Category: News

Nothing all that noteworthy’s happened on this date, Yo La Tengoly speaking, over the years (that I recall, at least), so instead perhaps today’s the day for a non-date-specific spin through our life as a wedding band.  Without naming names, I’ll say that we’ve participated in about a dozen weddings over the years (and that list does not include two bills with the Wedding Present).  We have never played “Hava Nagila” (though we’ve been asked) and never been asked to play “My Girl” (so we haven’t).  We did deem “He’s a Whore” to be appropriate once, and it turned out that Tom Petersson was in attendance.  When he didn’t seem too miffed, we realized we had a keeper, and trotted it out twice more, once in the prelude to the actual ceremony, an instrumental version with Georgia on the church organ.  “Eye of the Tiger” has proven another staple of the repertoire, perfect for guest singers.  Borrowing a couple of songs from Georgia and my wedding party, musical accompaniment by Will Rigby, his band including Dave Schramm and Sue Garner, our setlist usually includes “Mother-in-Law” and “Gloria” relettered to the bride’s first name.   And I don’t want to leave the impression that we don’t take requests; once-and-only-once selections over the years have included “Karma Chameleon,” “Could You Be Loved” and “Here Comes Your Man.”

 

 

Two memories of this day, and our music has nothing to do with either of them.  While we are inside the Living Room, opening for the Sundays on this day in 1990, it is pouring rain outside.  When we go to leave, we discover the downpour has washed out access to Winchester Street.  Faced with a gaping hole that threatens to prevent our departure, two heavy-duty boards, each barely wider than a tire, are put in place.  Georgia, with no margin for error, navigates the van to safety.  James McNew, in attendance that night and a witness to this Wages of Fear-worthy maneuver vows then and there to ride in any vehicle Georgia is at the wheel of.  Two years later, something perhaps more unlikely occurs in Vancouver.  Establishing what remains to this day my personal benchmark for fatigue, Georgia and I somehow fall asleep backstage at the Commodore Ballroom, mere feet from My Bloody Valentine in full “You Made Me Realise” roar.

Meanwhile, Claus and Ariel write from Eugene:  “A Worrying Thing” really played an important part in the birth of the relationship of my wife and I.  Me being a Dane in Denmark and my wife being an American in America.  For some reason Yo La Tengo to me represents dreaming big and whenever I listen to Painful I get this intense feeling that no matter what – if you want something badly enough – you can make it happen.  On July 1st 2011 I sent my wife a playlist with the intent of subtly declaring my having fallen in love with her despite the Atlantic being between us.  Song no. 3 was “A Worrying Thing” and this song made me fail in my subtlety and my wife figuring out what I was trying to say.  We spent our honeymoon at Primavera in Barcelona in June 2012 for two reasons: the Big Star tribute show and the Yo La Tengo concert.

 

Nineteen years ago today, we open for one of our heroes, Doug Sahm and his Last Real Texas Blues Band, in Seattle, our final time-killing date awaiting the start of Lollapalooza.  We play in our acoustic guise, and close with “You’re Gonna Miss Me.”  What?!  Did we run that by the headliners, who had been known to do that number?  No risk of that five years earlier, when our Fakebook touring lineup featuring Kevin Salem and Wilbo Wright ends our set at the Paradise in Boston the same way.  I guess it goes over well–for the first and last time while opening for the Sundays, we play an encore.

 

Three years ago today, a benefit was held at Maxwell’s to generate money and support for Danny Amis, better known perhaps by his nom du wrestling mask, Daddy-O Grande.  Before relocating to Nashville, Danny was Georgia and my roommate in Hoboken; it was Danny who soundproofed our basement (not sure that would be the word our neighbors would choose), hoping to convince his band the Raybeats to rehearse there.  They declined that offer, but that’s where Georgia and I practiced, both in our pre-Yo La Tengo days and for the first three years of the band.  The benefit was a special night.  Jon Klages flew in from Los Angeles so that the Individuals could take part, and we invited him to sing “Now You’ll Never Know” with us, our first time playing that  together since the release of Jon’s In a Dream ep (Georgia and my first recording).  The Schramms were on the bill, so I played with them and Dave played with us on a few songs, including the Barbarians’ “Are You a Boy or Are You a Girl” (which we once coerced Danny into singing with us in our basement).  We closed our set with one more guest, Jody Harris of the Raybeats, on “The Kid with the Replaceable Head” and a mindblowing “Pass the Hatchet I Think I’m Goodkind.”

 

Between the Lyme disease and the bright lights of Kelowna, I’ve yet to mention our tour with My Bloody Valentine, nearly a week into it.  On this day 22 years ago Buffalo Tom and we could not be made to feel more welcome by the fine folks at the Gothic Theater in Denver.  Recollects Georgia: on the 1st day of our tour opening for MBV i remember deb googe asking me how old i was because when we were sound checking she thought i was a 14 yr old boy.  i think it was a compliment, at least that’s how i took it.  later on she revealed how cool it was that the members of YLT were about the same age as the members of MBV.  we got to be friends right away.  Unlike both opening acts, My Bloody Valentine were in a tour bus, which meant that they were driving while we slept, and that meant that we had a lot of catching up to do by day.  It seemed like the only time we were ever passed on the highway it was by Buffalo Tom’s van.  There was no better place to watch “You Made Me Realise” than the wings.  You got to see the audience response, which ranged from being completely enraptured to ear-plugging horror, sometimes from the same person a few minutes apart.  On the right night–and this was one of them–you had the bonus of terrified club personnel backstage, convinced that their p.a. was about to spontaneously combust.  And think about that marquee for a moment, and how much less insulting it would have been if they hadn’t bothered to include the ETC.

 

 

 

 

I’m not going to claim that Yo La Tengo’s the best band name anyone ever came up with, but once we decided on it, that was that.  On this day 28 years ago, we are the first band of three at Providence’s Living Room.  Also on the bill, the band formerly known as Rash of Stabbings, recently redubbed Rash.  Was that an improvement?  Both Rash and Down Avenue took advantage of the generous dimensions of the Living Room stage by leaving their equipment in place for us to set up in front of.  Both Rash and Down Avenue had drum sets that were entirely electric.  An ideal night for our Providence debut this may not have been.  When asked for the beer that our contract called for, the club informs us of its policy of providing it only after we played.  Seems logical to me–if the band is sober for their set, who cares how drunk they are for the drive home?  Believe it or not, it would be four years before we returned to the Living Room.  (Speaking of believe it or not–we’ve been to Calgary three times in 30 years, twice on this day, 1995 and 2008.  Really.)