Saturday night: after being told where to stand, where to go, what room I could be in, what not to do, where not to look, which way to face, how to stay still in one place, how to move to another place (the knit has to be HANDS DOWN one of the worst venues in NYC)...Sun City Girls played after Outhud?!?! a band on Kranky whose ploy for the Hawkwind cum Earth, Wind and Fire vibe left me reeling in the years. Sounds great, right? It weren't.
Sun City were great...timeless, proto prog, epic. Just drums, guitar, bass (i thought they'd have more instruments) they played before an obnoxious, overstrewn crowd of relentless "hipsters" fucking with them ALL NIGHT LONG. It was the opposite of a collective unconscious experience...this was COllective consciousness. The Sun City Girls masked their antics as metaphysical politics. There was a poetry reading.
I heard from someone that an acquaintence had to leave the main room after too many random idiots yelling stuff like 'Pizza!' in the middle of a song. I heard Sunday was mellower.
I really really blocked out the crowd and DID thoroughly enjoy the set, esp. Rick Bishop's dwindling sub-riff lanquidity about 6 or 7 songs in? Great moments here when he sings extemporaneously about 'if you're going to make love to your mother you better wash your ass' and a brilliant line about how 'some say I have a switch in the back of my head'. Great, great stuff. They did play one song that I recognized, but not sure from where.
Final review: totally worth it for fans that have endured throughout the ages, unfortunately it must be experienced with other "fans". I think at one point Alan or someone in the band called the audience "funky Zionists". Apt. A Palestinan woman in the crowd felt obliged to correct him and say no we're not. His reply, "thanks for coming."
Please post reviews of Sat./Sunday if you went...
---------go.to/stevek
― steve k, Monday, 18 November 2002 21:05 (twenty-three years ago)
Lots of stuff I recognized--"The Shining Path" (a.k.a. "Lambada"), covers of "The Look of Love" (Bacharach/David, not ABC) and Love's "Alone Again Or," plus "Cooking with Satan" (an actual request!).
― douglas, Monday, 18 November 2002 21:15 (twenty-three years ago)
Methinks you're thinking of Charlie Gocher, the drummer.
I was indeed there Saturday night. I believe what Alan B. said was "Fuck the Zionists!"
Yesiree bob, that's what he said.
Rick played piano for a while too, and there was that long piece with multiple pairs of cymbals where they were call-and-response-ing with a couple of people in the audience who just sort of started making vocal noises at them.
Yeppers.
And the "poem" was a rewritten cover of the Fugs' "C.I.A. Man."
Yeah, loved the reworked lyrics. Lots of stuff I recognized--"The Shining Path" (a.k.a. "Lambada"), covers of "The Look of Love" (Bacharach/David, not ABC) and Love's "Alone Again Or," plus "Cooking with Satan" (an actual request!).
Where did the Love cover come in? I heard they played it in Chicago, but I didn't catch it Saturday. They also played a Burmese (I think) song that I wanna say is from 300,303 Crossdressers....
Man, they fucking smoked. Was slightly bummed that I missed Fushisusha and Savage Republic (all at diff. venues that night), but SCG were awesome. Loved the crowd interaction.
Out Hud = dud. If I wanted to hear third-rate ESG, I'd listen to their records underwater.
― hstencil, Monday, 18 November 2002 21:27 (twenty-three years ago)
some guy on drone on raved abt fushitsusha: he said it was up there with some of their PSF 15/16 stuff (they are now a TWO man band). that's quite scary.
― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Monday, 18 November 2002 21:31 (twenty-three years ago)
some guy on drone on raved abt fushitsusha show: he said it was up there with some of their PSF 15/16 stuff (they are now a TWO man band). that's quite scary.
Love the fake Table of the Elements ad in that one Bananafish, though.
― hstencil, Monday, 18 November 2002 21:41 (twenty-three years ago)
― o. nate (onate), Monday, 18 November 2002 21:51 (twenty-three years ago)
''I'm not familiar with their music (I only have two Haino solo discs, which is probably enough for me), but I still wouldn't mind seein' 'em live.''
Having bought a few Haino recs I'd say just stick with the PSF stuff (watashi dake and affection as well as nujiumu for solo releases). A bought a couple of solo discs releases through labels other than PSF and I have to say i didn't like what i heard.
― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Monday, 18 November 2002 22:07 (twenty-three years ago)
― hstencil, Monday, 18 November 2002 22:09 (twenty-three years ago)
sound may have been better for those front & center, or those not seeing them at the knitting factory. I guess the webcast was all messed up during their wfmu 2-hour show, they might rebroadcast, but there's a handshake agreement in place to not archive it.
― autovac, Tuesday, 19 November 2002 02:44 (twenty-three years ago)
Exactly why I was front and center. That place sucks, sound-wise.
― hstencil, Tuesday, 19 November 2002 15:04 (twenty-three years ago)
Yeah I ended up just going on Sunday.It wasn't as crowded and the crowd interaction was minimal. I was just hoping that they would have come up to stage left and start messing with me after they went for the guy in the middle. Anyone who thinks that they are a joke needs to hear the tapes. These guys can play circles around most out rock bands..Highlight for me was the theme from Wild World Of Animals.
Hstencil buddy, Savage Republic were amazing ( Full Disclamer: They are my most favorite band ever along with :Sun Ra, Dead C,Sun City Girls and Barbara Manning-I can't choose one). Friends that I went with who aren't as into them aggreed it was fantastic.
― brg30 (brg30), Tuesday, 19 November 2002 15:13 (twenty-three years ago)
The crowd was an odd mix of couples, and old fat guys...overall it was a lot of fun...and yes the sound at the knitting factory is sub-par!
― dead dead bird, Tuesday, 19 November 2002 16:14 (twenty-three years ago)