rescued James and Georgia, and–it’s possible I hallucinated this last part–ultimately went on stage to do two minutes of crowd work to the empty park, thus fulfilling our obligations.

Let’s go to the mailbag: My name is Isaac Arms and I front a shoegaze/spacerock band called Withershins from Champaign, Illinois.

Two years ago when my friend Jake Fleischli (frontman of Tractor Kings) moved up to Chicago on 1st August, 2012, he gave me his copy of And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside Out.  I have treasured this vinyl record, and its inscription he wrote to me.  I suppose you’d want me to include that, but it’s personal.

Understood, Isaac–we wouldn’t dream of asking you to divulge any secrets.  Honestly, we’re a bit distracted by the fact that Jake felt he wasn’t going to need our record in Chicago!

 

 

 

 

 

After the closing of Sudsy Malone’s in Cincinnati, we took our business across the Ohio River to the Southgate House in Newport KY, located just a few outfield sprints from the Reds’ ballpark.  (Even so, we never made it to a game, though we did stroll Pete Rose Way on a few occasions.)  A business dispute among ownership shuttered the original location–the winning faction, proprietors of the nearby Brass Ass, changed the name, and the losers opened Southgate House Revival elsewhere.  We played there for the last time on this date in 2010.  Powering through the distraction of some luggage left behind at our South Bend hotel after opening for Wilco there, life and death were on our minds.  The recently departed Ben Keith was saluted with “For the Turnstiles”; we were still paying tribute to Alex Chilton with “Windows Hotel”; and we celebrated Gary Lewis’s 64th birthday (making him 68 today!) with “Count Me In.”