One year ago today, James, Georgia and I made like the Clampetts and headed to California, beginning our swing of west coast record store appearances at the fantastic Fingerprints shop in Long Beach. James sang “I Can Hear Music” so we’d remember where we were. I got a guitar strap and a Merry-Go-Round 45.
It was one year ago today that Fade was released. We were guests on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, performing “Ohm” with guest drummers Fred Armisen, Kid Millions, and Charlie Sheen. And Chris from Newtown CT was there too: “My girlfriend and I entered the lottery to be on the band bench behind Yo La Tengo. A little under 24 hours before the show, I got a call informing me that we had won the tickets. We showed up hours ahead of time out of excitement. Of course, we had already phoned ahead to family and friends to tune in for a brief glimpse of us dancing like goofs behind our favorite band. I don’t remember much of the show, but I do remember getting ushered from my seat in the audience, walking across the stage, and taking a place directly behind Yo La Tengo. Fred Armisen stopped by to play drums with Georgia. The entire experience felt like a dream. Later that evening I watched the broadcast and saw the band from the other side. I also saw myself, my girlfriend, and a crew of other Yo La Tengo fans dancing their hearts out behind the band. Then I watched it again, and again, reliving that fabulous night in January with Yo La Tengo on national television.”
No post yesterday, as we couldn’t find any mentions of January 13 in the Yo La Tengo datebook. Today’s another story. I have yet to reference Yo La Tengo’s Freewheeling ramble through the south with Kurt Wagner of 2008–January 14’s show was a very enjoyable one in Athens, Georgia; Vanessa Hay was in attendance, and we backed Kurt on “Or Thousands of Prizes.” Last year, we spent Fade eve with one of favorite writers, Dana Spiotta, at Barnes & Noble. Meanwhile, on the other side of the world, Daniel from Melbourne was turning 21. He tells us: “My girlfriend Ilia bought off eBay the ‘Tom Courtenay‘ single with ‘Bisexual Boogie‘ on the b side (along with some ylt poster). Not only was it the best gift ever, but it meant so much because of the thought she put into the gift. I truly ‘lost my bananas’ from excitement.”
January 12 over the years has found us at various spots in various guises: opening for Beck at Roseland (1997), Freewheeling with Kurt Wagner in Atlanta (2008), headlining the old 9:30 in D.C. (1991), even playing some songs to point the Beauty Love Truth ensemble toward improv comedy (2012). That’s all well and good. More to today’s point, recently, we invited people who had date-specific memories of Yo La Tengo to share them with us, and the results have been very touching. Dave and Lindsey from Dallas wrote to tell us that “the lyrics to ‘Our Way to Fall’ were read at our wedding on January 12, 2008 by our friend Mean Beard, the man who introduced us to YLT!!” They add that their two daughters “who arrived post Jan 12 2008 are still loyal fans,” which is great news, as we’ll never make it to our 60th anniversary without help from the current generation.
On this date in 1985, Yo La Tengo hopped on the tour bus for our first out-of-town engagement, negotiating 12 miles of New Jersey’s trickiest highways to arrive at Eats U Want in Passaic. We opened for the Creeping Pumpkins. A tough showbiz lesson was learned that night: When Pumpkins drummer Dave Weckerman‘s bass drum kept shifting forward, it fell upon original YLT bassist, Dave Rick, to sit on the floor (there was no stage) with his back to the drum to keep it in place. Flash forward a mere 17 years and we’re concluding a David Cross show at Irving Plaza, a night that also featured the Girls Guitar Club, Jon Benjamin, Sam Seder, and Janeane Garofalo among others. Our set included a medley we concocted of every song from Mr. Show’s Monsters of Megaphone sketch, put to music by us.
Catching up, January 11 is the 7 year and 1 day anniversary of our I’m Not There sessions. Asked by director Todd Haynes to record “Fourth Time Around” and invited by music supervisor Randall Poster to add outside musicians, we put together our version of the Hawks: Terry Adams on piano, Stanley “Buckwheat” Dural on organ, John Sebastian on harmonica, and Peter Phillips on lead guitar. We recorded “Fourth Time Around” and “I Wanna Be Your Lover” on the 9th and mixed on the 10th, Roger Moutenot at the controls.
The present day intrudes on our journey through the past today as we mourn the death of the great Roy Campbell, Jr. We had the privilege of playing live and recording with Roy on multiple occasions, and it’s heartbreaking to know there won’t be one more. We raise a Planter’s Punch in tribute to this wonderful musician.
