Beatnik Affectations - Faves

Too Much Fighting on the Dance Floor

i know you're probably waiting for the smoke machine, but ah, 
we're not allowed to use it. it's really rough being an opening
act, ya know they put all these restrictions on us.
...ira kaplan

 

 Yo La Tengo will be debuting the new *Electr-O-Pura* material at SxSW 
 in a week and a half, hope to see you there.  If you see someone on 
 the street with a Chow Yun Fat T-shirt, it's probably me. Be sure to 
 say hi.   


 tim
 tim@vestek.com



 From: Tony McCartan <TONY@itd.tv.bbc.co.uk>
 
 If you want my YLT experiences they are as follows:

 Picked up a copy of the "New Yorker" which had a preview of Yo La Tengo 
 mentioning "Fake Book", managed to find a City Slang copy and was hooked.
 Took to trying to find the originals of the covers, which is very difficult
 in England  ("Yellow Sarong", "Emulsified", and "The One To Cry" still too
 find). In the process  was in a record store  (sans list) and mis-remembering
 the Flamin' Groovies saw the Feelies' "Crazy Rhythms" and got that
 (a wonderful coincidence).  Came  across Ira Robbins' "Trouser Press Guide
 (3rd Edition)" which extended my interest into whole new related  areas.
 Managed to find "Ride The Tiger" and "President" on cassette in New York.
 Kept on the look-out for YLT visits to Britain, only discovered about their
 visit to the "Borderline" after the event (in an article in "Bucketful of
 Brains" - and seeing someone at work in the "May I Sing With Me" tee-shirt).

 Finally managed to see YLT in April '93 at Maxwell's (after seeing an advert
 in "the Village Voice" in enough time to arrange time off work and book a
 flight).  James was playing guitar with "Secret Passage" before YLT took to
 the stage.  I remember a wonderful "Out The Window",  Georgia managing to get
 feedback on her microphone during "Farmer's Daughter (accidentally - Ira 
 quipping that it took lots of rehearsal to get it right).  I thought one
 number was a cover (a la Channel 3) about "Small Town - Nothing To Do" -
 which later (on "Painful") turned into "Slayer" (with "Marked Down - Nothing
 to Do"). They were just like I imagined them.

 In December '93 (post "Painful") YLT  came to Europe and I saw them at 
 "Powerhaus" (in London). Repeated requests for "Satellite" made Ira
 apologise that they hadn't  rehearsed it, and that they promised
 to practise it in Belgium over Christmas and play it on the way back to
 the USA in January.  This person kept shouting out, so they gave in and
 tried it, but Georgia got lost early  on, and  they abandoned it. Most
 of the set was from "Painful"  - but it included "Drug Test" - my all
 time fave.

 They returned from Europe in January (at the Garage in London) - similar
 set to December.  (Note: although Britain is part of Europe, we call the
 rest of Europe "Europe" because we are still ever so insular inside -
 never mind out visits to France, Germany etc. and the European Community ).

 YLT returned to Europe for July 4th '94 (the Garage again) similar set -
 Ira asking for the score in the (Soccer) World Cup game, and getting the
 answer "nil nil" asked what that meant - seeing that they were new to
 the game.   They finished on a number which ended with Ira partially 
 unstringing his guitar and wrapping some strings around the neck and
 establishing feedback so that they could all walk off - with no encore
 - and I was looking forward to "Speeding Motorcycle".

 Found the "Motel 6" CD with the wonderful cover of the Half Japanese
 "Ashes On the Ground". After finding the original - A question - who
 wrote the coda to YLT's version  "When will we, Be set free?" Jad
 or Ira? (not on the original Half Japanese album).

 Keep up the good work, you certainly get more YLT info than in the
 Yo La Gazette(Number 4 just arrived).

 Cheers,
     Tony.




 From imprint@watserv1.uwaterloo.ca 

 Filler Highlights

 Here's some stuff for the digest... About three weeks ago I did a long  
 interview with James McNew and am now in the process of hammering a story 
 out of it for my friend's fanzine *Filler*. What follows are some of the 
 highlights/info.


 Anyway, some points...

 --The group spent the month of November 1994 recording in Nashville. They 
 went down there cos' *Painful*'s producer had moved down there and they 
 really wanted to work with him again. They came back to New York to do 
 the mixing with over two hours of material-- I think he said they did 18 
 original tunes, 14 of which made it onto the record.

 --The title *Electr-O-Pura* arose from a trip to Nashville's Museum of 
 Beverage Containers in Advertising.

 --"Tom Courtenay", the first single, was trimmed from an eight minute jam. 
 The name meant nothing to me but it turns out he was a British actor in 
 swinging London-era '60s; last movie James remembers him in was *The 
 Dresser* with Albert Finney. 

 --On the last day of recording the band set up to 16-track and taped a 
 bunch of covers: "Too Late" by Wire; "Bad Politics" by the Dead C; "Time 
 Fades Away" by Neil Young; "Can't Seem to Make You Mine" by the Seeds; 
 "Gonna Buy Me  Dog" by the Monkees; and "Tell Me When It's Over" (!!) by 
 the Dream Syndicate.

 --Unlike *Painful*, *EOP* will NOT be an Atlantic corelease; the band was 
 apparently not too thrilled with the way things worked out last time, so 
 the new record will be strictly on Matador. The packaging will be 
 Digipak; according to James, "America is turning towards the Digipak."

 --The band is playing the SxSW Festival in the middle of April; the 
 single will be released around the same time, with the album to follow 
 sometime in April. [SxSW is March 16-20, Austin Tx -tim]


 --This winter will also see a whole slew of new Dump (James McNew solo) 
 releases:
 1. *I Can Hear Music* (Brinkman). The full-length followup to 
 *Superpowerless*, which will also include a "bonus CD" (!!) containing 
 stuff recorded in the Netherlands at the April 1994 Fast Forward home 
 tapers' fest-- such guest stars as Barbara Manning and Chris Knox will be 
 represented.
 2. *Dump International Airport* (Smells Like Records). A six-song 
 vinyl-only 10". Kind of a nice melancholy feel to it, with lots of slow 
 tempos and moody organ work. One song is a capella.
 3. *You and I* (18-Wheeler). A four-song all-covers 45, featuring songs 
 by the Silver Apples, Barbara Manning, Hypnolovewheel, and Jandek.

 Guess that's all for now... If I may be permitted a brief plug here, you 
 can read about all this and more in issue #3 of my friend's fanzine 
 *Filler*. It will also include stories on the Jon Spencer Blues 
 Explosion, Ennio Morricone, and the Palace Brothers, and who knows what 
 else. It probably won't be out till the end of April or so, but for a 
 copy you can send four bucks US cash (includes postage costs) to the 
 following address:
 588 Dogwood Lane
 Waterloo, Ontario, Canada
 N2L 4X9.

 Cheers,
 Derek Weiler



 from: Bob Cwalina <cwa@clark.net> 

 Hyponolovewheel, Yo La Tengo Supergroup = Special Pillow

 I just picked up a 7" I think some of you indie kids will enjoy.
 The group is Special Pillow and features Dan Cuddy from Hypnolovewheel on
 bass and vocals and James McNew from Yo La Tengo on guitar and percussion.

 "Tomoorow Night" is the name of the single.  It is one of the best 7" I've 
 bought in a while.  Cindy Broisma plays cello and Katie Gentile on violin.  
 Good stuff.  Has a poppy, mellow, 60's feel.  The strings are beautiful.

 it's on Really Fast Racecar Records, a relatively new D.C. label i've bought
 some of their stuff at Go! in Arlington but they have a mail-order 
 address also the dude who runs the label reads alt.music.independent so
 maybe he can post the ordering info.

 Cwa



 from: Gaylord Fields <gaylord@freeform.wfmu.org>

 I have some information on the Great Gaylord with Yo La Tengo. 

 Through the magic of forwarding, I received your query. Coincidentally, 
 not only am I the "artist" in question, but also a WFMU dj. Yes, the 
 "Barnaby" recorded here is available on the "They Came, They Played..." 
 cd (through the WFMU catalog), but as for my recording with Yo La Tengo (a 
 more-or-less spontaneous, unrehearsed act) I wouldn't know where to begin 
 to get it. 

 As for the obvious question "why me -- why anybody," I was their 
 housemate at the time.

 Previously, a fourth housemate and I actually sang with 
 them over the phone here at WFMU during the same broadcast that the 
 Daniel Johnston song was recorded. This evidently inspired them to call 
 me to do the a-side of my 7", a cover of Rochell & the Candles' "Squat 
 With Me Baby" (an early 60's r&b song).

 I hope this info is slightly useful. Good luck tracking down this rarest 
 of rare Yo La Tengo artifacts.

 gaylord



 From AltheMan@aol.com 

 More on The Driveway

 >>>Yo La Tengo has a track on a compilation
 entitled "They Came, They Played, They Blocked The Driveway." It is a 
 double CD comp of tracks recorded live at WFMU that the station put 
 together. It was made available for subscribers in a 1993 (maybe early '94)
 fund drive. I don't have a copy, but I'm pretty sure their cut is a 
 re-worked version of "Barnaby Hardly Working." It was never available 
 in stores, but WFMU may have it in a catalog of groovy stuff that they sell.
 <<<

 Right on all counts. The CD has YLT on it, along with the Kilgour Bros., 
 Sun City Girls, Jad Fair, King Missle, Scrawl, Daniel Johnston, Swans,
 Peter Stampfel, and a whole bunch of others. 'spretty good. It's available 
 at used record stores or from WFMU mail-order for $28. Call 'em at 
 (201) 678-8264 and ask for#10153C if you can't find it elsewhere (a 
 surprising number show up in the used bins).

 Hope this helps.



 Holder/Baumgartner follow ups

| Just got President Yo La Tengo/Neew Wave Hot Dogs (finally), and it's great.
| Can anyone remind me who Gene Holder and John Baumgartner are?  The names
| sound familiar, but I can't remember why.
|
| [Holder has produced and played on multiple ylt albums-tim] 

  He was also a member of the dB's.

- Teddie James


| [Just figured out the answer, or at least part of the answer, to one of my
| questions.  John Baumgartner, who plays on President Yo La Tengo, also
| played in Yung Wu, which was the feelies with percussionist Dave Weckerman
| singing (and writing songs) and Baumgartner on keyboards. - bob]

 Bob--

 I saw your questions re John Baumgartner in the YLT Digest.  JB seems to
 pop up everywhere in the Hoboken scene.  You are correct in noting that he
 was on the Yung Wu album.  I know him best beginning with the band the
 Trypes.  The Trypes consisted of the Feelies and a few other people (JB
 being one of them), while the Feelies were on hiatus following _Crazy
 Rhythms_.  When the Feelies became a working band again to record _The
 Good Earth_ the remaining Trypes turned into Speed the Plough.  Speed the
 Plough has been John Baumgartner's main project ever since.  (The
 membership of Speed the Plough has at one time included every Feelie [I
 believe], the only remaining one tho' is Brenda Sauter, and I think she
 bailed to Wild Carnation).  JB also guested on one of the Luna albums. 

 I hope this helps, and I am pretty sure it is all correct.  You may like 
 Speed the Plough.  Same genre as the Feelies but a little mellower with 
 female and male vocals, and some woodwinds.  It even gets kinda' Celtic 
 at times.
 
 Matt Hargrove
 Sacramento, CA

Love potion number
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This page modified on June 2, 1996