some shows

[think!haddock!chrisb (Chris Baxley)]

(These happened awhile ago, but our machine's been down)

Butthole Surfers , Living Room/Providence 5/7

	"Just when you thought it was safe to wipe..."

	One reason these guys didn't make it to Boston this time is 
bands who play here don't get paid much.  Last year they sold out
a Valentines Day "Rock Against Romance" thing at the Rat (see Forced
Exposure pix), but the bouncers there have a bad habit of skimming off 
the cashpile.
	Tonight was slightly odd, because it was an early evening, last 
minute event. The painted dancer was there, but they didn't use much in
the way of lights or projections, no exploding teddy bears or strobe-lit
glitter this time around. But they made up for it in terms of freak-out.
Such as Paul throwing his guitar at King, trashing the drums, sticking 
drumsticks up his nose and menacing the audience with them. Good to
see they're back to a boy/girl drum team (isn't she the one who originally
played with them?) 
        In a sense, this band is a sort of Grateful Dead for the 80's.
Which might sound wierd, but while listening back to the tape we made,
especially during extended jam parts, the thought struck me. They've
created an all-new form of PSYCHEDELIA, one that's about 180 degrees 
apart from the one that arose during the 60's. Does anyone else agree?
Whatever, they don't leave much doubt as to their place a-straddle the
cutting edge of today's burgeoning musical underground.


Forced Exposure benefit, Rat club  5/9

	Pretty cool night. Albini as master of ceremonies and caustic
wit. Thurston Moore played alone for awhile, then later Sonic Youth
made a surprise appearance (wherein they torture Iggy's "Now I wanna
be your dog"). The Turbines played, and then Dredd Foole and the Din.
This last band is interesting. Basically it's the three Volcano
Suns (the version that just broke up), along with the guitarist from
Moving Targets, and Dredd Foole on crooning. They don't play out much,
but do have an album on Homestead. The music sometimes drifts toward
the dirge sound, like a big wall of guitar grunge serving as backdrop
for some rather distinctive singing. But other parts are more
thrashing.
	At one point, someone dragged out a huge cardboard figure of
Tesco Vee, and a tape was played of him rambling about life and
death and stuff. The boy's got a way with words, no doubt about it.
(Maybe they'll print what he said next edition.)


Pagans/Lemonheads/Bullet Lavolta  TT's 5/10

	Opening bands were two up-and-coming Boston punk bands,
and both are excellent. You'll be hearing from them, as one
has vinyl coming out on the 'Taang label, the other on the
subsidiary Poon label (heh heh). 
	The Pagans - what a great band. Apparently, these guys
were spewing out greasy punk in the bad ol' daze of Cleveland several
years ago, then last year released posthumously (we thought) an lp
collection of singles and other stuff on the Treehouse label. So I
don't know if this was a reunion or what. The singer had a serious
case of vocal destruction, like to the point of barely being able
to talk, much less scream. (Whether this was due to laryngitis or
accumulated years of savage bleating, it's hard to say.) His heart
was clearly in the right place tho, and instrumentally this band
cranks big, bad and gut-level. All too appropriate that toward the end
of their set, the Pagans literally brought the house down when part of
the wall behind them fell off, knocking over a giant stack of amps 
and disrupting the show.


		
			"I've always got a knife in my back..."



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