SOUNDTRACK: RHEOSTATICS-3rd Annual Green Sprouts Music Week Show 7 (Ultrasound Showbar, Toronto Ontario September 23 1995).
It has been a while since I’ve listened to a live Rheostatics show. Darrin at Rheostatics Live has added a number of new shows in the last eight months. On the last night of Green Sprouts Music Week, the band played two shows in one day. This first one is all ages, which I kind of think of as a children’s show, but really it means that people under 21 (or whatever the drinking age is) can get in too.
Seventh and final show of the annual Green Sprouts Music Week held at Ultrasound Showbar September 18-23 1995. Excellent finale to the week with some peak performances of the material being worked on for The Blue Hysteria album – most of which debuted live during the week long run. There are some great references in this show as well – to Martin’s new double neck guitar used for the first time and which they were debating how ugly it was (it had yet to be painted), the Whale Music Movie premier which was to take place in Los Angeles the following week, as well as Dave talking about the actual Joe Jackson at Massey Hall event noted in My First Rock Concert which is the sample noted below. Farm Fresh and Tamara Williamson guest, a great Spirit Of The West segue into Claire via Scaffolding and the traditional gift exchange at the end. Less than a month after this show they would perform Music Inspired By The Group Of 7 at the National Gallery in Ottawa…which at this point not a single note had been written.
Tyler from Farm Fresh will sit in with them tonight. Sgt. Tielli will start the show (he’s wearing some kind of fancy suit–Martin: we used to tour with these outfits all of us. Tim: I bet you never washed yours.) He begins with a lovely “Song of Flight” that segues into “California Dreamline.”
During “Fan Letter to Michael Jackson” the chant is Farm Fresh and They Suck. Tyler does a turntable solo.
Tamara Williamson comes up for “Sweet Rich Beautiful Mine.” She’s with Mrs. Torrance and they’ll play her next Tuesday.
Martin debuted his double neck guitar this week. Martin: It’s a trial basis–I’m borrowing it to see if I like it. Dave: It’s ugly but in a nice way. It goes with the jacket. It needs stickers (!).
After a lovely “All the Same Eyes,” Dave says “you just gotta spina around when you hear that song.”
Some Green Sprouts start whistling “You Are Very Star.” Dave: You could start your own religion with a tune like that.
Don talks about a concert event this Sunday. He’ll be playing with Cake (I don’t know if it’s that Cake), and on the bill is “Don’t Talk, Dance” and Bob Wiseman. It’s a benefit for The Campus Coop Day Care which burnt down. Tim: so when it says “members of the Rheostatics, they mean you.” Tim says Bobby Wiseman’s new album is awesome.
The do alright with the counting on “Four Little Songs” and Dave says Neil Peart’s kitchen. When Dave tells them to count off on the final 4321 some says “that’s your job Dave” and Dave retorts: “You guys are getting lippy. On Monday the audience was quiet.” Don: They’re tired of your jokes–same jokes 6 nights in a row.
Tim says that he taught the fellows the next song (“An Offer”) during rehearsal this week. He kept writing out the charts but someone kept stealing them. He got tired of writing them. Someone shouts: I heard some other band play the song on the radio today!
After the song, someone shouts “encore!” Dave: Encore already? The longest encore in rock.
“Desert Island Poem” features some scratching from Tyler and a solo from Martin.
Don sings “Never Forget” (I feel like he never quite gets the vocal right).
Dave says he was interviewed by CBC. Originally he said no, but they paid him fifty bucks. They interviewed him for like an hour and he was on TV for all of two and a half seconds saying “Italo-Canadian.”
Next song is in French. “Chansons Les Reulles.” Tim says, “Play it in French, Don.”
Martin: Someone asked me if the Joe Jackson song is really true. Dave tells the story then sings the son. He adds an extra first verse about Aerosmith and the Carpenters. Never heard it since.
A footnote to ELO. They were going to come out of a big spaceship–like a Big Mac box. As it turns out they were sued for playing backing tapes. My first real rock concert wasn’t even live.
“A Midwinter Night’s Dream” sounds good even though Martin doesn’t even try for the high note. But he plays a wild solo.
Dave says that Whale Music is opening in Santa Monica. Are we going down there? No Hollywood party for them. But then we thought–Hollywood party–free coke. Don tells a story about cocaine when opening for a big big Toronto band. He found a rolled up $20 sitting on a mirror. He made $20 that night because you never get paid for those big gigs.
They play “Claire” (hard to believe how rare this song is. Tim opens with a verse of Spirit of the West’s “Scaffolding” before starting the song properly. During the solo, Tim says, Martin, can you play the other neck? Both at the same time? he must do it because Tim sings “purify me / blow my fucking mind with that thing.”
They invite Farm Fresh to the stage for a gift exchange and Andrew Rourke’s vocal debut.
Farm Fresh brought 40 tapes and they sold out in the first night, so they’ve been dubbing them in the back. Then Farm Fresh plays “Space.”
Their gifts include a music trivia book (he asks some of the questions). Apparently a Red Sonya #1 (it’s worth $700 at least) and a Fantastic Four #358. And also The History of the Bonzos by Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band.
Then Dave thanks a bunch of people. The T-shirts sold out! Or we lost them.
Dave thanks everyone. Being a rock guy and playing big stadiums is good, but playing a club for a week and having people come all week long is the dream.
Farm Fresh present the Rheos with an album: Truck Stop Comedy by Gene Tracey: Double Clutchin “for tough adults only.” Tim reads the back of the record (it’s hilariously bad) and they all fight for who will play it first. You can actually find comedy by this guy online.
What a great week of music. I wish I’d been able to go to alo of the shows, although I didn’t actually know them yet.
[READ: February 20, 2021] “Visiting George”
This is listed as a “Memory” in this issue. I thought I was familiar with Nadine Gortimer’s work, but I don’t know if this is anything like what she normally writes.
It was really hard to follow as I don’t know who she’s talking about or even what exactly happened.
She says they were in London for a conference and wound up near a house where old friends lived. She was about to say they should pop in–it had been so long. (more…)
The blurb tells us: This was the first proper Don Kerr show in Toronto. They had played the Roadside Attraction tour but this was the first in Toronto. It also features 4 songs played for the first time – Connecting Flights (aka Two Flights of Stairs), Four Little Songs, Sweet,Rich,Beautiful and Mine, and All The Same Eyes (aka Crescent II). Also the only known cover version of Joe Jackson’s I’m The Man.
I Just Read About That... 