SOUNDTRACK: RHEOSTATICS-Ontario Place Forum (May 30, 1992).
This is a short set with the band opening for Barenaked Ladies, just prior to the release of Whale Music.
It’s a pretty intense set what with Horses, Shaved Head, California and Queer–especially since they’re opening for BNL.
The beginning of “Aliens” is cut off, but it sounds great and the end of the song Clark throws in a really fast verse of “Tom Sawyer.” Indeed, the whole show sounds great.
While introducing “Soul Glue,” Dave says “Ladies and gentlemen, Doctor Christopher Brown” he plays piano and keys and is the Canadian musician who has been around for years in various bands. “Horses” sounds great with the whole band really into it. “Shaved Head” is wonderfully intense until the very end when Clark starts singing “pray for me King George” for some reason.
Bidini says this is the first time they played Ontario Place and he thanks them for being very gentle. Then Clark adds “Don’t forget to get up and wag your bums around folks or else you’re gonna get cold.”
Then there’s another great Martin song, “California Dreamline.” Before the final song, they introduce each other (incorrectly) and also Brown and Lewis Melville on pedal steel. And then they encourage everyone to make Ontario Place, “one big green sprouts music club.” “Queer” sounds great and has a little slide guitar section (from Melville) and a piano section (from Brown) before seguing into the finale of the song.
I love this note added to the concert:
This was the night that Rheos and BNL finished their show at Ontario Place and then all made their way to Clinton’s Tavern to join The Bourbon Tabernacle Choir onstage. That was the show where BTC started their final song People Get Ready with all members of the Bourbons on stage and then gradually they swapped out with other musicians until the song finally ended with none of the band onstage, only members of other bands.
[READ: August 28, 2016] “Creative Licentious”
I believe that this is an excerpt from a story called Instruction. And while an excerpt is often unsatisfying in its incompleteness, I don’t think any more of this story would have made it any better. In fact I found it too long as it was.
The basic premise is that artists are subject to all kinds of abuse. George takes the abuses over the top and makes them repulsive–he fosters an “only the strong survive” type of attitude. In addition to producing a piece of art a week, students must also attend interviews, perform menial jobs, as well as carpentry and maintenance around the building. They must also repair the stables and bury the dead horses at the rate of once per week.
If the story had ended there, I would have been amused by the excesses of the story but this was one of a dozen or so sections, each of which goes to the same extremism as the above (and more). (more…)
I Just Read About That... 