SOUNDTRACK: RHEOSTATICS-Another Roadside Attraction: Cayuga Speedway – Hagersville, ON (July 20, 1995).
The band sounds kind of different for a festival like this, they downplay some of their weirder elements, to be sure, although maybe it’s just practical to play your more popular work to a wider audience. This looks like a pretty good festival, check out the line up –>
The beginning of the set is kind of muddy–mostly because you can hear audience chatter, but it clears up okay.
After a warm introduction (You’re gonna love these guys), they play a nice “Self Serve Gas Station”
For the next song Martin says, “This is a song about a kid writing a letter to Michael Jackson.”
After a nice “Soul Glue” Martin says “Dave, I’m the CN Tower. You be the Bank of Montreal.”
Before “California Dreamline,” Dave says, “That last song was about a lake, this next song is about an ocean.” During the song, Martin sings “spooning” instead of “fucking” in the dry sand–is that a festival decision?
There’s a lengthy, trippy, swirling opening to “Claire” with a Dave announcing: “Tim Vesely has gone electric, stop the presses.” Martin does a really wondrous guitar solo.
The most notable concession to “normalcy” is their cover of “One More Colour” which lessens some of its heaviest noises. The ending. which can go pretty far afield, is also pretty straightforward. “Dope Fiends and Boozehounds” sounds a little prettier than usual. The middle section has a kind of instrumental section with a drum solo and waves of sound. (This is the first show on this site with Don Kerr on drums, although no mention is made of him).
The end segues into RDA which is fast and cool but leaves off the final “Americas!”
This is a very unchatty show for the band, although at the end Dave says they’re playing at Woolsock (Woolstock?) on August 12 in beautiful Welling. Welling is in Alberta, but I find a Woolsock Music Festival listed in Nova Scotia, so I’m at a loss.
[READ: June 27, 2017] “Show Don’t Tell”
I can’t get over that Curtis Sittenfeld has had three stories published in the New Yorker in the span of about a year. This one is set in a graduate school writing program.
The narrator explains that the most prestigious fellowship one could earn at their school was the Peaslee–$8,800 with no work requirements. It was the gold standard. Other ones paid less and required a fairly heavy work load. Ruth is in her first year and, like everyone else, hopes desperately to win this fellowship.
No one knew exactly when the acceptance letters went out, but there was also a rumor, so Ruth waited in front of her mailbox to wait for the mailman.
When her neighbor heard the door shut, she assumed Ruth had left so she came out with her cigarette–something that she and Ruth had had words about several times. Continue Reading »
I Just Read About That... 