Puppies and Ice Cream - Faves

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You have to think small, some actors talk about 
retiring and buying a house in the suburbs. some 
talk about getting rich - I just want wheels,
i'm no dreamer.


...Karl Taro Greenfeld's Short Story
"Choco Bon-Bon and Emi" from the
Speed Tribes Collection.

 Greetings,

 The Charles Gayles Trio played at the Oakland Museum last weekend 
 and it was well er, "way over my be-bopping head". At one point Gayle 
 was playing the sax with his right hand and working a small casio 
 keyboard with his left armpit and elbow. If there was ever someone
 in need of a a new wave organ and a roll of electrical tape, it
 would be Gayle.

 enjoy this one,
  
 tim


 from frazer <Frazer@aol.com> Sun Feb  4 19:59:28 1996

 YLT Concert Review--The Point, 2/2/96

 Here in Atlanta, we're still trying to find the proper venue for Yo La Tengo
 to play.  The previous times I've seen them, they played the Masquerade,
 which is nice & spacious but has the problem of a very loud disco bar
 downstairs, which would drown out their quiter numbers with what Ira termed
 "primordial ooze."

 The sound at the Point, where YLT played on Feb. 2, was nicer during the
 uptempo numbers, and the band was peppy and of good cheer.  For the opening,
 Georgia began to drum alone on stage, while Ira and James, banging drums of
 their own, made their way up either side.  Not sure what the first song was,
 but Ira and Georgia played drums while James played guitar and sang.  

 Problem with the Point is that it's a sardine can, and the regulars are none
 too polite about shoving.  Even worse was the fact that most people there
 took the quieter numbers (of which there were many) as a cue to begin loud
 conversations.  I was over halfway through "Don't Say a Word" before I
 figured out what song they were playing.

 As I've said, the band put on a wonderful show, and it was nice to have them
 make a return trip to Atlanta so soon.  The set list included many toned-down
 versions of songs I haven't heard them play before, including some real
 treats like "Griselda," "Barnaby Hardly Working" and "Alrock's Bells."
 "Flying Lesson" sounded mighty sweet, as did a drawn-out version of "From a
 Motel 6."  "False Alarm" and "Sudden Organ" went very well together, and the
 closer, "Blue Line Swinger," was amazing, as always.  The cover I remember
 was "Somebody's Baby"; there was another in the encore wherein Ira played
 drums and Georgia played bass (according to Ira, the only song she knows on
 bass).  The only bummer (along with the crowd) was no "I Heard You Looking,"
 a personal favorite which my fiancee and I plan to play at our wedding two
 months from now.

 And by the way Tim, thanks for doing this--having the YLT Digest come to my
 email box every month is a tremendous day-brightener.

 frazer



 From: Michael Goldsman <goldsman@ads-inc.com>

 Yo La Tengo in Atlanta 2/2


 At last, I got to see them in a place other than the Horrid Masquerade.
 For the non-atlantans out there, the Masquerade is a 3-level club, with
 a disco directly below the place where real bands play.   And BOY
 do those disco people like their BASS. And don't the cheap wood
 floors despise the BASS.  Last summer when they played there, Ira + co. 
 got pretty frustrated trying to fight against the incessent 120 bpm music
 going on below, and it hurt their soft songs.   They played lots
 of loud stuff I think as a result, abnd the show kicked ass anyways.

 This time around they played at "The Pont:" a club about half the size
 (maybe smaller) of the Masq, and which probably has no basement at all. 
 And even if it does have a basement, there are probably just homeless 
 people sleeping quietly down there. They played a very long set....  
 I don't want to say how the show began, because it might ruin a surprise, 
 but let me just say that it was real cool.   A cool surprise of
 the set was a very quiet version of "Grizelda" for one of the encore songs...

 I think "I heard you looking" was the first song...   then Tom Courtenay but
 after that I have no idea what the order was...  plus - some of these may 
 not have been played. Who can say??

 Did I Tell you, Blue Line Swinger  (GREAT!), From a Motel 6, Double Dare,
 Nowhere Near, Suddenly Organ I was the fool beside you for too long, 
 The whole of the Law, Flying Lesson, False Alarm, Don't say a word, 
 Pablo and Andrea, False Alarm, The Hour Grows Late... maybe Big Day Coming.. 
 and one off  their first album which I can't name offhand and a few more too...  

 The encore had that same cheesy 80's cover that they did at the Masquerade...
 ummmmm I can't remember it...

 The l;ast song of the encore was a beautiful soft vocal duet with no drums
 and I have no idea what it was... Has anyone heard it before???

 That's about as good as I can do...  I was enjoying the show too much to
 really try to remember everything

 -Mike



 from: Purnell, Vernon <KPSNET1!KPSGPO!vpu@kpsgroup.attmail.com>

 Atlanta, 2/2/96



 Tim, I received all the back issues, thank you very much.  Here's a 
 submittal for the next one; if it's too long, you may want to cut the last 2 
 paragraphs -- they're really separate items anyway that you could use later 
 (or not at all).  So Sam Adams has disappeared -- would you have a copy of 
 that tape that could be dubbed?

 We managed to leave Birmingham for Atlanta just as an ice storm was hitting 
 town (Winter Storm '96, as the melodramatic weatherpeople dubbed it.  For 
 those of you in the North, I should explain:  Southerners are totally 
 unequipped for dealing with ice storms.).  We got out alive, but almost 
 didn't make it into the club -- the tiny Point was sold out, we only had 2 
 tickets (won from a radio station) among the 5 of us, and the doorman was 
 totally unmoved by the tale of our torturous trek to see YLT.  He and his 
 ogreish sidekick were willing to consider it for $50, but my failure to 
 conceal my ire at being extorted soured that deal rather quickly.  (I 
 suppose if we'd been cast members of "Savannah", we would have had no 
 problem gaining admittance; as it was, we were mere fans.)  One more ticket 
 was bought from someone with an extra, so 2 saints went home and 3 of us 
 were granted admission to the club.

 The show got off to a rousing start with Ira and Georgia beating out a 
 rhythm onstage (both on drums).  I had to make way for James, who was 
 weaving through the crowd to the stage (a la the Fleshtones), beating on a 
 drum as well .  All this drumming evolved into Adam & the Ants' "Antmusic". 
 The show only got better from there.  It was great to hear songs from their 
 first two albums.The Point was superior to the dreaded Masquerade because 
 there was no booming disco downstairs, but a general murmuring during the 
 quiet numbers led me to believe that some of the crowd was only there 
 because it was "the place to be" at little 5 points that night (maybe they 
 thought they might get a spot on "Savannah").  My friend Jeff swiped James' 
 set list after the show:

 Antmusic
 Flying Lesson
 Tom Courtenay [sung by Ira]
 Pablo and Andrea
 From a Motel 6
 Alrock's Bells
 Did I Tell You?
 Don't Say A Word
 Double Dare
 False Alarm
 Sudden Organ
 Blue Line Swinger

 Encores:
 Somebody's Baby
 Griselda
 How Much I've Lied

 That last one is by Gram Parsons, and was sung by Georgia.  (Thanks to The 
 Witcher for that info.)

 Because of the weather, we ended up being stuck in Atlanta for the weekend 
 due to a closed interstate in east Alabama (thanks for the couch, Greg & 
 Eileen); Georgia told Jeff that their show the following night in Knoxville 
 had been cancelled.  In spite of everything, it was a splendid show.

 By the way, an article in THE ATLANTA CONSTITUTION stated that "Pablo and 
 Andrea" is about "Robert Frank's deceased children" -- anybody know what the 
 story is here?  (Robert Frank is a photographer / film-maker, best known in 
 the rock world for doing the album cover for the Rolling Stones' EXILE ON 
 MAIN STREET, and directing the notorious unreleased documentary of their 
 1972 American tour, COCKSUCKER BLUES.)

 Trivia:  In MAY I SING WITH ME, there is a photo of Dreamland Bar-B-Que; 
 this is a locally famous spot in Tuscaloosa, Alabama (and no doubt a 
 favourite of YLT).



 from: The Yak Groomer <spencer@portal.ca>

 seattle radio

 hey tim,
        i was wunderin if you could slip this in the next digest. i heard
 that when ylt were in seattle on the last tour they made a quick stop to do
 a little preformance at the seattle radio station. i dont know how true
 this is. i wanna know a) if anyone heard this and
     b) if anyone taped this cuz i want it
     c) what songs did they play?

 i heard they covered range life


 from: brian david antonak <briguy@engin.umich.edu>


 My Yo L[ollapalooza] Tengo story
	by Brian Antonak

	As we all know, Our Heroes played the first bunch of dates from 
 last summer's Lollapalooza.  Well I was lucky enough to see them in 
 Detroit and a nice thing happened that day.
	Their set was great.  They had some fellas from the Coctails help 
 out on vibes and theremin and while their set was short it was great to 
 hear the new songs.  Plus I was standing right on the edge of the stage 
 next to this really cute girl who kept singing along.  But before the 
 show was when the cool thing happened.  As I milled around by the second 
 stage, I noticed a friendly looking longhair behind the t-shirt stand and 
 as I approached I realized it was The Bass Player.  I asked him if he was 
 James from YLT and if so would he sign the t-shirt I had just bought.  As 
 I'm sure you could imagine, he happily obliged.  He wrote "School's Out! 
 James" [keep in mind it was summertime].  Yay.  Then later, regretfully 
 after a couple beers, I went back towards the second stage and, lo, The 
 Guitarist and The Drummer were hanging out were James had once been.  So 
 in my alcohol-emboldened state I asked them if they would complete my 
 Sooper-YoLa t-shirt.  They did.  Georgia signed her name and Ira made the 
 "l" in "la" the "I" of Ira and the "a" into the "a" of Kaplan in his 
 goofy way.  So now I have a really cool t-shirt that I may never wear cos 
 they wrote in ball-point pen and I'm afraid it'll wash out...

	Brian Antonak
	briguy@engin.umich.edu



 from: RPARKIN <RPARKIN@macollamh.ucd.ie>


 yellow tango.



 To one and all, hello.
 Living in Dublin (Ireland) is pretty much fun mostly but when it comes 
 to seeing gigs, decent music is as thin on the ground as desire to write 
 my thesis (Art History: C.20 architecture in Ireland). A couple of weeks 
 ago RFTC played here. I don't particularly like them or anything (except 
 I did find out that the trumpeter likes The Sea & Cake and lots of Jazz- 
 cool by me) but figured on going anyhow, as a gig is a gig is a gig 
 round these parts. I believe "It's not because they're good, it's 
 because they're here" was the phrase most often heard emanating from my 
 lips at the time.
 Ira has told me it's difficult to play shows here 'cause of lack of 
 market/distance/island status. I understand. So I did the next best 
 thing. Read on, kids!
 Anyway, this is all building, I'm getting there.
 I've written to YLT a few times and received predominantly lovely 
 responses. One time I told Ira of a story about when I had to go to 
 London (England. i.e. a plane journey and plenty of money away) to see 
 my one and only YLT show to date. That was January '94 and it's still 
 freshish in my memory. Whoever was the sound guy on the night handed me 
 the set-list after the show, just as Ira was about to hand it to someone 
 else. I felt special (if it was you who should have got the list, I'm 
 sorry. Rest assured it's in a good home). So...Ira signed my list "IRA 
 KAPLAN IS GOING HOME NOW", and apologised for not remembering who I was 
 from my letter. How many Irish people write to YLT ? (any out there ? 
 Get in touch). 
 I came home to Ireland and all my friends asked "Who are Yellow Tango ?" 
 Apparently my friend Ciara had misheard me when I originally told her.I 
 set them straight and now many are also converts. I told Ira this in 
 another letter and he recounted the story of Fish & Roses writing a song 
 called Yellow Tangle after similar circumstances. Nice touch. 
 Now. To the crux of the letter.
 The name Yellow Tango stuck in my head for ages. Then in early '95 (a 
 year later) I thought it might be fun to enter my college's sucky Battle 
 of the Bands. Usual stuff: britpop tripe, funk-metal combos (definitely 
 "combos"), acoustic, heartfelt singer/songwriter types (a million miles 
 from Mountain Goats), punk throwbacks. You name it. But the worst ends 
 of every specrtum. I guessed it probably wouldn't be too difficult to 
 outdo them all.
 I decided to do a mazey cover of 'Shaker' for fun. I circulated a tape 
 of the song to all my friends who could play guitar to get them to work 
 it all out (I can't play a note). Weeks passed and more personnel 
 climbed on my hobbyhorse. Still no practice though. Then I got a call 
 from the event organisers- "You're on on Monday". It was Friday.
 A practice was arranged for early monday evening. When we gathered 
 together we were fifteen in total-2 drummers (on the same kit); 1 cello;  
 1 moog; 2 basses; 3 electric guitars; 5 acoustic gtrs (there is a sound 
 threshold in my college bar and I feared we might easily go over the 
 limit, so acoustics ensured the song would continue); 1 vocals/maracas 
 (me).

 {GOTTA GO FOR THE MO. I'LL FINISH MY STORY @ A FUTURE VISIT. I KNOW YOU 
 CAN'T WAIT}.

 ROBERT PARKINSON, DUBLIN, IRELAND. 




 from: "Jim O'Donnell" <jim@astroscu.unam.mx>

 David Thomas Lecture Series


 I just got back from vacation to find this email from the Pere Ubu
 mailing  list.  Do you know anything about The Accordian Club? Did 
 any of the digest readers go to the show? I'd be interested in seeing 
 a review.

 Cheers

  Jim

 ----- Begin Included Message -----

 >From pereubu@projex.demon.co.uk Thu Feb  8 04:50:36 1996
 Date: Thu, 8 Feb 96 04:50:27 CST
 X-Sender:  (Unverified)
 Mime-Version: 1.0
 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
 To: communex@projex.demon.co.uk
 From: David Thomas <pereubu@projex.demon.co.uk>
 Subject: David Thomas Lecture Series
 Content-Length: 685

 David Thomas from Pere Ubu is giving a lecture entitled "The Representation
 And Perception of Space in Music" on Saturday February 17 at Clark
 University in Worcester, Massachusetts. The night before he will perform
 with His American improvisational group called The Accordion Club featuring
 guitarist Ira Kaplan from Yo La Tengo and cellist Garo Yellin from The
 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
 Ordinaires and Pere Ubu.

 I don't know if outsiders can come or not. And I don't know details other
 than I get on the plane. If you want to come or find out if you CAN come
 contact
        EGHENOIU@vax.clarku.edu

 see you round

 --David Thomas
   pereubu@projex.demon.co.uk
   ubu web site is http://www.dnai.com/~obo/ubu




 ----- End Included Message -----


 from: Azrel <yhull@reed.edu>
 
 yo la gone commercial


	You may remember I asked you a while back the best 
 way to talk to the members of Yo la Tengo when they are preforming and 
 you gave great advice.  I wanted to ask you about a rumor and being 
 unsubstantiated as it is, I didn't want to waste sending it to everyone 
 if it isn't true.
	Anyways, I heard that yo la tengo are currently involved in 
 making the music for a **** or **** **** commercial.  It comes froma good 
 source (namely a guy who works for the advertising firm that handles alot 
 of **** material).  Supposedly, Yo la signed the contract, was going to 
 basically play part of a song of Electr-o-pura and then they changed 
 their minds and wrote new music for some reason.
	Well, if this is true, it is a puzzling for a few reasons, but 
 first tell me if you think or know there is any truth to this.
	Thanks, yang.

coins in the fountain.
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This page modified on June 2, 1996