SOUNDTRACK: RHEOSTATICS-Commodore Ballroom, Vancouver, BC (August 18, 2000).
The band went back to the West Coast again (man, they’re everywhere). They must have played a few shows out there, but this is the only one we’ve got. It’s over two hours and the sound is amazing (thanks so much for soundboard recordings).
Michael Phillip Wojewoda is with them on this leg, playing keyboards. Which allows them to open with “Monkeys Will Come.” This is the only other place I know of them playing it after Canada Day. The recording quality is much better than the Harbourfront show so you can really get a good sense of the song.
Tim Vesely gets two songs in a row with “Remain Calm” and “We Went West” (which they have been extending to nearly 7 minutes).
When they play Satan is the Whistler, Dave says they’re not welcome back in Whistler anymore. The crowd is rowdy and fun, but at one point someone shouts out for a moment of silence for the Russian Sub (I had to look this up, it was the Kursk disaster). Dave says, everyone prays in their own way.
“Horses” continues to throw in the “Still Waiting” section from the Talking Heads during the middle improv. And “Dope Fiends and Boozehounds” has a drum solo and an interesting synth part, along with a very brief coda of “Alomar!”
The set has a weird dancey bit at the end, which seems like maybe the songs are out of order. It’s hard to be sure, but the set is great nevertheless.
One programming note is that the set list states “RDA” but it’s not. It’s actually “Song of the Garden.”
[READ: March 5, 2015] “The Moronic Inferno”
As I had done with the New Yorker, I had also done with Harper’s. Namely, I had put off reading several months worth of issues. So I’m doing a run through of the last eight months or so. The good news is that Harper’s is a monthly, so there’s a lot fewer issues to worry about. Although I do find that I typically write about three or four pieces per issue. The February 2015 issue had two worthy pieces.
This is an excerpt from Revulsion: Thomas Bernhard in San Salvador, translated by Lee Klein. It is described as fiction, although Moya appears to be a character.
I have no sense of what the full book is like, but this expert (which is barely a whole page) is one long paragraph with the character of Vega ranting at Moya. The rant is all about how horrible San Salvador has grown. (more…)
I Just Read About That... 