Beatnik Affectations - Faves

Too Much Fighting on the Dance Floor

pop is out of fashion
...almodovar's
pepi, luci & bom

 

 hello, again hello,

 the eighth inning of ken burns' baseball documentary has a short section
 on the new york mets entitled, '[upside down !] Yo La Tengo !'.  ha, 
 talk about name in lights.  i've heard the story described a couple of 
 ways, but in the documentary it goes like this:

 spanish speaking met shortstop chacone had a habit of going back on
 short fly balls and not backing off when centerfielder richie ashburn
 calls "i got it".   invariably, they would run into each other.

 finally, a coach told ashburn to cry out "yo la tengo" in these situations.

 soon after, a fly ball shoots out to ashburn, he camps under it,
 yells "yo la tengo", and boom!!!! the leftfielder runs him over.


 as ever,

 tim
 tim@vestek.com



 from: benjamin diehl <bdiehl@dolphin.upenn.edu> 

 Tim-
	I got the tape last Friday; thank you very much. IT was great to 
 hear Ira and Georgia on a more quiet level, as the three times I saw YLT 
 all left me with bleeding eardrums. 
	The tape is of surprisingly good quality for an audience 
 recording. I have to admit I was completely taken by surprise when I 
 first heard the feedback at the end of "Drug Test" (I believe...). Also 
 great was the cover of "Rockaway Beach," and I am very happy to have a 
 live recording of "Speeding Motorcycle." Anyways, thanks again.

	On a more digest related note, I didn't find out about this in 
 time to go, but YLT recently opened for Johnny Cash here in Philadelphia. 

 (From the 9/16 issue of the Philadelphia City Paper, concert review of 
  Cash/YLT show by Margit Detweiler)


 Cash's new label, American Recordings, probably expected more of the unruly
 and excited generation to attend his concert--which may explain why they
 booked Yo La Tengo as the opener... Openers Yo La Tengo set a hushed vibe
 throughout the room,  emitting an unearthly, low buzz as the three players 
 stood at the front of the stage. "This is sort of our country set," said 
 guitarist Ira Kaplan. They did a few quaint and strange folk-like ditties,
 Kaplan singing in his plaintive, wavering way and drummer Georgia Hubley
 joining him with her eerie soft voice. The mostly 55-and-over crowd 
 responded with half-hearted applause, mixed with sighs, whispers and giggles.
	(YLT could have done an entire set of their noisy, distorted 
 stuff -Hubley told me after the show that they'd toned it down a bit and 
 picked songs relevant to playing with Cash, including a Bob Dylan song 
 and "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry.")
	"This is our last song of the night," said Kaplan.
	The crowd clapped. A few of us booed. Their set was truly great, 
 and what a wonderful mix of music -that's alternative.
	Kaplan let out a chuckle, and said, "And I know most of you've 
 never heard us. But we usually end our shows with 25-minute songs." The 
 crowd laughed nervously, but expressed relief when he added, "This isn't 
 one of them."

 Incidentally, do any subscribers live in/around Philly?


 Looking forward to the next issue! Take care,

 Ben



 from: sam adams <sadams1@cfc.swarthmore.edu> 

 From the Village Voice R 'N' R Quarterly, these are Louise Post's
 [Veruca Salt] comments of From a Motel 6:

        "The vocals...are shockingly sensual, and the guitars are sick and
         full of sex.  One of the great bands of our time."

        [Now that last sentence is right on, but...Ira?  Sensual?]

 Sam



 from: katie kitchen <katie@mindvox.phantom.com> 
 
 Just came back from a show at Under Acme in New York. Great bill. 
 Incredible deal for $5 -- the Mad Scene did new stuff, the Shapiros did 
 what I figure must have been their NY debut, if not their debut debut, 
 and Yo La Tengo rearranged themselves and became Dump. James McNew,
 who played guitar tonight, wrote all the songs, and every one was
 a beauty. Great guitar pop, pure and simple. Yo La are wonderful, but
 they've been keeping James hidden away for far too long. There are 
 apparently some Dump singles around, and there's supposedly a double CD 
 to be released in Europe, but here's hoping there's a Dump CD out here
 too. Soon! 



 From: Kurt Stephan kstephan@well.sf.ca.us 

 What could be better than seeing Yo La Tengo for the first time? Seeing them 
 for the first time on *their* home turf. By happy coincidence my vacation to
 New York coincided with their 9/16 show at Tramps in NYC...their first gig
 in quite some time, apparently. So after foolishing missing all their '93
 and '94 Bay Area appearances, I was finally getting to see them at a
 "showcase" gig.

 I held out hope I might get to meet them...after all, they are known as
 minglers with the audience. I had no idea how easy it would be, however. My
 girlfriend and I walked into Tramps about 40 minutes early, and who was
 manning the t-shirt concessions but Ira? Georgia and James were nearby
 chatting with some people, but Ira was sitting there by himself. Never one
 to miss an opportunity, I went up to him and said, "What, they have you
 handling concessions now Ira?" We ended up chatting with him for about 15
 minutes. He was just the nicest guy imaginable. I asked him about the _Wake
 of the Flood_ reference in "Drug Test" for the benefit of my recovering
 Deadhead girlfriend, and then the two of them went on a Dead tangent.
 Somewhere in the midst of all this, I gave Ira $10 and he gave me a
 t-shirt...

 But what was really funny was that I asked Ira about our esteemed listmember
 Glenn Susser, who had mentioned to me that he and Ira were corresponding
 regularly. Ira said he knew Glenn but had never met him. A few minutes
 later, a fellow sidled up to Ira, shook hands, and said something I didn't
 hear. Immediately, Ira turned to me and said something like, "Here you
 go...Glenn Susser." So I finally met YLT expert and all-around cool guy
 Glenn. At this point, Tina and I snuck off to the bar so Glenn and Ira could
 chat...later Glenn invited us to join him and a few others (including our
 own Wilson Smith) at a very nice table away from the maddening crowd.
 Thanks again, guys!

 The show? Aw, who cares at this point? No really, I was impressed. They
 stretched out a lot...several new numbers at least as abstract as most of
 _Painful_. They opened quietly with "Superstar-Watcher" then blasted into a
 cover of Wire's "Too Late" (from _Chairs Missing_). They did a few from
 _Painful_, including frenzied organ meltdowns on "Sudden Organ" and "Big Day
 Coming" and a great version of "Double Dare." Only "Satellite" and an
 utterly brilliant version on "Five-Cornered Drone (Crispy Duck)" from _May I
 Sing With Me_. They encored with "I Threw It All Away" and "I Heard Her Call
 My Name" (!!!), which at least matched the VU version in freakout intensity.
 In fact, they were doing a lot of the freakout/feedback stuff that night. I
 loved it. Tina the ex-Deadhead was glad she brought earplugs, but liked the
 quieter songs. Glenn told me it was a louder show than usual. Wilson later
 mentioned that some friends of his thought it was boring and indulgent.
 Well, definitely indulgent...I didn't mind.

 Thanks all for making it a night to remember and the highlight of my NY
 vacation!

 P.S. 18th Dye opened--OK; a little tedious by the end of the set. Stereolab
 was next; I enjoyed their hypnotic, trancelike sound for awhile before the
 numbing sameness of it all got to me...still might check out their CDs
 though.


 Discography

 available upon request.

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This page modified on June 2, 1996