Category: News

Dateline 1997.  We are in the midst of a four-city German tour with the Pastels, and I believe–while simultaneously finding it hard to believe, such is memory–that we have not shared a bill with the Pastels since.  (Though we came close last year.)  Tonight’s show is in Berlin and Katrina Mitchell adds some extra clatter to “False Alarm” and plays guitar on “Cast a Shadow.”  Sentimental Berlin favorites “Nowhere Near” and “Sh-Boom” open and close the encores.  Here’s a poster for the Pastels’ Hamburg show without us that I found posted here (a lovely personal appreciation of the band marred only by confusing the song “Love Power” with “Prisoners of Love.”)

 

It’s our last Lollapalooza date, 19 years ago today, in Detroit.  We invite our side-stage buddies, the Coctails, to help us say goodbye, sitting in on four songs.  Last year, we dropped in on the United Kingdom for just as much time as it took us to lose a passport, play the Latitude festival, catch the end of Richard Thompson’s set, and find the passport.  (Faster than you might think.)

 

Our second show at CBGB, and our second show in New York City period, takes place 29 years ago today.  For the first time, we put our own package of bands together, and not only does the club go for it, they give us a Thursday night, and don’t even add an extra group in the graveyard shift.  On the bill is The Scene Is Now and Last Roundup.  Two years later, we’re at CBGB again–this time it’s the New Music Seminar, and we’re part of an eclectic lineup including the Wipers and the Silos.  It’s our first time in New York since becoming a trio again.

RIP Tommy.

 

Tension’s running high on this day seven years ago at Sirius radio.  Our Left of the Dial session in the fish bowl studio goes ok, despite the distraction of seeing infamous enemy of trios, Little Steven, lurking on the premises.  (And yes, I know that when Little Steven critiqued the concept of the trio, he specifically carved out an exception for those like us who are “virtuoso musician based,” but nevertheless we remain just as offended on behalf of our less technically blessed brethren and sistren.)  But then, as we’re leaving, our paths cross in the hallway.  Awkward!  Three years later–and I’ll be honest, no closer to “making it” than we were in 2007–we’ve got a high profile show in Camden: WXPN’s eXPoNential festival.  We decide to leave nothing to chance and ask four members of the Sun Ra Arkestra to sit in on our final three numbers.  I can be obstinate at times–ask anyone–but I have to admit it went very well.

 

I saw the Joshua Light Show in action at the Fillmore East in 1968 and it was something of a mindblower, even without the foreknowledge that nearly 36 years later, I would find myself collaborating with Joshua himself and Gary Panter, at the Anthology Film Archives.  Ten years ago today, in a role reversal from the Fillmore days, we set up behind the screen, and improvised to the images.  It was a tight squeeze, but the greatest challenge was convincing Josh that we could react to the moods he and Gary were creating, and that there would be no need for the pre-recorded music that he wanted us to play along with.  With Gary’s help, he agreed to let us perform unaccompanied, except for one of the five (I think it was five) segments.  There were two shows scheduled, but when demand outstripped capacity, we were asked to do a third show.  Deploying our toughest negotiation posture, we said yes, on the condition that there’d be no music but ours at the late show.

 

The summer is, in our opinion, among the hottest times of the year.  Our beat-the-heat tips do not include performing in the middle of the afternoon on a stage constructed on blacktop, but that’s frequently where we found ourselves before and after this day in 1995.  (They do include air-conditioned movie theaters, which is why on a night off in Columbus we went to see Smoke, passing up Darryl Strawberry in a rehab game with the Clippers.)  Nineteen years ago today, we’re in Chicago, in the midst of a lethal heat wave, though I don’t recall it standing out weatherwise.  The baseball obsessive in me loved the ritual of the Lollapalooza shows, comparable to getting to the park hours before the game.  We’d drink water and avoid the sun as much as possible until it was time to set up our gear, which was our opportunity to choose the music heard over the p.a.–we always selected The World of Willie Restum at the Dream Bar in Miami Beach.  If you know the Trish Van Devere episode of Columbo was well as I do (and I hope you do) then you’ll recognize how every song on that record became our personal countdown to our tasks at hand.  We played an encore in Chicago–according to my notes we found a way to turn “Tired of Waiting for You” and “Speeding Motorcycle” into a medley.  You’ll have to ask Aadam Jacobs just how.