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Yo La Digest Volume 2, Number 5

From tim@vestek.com
Date: Mon, 31 Jul 95 14:04:20 PDT
From: Tim McGinnis 
Subject: yldv2n5

I might be the only person in this room
who's seen Edgar Winter play live

...Ira  6/20/95

 From: Marc Odo 
 Subject: Yo La Tengo in Seattle, show #2
 

 Well, tonight's show might have been the most memorable YLT show I've 
 seen, for the awkwardness of it, if for no other reason.

 They played a club called the Backstage, which is kinda caters to an 
 older crowd.  They were opening for some guy called Doug Sahm and His 
 Last Real Texas Blues Band.  They're one of these really polished Texas 
 blues band, complete with keyboards and horns.  Not really my style.  The 
 crowd consisted primarily of white, middle-aged drunk people.

 Yo La Tengo played an accoustic set, which was probably for the best.  
 Ira on an amplified accoustic, Georgia with a snare and cymbal, James 
 with his bass.  The crowd was actually rather receptive, for the most part.  
 Let's see...they did a Grahm Parsons song, Nowhere Near, What Can I 
 Say?, a Dump song, some stuff off of Fakebook which I can't remember and 
 a few more.  The highlights of the show (in my 
 opinion) were Georgia's version of Tom Courtenay (breathtaking) and 
 Barnaby, Hardly Working (my favorite YLT song, which I had never heard 
 performed live before).  Ira really went crazy twice, on False Ending and 
 Shaker.  It was really strange to see him go totally ape-shit on an 
 accoustic, and it really through the audience off.  I thought it was great.

 I have also taped this show, so if you want to trade for a copy, drop me 
 a line.

 -Marc


 from: Tony McCartan 


 Here is a juicy snippet I found from browsing though Compuserve's news paper 
 database. In 30 June issue  of the Cleveland Plain Dealer:- 
 They've  been called "the Velvet Underground, right now" by ardent fans, so 
 it  seems fitting that Yo La Tengo are playing the Vel ... uh ... house band 
 at Andy Warhol's Factory in a new film called "I Shot Andy Warhol."

 "The  assistant directors preferred to get a band than actors," explains 
 singer/guitarist  Ira Kaplan. "The story was that an assistant director was 
 in  Tower  Records and heard something playing and it turned out to be us."

 In  addition to Kaplan's bandmates James McNew and Georgia Hubley, the trio 
 were  augmented  by Antietam's  Tara Key playing Tengo and Velvet songs as 
 well as an "instrumental that sounded more like the Velvet Underground than 
 the  cover  did.  I  know that's what they are using in the scene with us." 
 Asked  which  member  was  his favorite Velvet, Kaplan deadpanned, "I don't 
 think  I  ever  thought  of them that way. One of the things that made them 
 such  a  great group was that there wasn't just one."


 Maybe this is old news, but the first I've heard of it.

 Tony.



 from: Eric Janssen <75122.1033@compuserve.com>

 SF show etc.

 Hi Tim: I want to thank you for putting out this newsletter, it's great and 
 you are truly a Mensch!  I was at the SF show recently and thought it was 
 definitiely one of the best YLT shows I've seen.  I play guitar myself in a 
 band called the Curbfeelers (we're playing on Sat the 8th at the Kilowatt) 
 and listening to Ira's playing was inspiring and dumbfounding. Ira is one 
 of 3  people that have a stunning mastery of feedback and emoting with a 
 guitar (the other two are Roger and Guy from Thin White Rope - if you 
 haven't, listen to their cover of Some Velvet Morning.)  I was looking at 
 him and thinking - yes, he fucking has it!!! and also How does he do this???
 It was all around a great show, and in fact the whole week was great because
 a few days later I  saw Pell Mell at the Great American Music Hall. These 
 two bands express to me  all that is beautiful, tasteful and artistic in
 current music.

 Again, thanks for putting out the newsletter, I like it lots. 

 Take care. Eric



 from: brian david antonak 

 hello,

	Normally I just like to read these digests, but I read something 
 in 'sam adams' review of the Tramps concert that I just had to reply to.  
 He mentioned an unknown cover with lyrics including "we don't wanna be 
 good."  Is it possible that they were playing Neil Young's "Prisoners of 
 Rock'n'Roll"?  It goes something like this:
		blah blah record company man
		He'll try to change us and ruin our band
	chorus	That's why we don't wanna be good
		Whoa oh oh oh oh
		We're prisoners of rock'n'roll

 Does that sound familiar sam ?  I love to hear it when bands cover Neil, 
 'cos I think he deserves all the respect and admiration in the world.  I 
 once read a concert review of ylt where the reviewer compared Ira to a 
 short, Jewish Neil Young, and I thought that was pretty cool...

 bye,
 Brian



 from: LaniDoe@aol.com



 I'm so happy to find this newsletter.  There have only been a few times on my
 life that I've been able to say that I have a "favorite band," but I know for
 sure that YLT if now my favorite.  On this tour, I was them in Providence,
 RI, which was a great show and was ecstatically lucky enough to see them
 again in San Francisco.  Since there have been a lot of details written about
 the show, let me just add that the crowd was great.  I'm from Boston, and
 have seen YLT up and down the east coast, but man, the crowd was so large,
 and so into the show in SF.  The Great American Music Hall was a neat place,
 and I think that that's the biggest venue that I've ever seen them perform
 in.  But, on the other hand, the Providence show was in a small place (The
 Met Cafe), and, while I hate to use the word intimate, it was.  The band
 members were easy to find, and approachable.  The music was, of course,
 stupendous.
 My two favorite encores: (We're an) American Band, Grand Funk (I think) in
 Providence, and Yellow Sarong in SF.
 
 Last summer, I went to North Carolina for the Merge music festival, and to my
 delight, I saw Ira Kaplan there!  I talked to him for a while (about
 cryptograms and other things), and he performed later that night in "Double
 Dynamite" with two other guys, I forget who they were, but the day they
 perform is both of their birthdays.  They did a lot of cheesey covers.
 James also performed with two other bands.  I don't know if Merge will
 celebrate their 6th birthday with a party this year, but if they do, I bet
 there will be a Yo La Tengo sighting there.

 Thanks for sending me your newsletter.  I love it.



 from: bernat 
 Subject: yOLaTEnGo

 hello tim,

 in a recent YLT conversation w/ Craig Hilmer, our conversations always 
 contain a large YLT component, he passed along your address concerning 
 the YLT newsletter you distribute electronically...although the subject 
 of your newsletter has come up before somehow I always forget to request 
 a subscription...but I would definitely like to receive it...

 ...I know I could contribute when appropriate, have seen the band many 
 times, have considered flying back to NYC to catch the sleeping pill 
 configuration (which my friend there did after much effort tracking down 
 an unmarked run-down building in the Bronx with no lights in the 
 staircase - the only information he had was the subway stop - impressive 
 effort I told him), have been involved locally in helping to promote 
 the band's visits to San Diego...generally my brother and I really try 
 to follow the band, and this seems like a great forum for it...

 6/18/95 SanDiego YLT
 Big Day Coming (pensive version)
 Decora
 Double Dare
 Ballad of Red Buckets (vintage Jorma style Jefferson Airplane lead)
 Tom Courtenay
 Shaker (stopped short - Georgia leaves stage)
 Don't Say A Word (Ira & James only - Ira on vocals)
 Satellite
 Drug Test
 False Alarm
 Big Day Coming (dance mix)
 Blue Line Swinger

 encore set: Did I Tell You, We Don't Wanna Be Good, 
             At The River's Edge (wow)


 I had intended to catch Tucson, SanDiego, LA, & SanFran, but that plan 
 ended when some guy slammed into my car nearly totaling it...so it was only 
 SD & LA this time around. Definitely wanted to catch the GAMH show in SF, 
 saw the feelies there with my brother & Craig a few years back now...
 
 ...anyway, I would really appreciate it if you would add me to your 
 subscriber list...I would keep the excessive rambling to a minimum in 
 the future...thanx, (bernat@rohan.sdsu.edu)


 from: "IMPRINT -- UW's Student Newspaper" 
 
 Yo La Tengo Last Show of Tour


 
 For le digest:

 Yo La wound up their current tour with a headlining gig at Lee's Palace 
 here in Toronto. I guess they'd been doing Lollapalooza for a while and 
 then headlining their own tour, and after the Lee's gig they were heading 
 back to New York.

 They started the set with Neil Young's "Prisoners of Rock and Roll" (a 
 garage band anthem with the refrain "We don't want to be good," for those 
 who haven't heard it) which Ira fittingly dedicated to Rod Torfulson's 
 Armada Featuring Herman Menderchuk, thereby affirming Kids in the Hall as 
 Canada's hippest cultural export. From there it was into a marathon 
 heartstopper version of "I Heard You Looking" and off we went.

 Natch, they sampled the *EOP* album liberally, as well as the odd 
 *Painful* tracks and beyond. They tended to bunch up the tempos-- ie. a 
 batch of slow songs, then a batch of noisy ones-- and must have included 
 a half-dozen of their patented Marathon Showstopping Gonzo Freakouts.

 Let's see, highlights... I remember when I saw 'em in early '94, "Sudden 
 Organ" seemed to make sense for me for the first time after seeing them 
 do it live; this time it was "My Heart's Reflection". "Shaker" rocked, 
 "Farmer's Daughter" (which Ira introduced as "a song by the American Ray  
 Davies") was awesomely pretty. They did the Flaming Groovies song from 
 *Fakebook* ("You Tore Me Down"?) by special request of Shadowy Man Reid 
 Diamond. "Blue Line Swinger" was amazingly jagged and powerful. Blondie's 
 "Dreaming" ended it all on a tight tear.

 What else, what else, random notes... At some point James McNew seems to 
 have cut all his hair off and is now sporting a sort of pageboy look... 
 The three of 'em were on CFNY (TO's "modern rock" station") for a quick 
 interview earlier in the evening (despite the fact that that crappy 
 station has never played a Yo La song in its existence, or almost never) 
 and plugged thusly: Tara Key and Antietam (Ira), Eleventh Dream Day's 
 last album (James), Run On (Georgia)... At the show Ira was sportin' a 
 Stinky Puffs T-shirt while James had on some 18th Dye gear... Georgia was 
 amazing throughout-- great voice, great drumming, great presence... As 
 always I was stunned by the fact that only three people were making all 
 that noise... Was talking to James and he said a Dump gig is lined up for 
 Sunday August 6 at a NYC club called Brownie's, and incredibly enough I'd 
 already planned a trip to New York for that weekend, so perhaps I'll have 
 more to post in a couple weeks.

 That's all for now,

 Derek W.
 

 from: "Hargrove, Matthew G." 


 Hey Tim--

 How goes it?  I think I may have a good idea for the Digest.  It came to 
 me while mumbling along with _Electr-o-Pura_--singin' along with the 
 shards of lyrics that I know.  As far as I know (and I may be wrong) 
 there is nowhere to get the lyrics for any of the albums.  I think we can 
 solve that, add a new dimension to the Digest, stimulate conversation 
 about *the music*, and have fun all at the same time.

 I sat down to try to figure out the lyrics and write them down but found 
 that on many of the songs there were words and passages that I had 
 nothing but a guess on.  So I figure we can put together a "Yo La Puzzle" 
 in the Digest and let other people help me figure-out and interpret the 
 lyrics.  

 What I propose is that I send you my interpretation of a song's lyrics for
 the Digest asking people to correct/fill-in the blanks. Also ask people 
 for their interpretation of what the song is about/means/reminds them of, 
 or any general observations about the song (like noticing the faint 
 wind-chimes in "The Whole of the Law" [which took me about a thousand 
 listens before I finally noticed them]).  

 Since your workload is already enough we could have people email me 
 directly, and I would in turn compile the most "correct" version of the 
 song's lyrics and the interpretations/observations and send them to you 
 for publication in the Digest anlong with the next set of lyrics.  I 
 would also start archiving the lyrics along with the 
 interpretations/observations for future reference.
 
 If people participate this could be really cool.  And at the end we will
 have a nice document full of lyrics and fans'
 interpretations/observations.

 I think this will get us away from merely reporting "Ira-sightings" and 
 give us some fodder for when they are not on tour.  It will also focus 
 some actual thought on the music (which is the whole reason we like the 
 band in the first place, right?).  Another benefit is that this can spur 
 some conversation on some of the older material (which is not as hard to 
 figure out the lyrics as the newer stuff, but we can still ask for 
 interpretations/observations [I sure have typed those two words a lot!]).

 What do you think?  I have put a proto-type at the end of this message.  
 Give me some feedback, positive or negative.

 Matt Hargrove
 Sacramento, CA


                           Yo La Puzzle #1

 To follow you will find my initial transcription of the lyrics to a Yo La 
 Tengo song.  Please help me by correcting any lyrics you think may be 
 different and by filling in the blanks and guesses"[?]".  

 Also, please take the time to give me your interpretation of what the song
 [is about/means/reminds you of], or any miscellaneous observations you 
 may have about the song.

 Aside from the ongoing process of building a database of YLT lyrics, it is
 hoped that this will induce thought about music and spur conversation
 among the loyal many of the Hoboken three.  PLEASE PARTICIPATE.  You will
 gain a different perspective of the band by focusing some thought on their
 music and lyrics and expressing what you think/feel.  Others *are*
 interested in what you have to say. 

 Please send your responses to me (mghargrove@ucdavis.edu) for compilation 
 and future publication in the Yo La Digest.  
 
 Remember:  These lyrics are just my initial transcription and any word may
 be subject to change.  Things in brackets [] are words or phrases where I
 finally just took a guess, and [?] means I had absolutely no clue! 

 Listening to the song very loud in a relaxed atmosphere with an Anchor
 Porter at your side may help with this excersise.  Have fun! 


 YLP # 1		"PAUL IS DEAD" (Yo La Tengo) from Electr-o-Pura


	Walking on 10th Street
	The guy in front of me,
		walkman headphones on, [stone is cranked]
	Thing that caught my ear; singing loud and clear
	Well every coupla' steps I heard "Woo-woo"
	And he sang so unselfconciously,
		[like two girls] on a [current screamer]
	He revealed himself by [???]

	Well I was drunk and [not human]
	I might try to forget, except I know--and so do you
	Well I don't really care, just move [my arm] from there
	And I try not to hide what is true
	The other night I had this dream, 
		you took only what you want from me
	I gave it to you instantly,
		then I woke up without a clue


 Please tell me something about this song:


 Remember send your responses to "mghargrove@ucdavis.edu" Tim doesn't need 
 anymore work!

It's so very lonely; you're light years from home.
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This page modified on June 2, 1996