15.16.17 march 2oo2
ucla, los angeles, california
white out
quix*o*tic
christina rosenvinge
erase errata
us maple
cat power
television
ashton, mascis & watt
bride of no no
mats gustaffson, nels cline, thurston moore & william winant
deerhoof
destroy all monsters
fred anderson trio
kevin drumm, lee renaldo & leah singer
renee gladman
pita
tony conrad
big star
wilco
dead c
peaches
mike watt & the secondmen
stereolab
sonic youth
bought my tix back in august 2oo1 for the ill-fated october dates... the postponement hurt, but... oh well... also, they started shows on thursday the 14th, but my plans were made before those bookings were public... for a variety of reasons, including the inability to bend time & space to conform to my will, i was only able to witness 24 of the 44 possible performers, so if i missed your fave... sue me...
yes, that was jim o'rourke augmenting the core white out duo... mike watt was invited out to play as well... was some serious improv... unfortunately, it was not really the crowd or venue for this kind of thing. too many choices, leading me to move on.
quix*o*tic featured a girl singer who picked up the guitar occasionally, a girl drummer (basic thump) + indeterminately sexed bassist who provided the primary accompanyment to the folk-twang bluesy laments...
christina rosenvinge w/ tim foljan & steve shelley? no spark for me, but well-liked by the crowd in attendance...
the neon-fluorescent outfits erase errata wore reminded us of stuff our teenage kids would do to their clothes & wear... great sharp guitar stuff/vox-(s)trumpet/bass/drums, aggressive, femme punky noisy rok... i would definitely like to hear more, if only for the spiky guitar.
a transcendant set from us maple, rivetting stuff, latent hostility made it well worth missing ikue mori, kim gordon, dj olive, jim o'rourke set...
cat power must be sleeping with someone important... was this a pathetic joke? where's the hook? gtr playing could use support, same chords over + over, vox ok, but all the hairball kacking- give her a lozenge, somebody please?
overheard: "now i can die happy" after the television set. there was a long line, i waited over an hour with a strong fear of exclusion... to hear all old songs, like their own original lineup tribute band- more than a bit sad, but- a great band, songs, formula- seemed like richard lloyd's solos were extended more into rock guitar flash than i expected... it made me think a lot about what has happened to tom verlaines' career. he has made a series of consistently interesting records (imhofwiw), some of which are classik. now he has reconciled himself to occasional guest spots on others' records and revival shows like this. seems like there must be unknown factors at work here. health? couldn't go without commenting on the disastrous general admission tickets as they applied to this. waited well over an hour to get in, with ucla personnel admonishing the line repeatedly, "you will never get in". once inside, there were plenty of seats. eventually promoter barry h. climbed onstage to invite the crowd to leave their seats and stand so that those outside could be allowed in. a fire marshall's nightmare ensued, as the crowd, as a body, rushed the stage, a torrent of frenzied fan-atics. the best line of the show was verlaine admonishing the lighting guy from the stage to quit with the swirlies, referring to the light show.
stooges tribute by ashton, mascis & watt why? what's the point? watt's having fun, but are they trying to goad iggy into participating? was liked by the oldsters... and the too-young-to-know-better. party with the ground glass + peanut butter voice...
arrived just in time to see the last bit of bride of no no, nice white surgical gown/chador-type covering outfits, trust them to deliver forward-looking no(w) wave...
much as i have great affection for nels' guitar work on record, this was a yawn-inducing live set by mats gustaffson, nels cline, thurston moore & william winant, more improv stuff that didn't keep my attention well enuff to cause me to hang around...
nice contrasts by deerhoof, loud rockish sounds with acapella m/f vocal duo segment- made me wanna know more about these folks...
it was a long wait while destroy all monsters (mike kelley, carey loren, jim shaw + dave mueller) set up lots of artfully-customized equipment... half of which never got used during their abbreviated set of chaotic visual performance fun... where was niagara? "we invited her, she wanted to rock out, and we're not interested in being her back-up band"... no loss...
sounding like 3 separate themes of a jazzy blues w/no interconnection from fred anderson trio but it works... stand-up bass, fluid themes, sax, jazzsss...
kevin drumm, lee renaldo & leah singer w/guest mats gustaffson... leah singers contribution were two screens of film work... too bad more of the improvisors of this weekend did not confront the lack of a visual element so successfully... lee sounded good when he stopped doing noise-guitar cliches, like playing the unattached guitar cord instead. kevin drumm carried the match in noise-dj mode, mats fit in well (maybe better than l.r.)... the films were excellent... kevin drumm is a powerhouse...
poetry by renee gladman was a nice changeup, nice modest presentation, good imagery, she has a smooth voice, not quite monotone but no highs or lows in projection...
dark sounds reverberating thru the fireplace of the hall by pita, like a scary movie soundtrack without the suspense, ending with inkari-like distortion of what sounded like andes indian music. a somewhat familiar, but masterful set from one of the original laptop artists...
tony conrad fills the air with so many overtones that i keep turning my head to see who is carrying on phantom murmering conversations... i think i hear? tony is way into it, stepping like a ballet + dancing w/a look of complete immersion... totally unique set from one of the best of the minimalists...
big star (alex chilton, jody stephens + posies ken stringfellow & jon auer) pleasantly surprising nice set by the reconstituted latter-day big star. voices were a bit rough, but this reincarnation casts little or no tarnish on the legend...
while unfortunately just not my cuppa, wilco features a wicked drummer (glenn kotche) supporting jeff tweedy's americana, the band- kinda songwriter stuff...
an appropriate soundtrack was provided by dead c for the last night of atp, using the detritus of the rock age, drumthrob, wheezing synths, decaying guitars... had to keep moving to avoid rigor mortis setting in...
the surprise of the night, peaches (w/drawings by shary boyle) rock/rap beats with svelte come-ons, but the visuals added to the spirited show in a sorely-needed way (other than leah singer, didn't see this aspect dealt with this weekend)... an energetic, fun, profane, sexy show... she is definitely of the love-her or hate-her variety.
mike watt & the secondmen (tom watson & a drummer victor ?) nice song selection, great guitar (tom watson is awesome), it is just that m.w. doesn't make the best frontman, esp. in the vox dept., despite the old college unkle punk try...
< y a w n > stereolab familiar euro-space age bachelor pad lounge muzak < s n o r e >... second time i have seen them, before th3ey weren't supposed to be a sucky band, and they were. now they are supposed to be terrible... and they more than lived up to their rep.
well, jim, i guess that sonic youth insurance plan must be worth it to become enabler (embalmer?) to these incubi... they should be great, they have all the credentials... they weren't... no way... lots of over the top late 80s punky guitar hero poses. i never really saw the urgency back when ppl were nuts about them... but came to have a grudging respect for their persistence and especially their more unstructured work. but now, it seems like it is an industrial complex, with all these side labels and projects restricting the mother-band to serving as cash cow potboiler for the real serious work done on the side. wish i could get away with it tho, so i have to nod my cap to them there, it hadda take work, and resolve to keep it together... doesn't ease the weakness of this performance tho...
~ r e b e l g r i s w o l d
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