Before getting into them, a brief travelogue into my musical journey to them. My grandfather was a virtuoso classical violinist, led a popular big band and started a radio station during the depression with the call letters WFBR (for We Found the Bank Roll). The musical talent gene he possessed seemed to have ended with him...the Boy played French Horn in school for years, both kids took piano lessons, and I took a guitar class once and at the end of the semester the teacher said that it would be hard for me to learn it as my fingers were too short. Talk about soul crushing. The love of music did pass through. My earliest musical memory was sitting in one room watching TV that was likely inappropriate for a 5 year old to watch, like Laugh In, while my dad pumped tunes in the other room on his super deluxe stereo system.
The first records I remember getting my hands on were the Beatles Greatest Hits, both the Red and the Blue one, although I only remember spinning the Blue one and digging the trippier parts of it. The first record I ever had that was my own was the Jackson 5's Greatest Hits. And I have this distinct memory of listening the shit out of BJ Thomas' 'Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head', but only loving the instrumental breakdown part at the end.
The backseat of my mom's car is where I was indoctrinated with AM gold and while I know all the pop stuff, what stuck were the 70's soul hits. All of them. Don't know why my mom turned on this station cause no one would describe her as being 'funky', but there they were. I've since collected most of them and appreciate them now in a way I couldn't comprehend at the time, but they filled me then with something. Go ahead and start this fantastic YouTube collection of 100 70's Soul Hits and just let it fill you for the next 3 hours.
Ever since I saw my first show (perhaps I've mentioned it a thousand times before) Cheap Trick opening for Kiss at the Fabulous Forum in Inglewood in 1976, I have been a live music junkie. I was 10 and the kid's dad across the street took us. I need to thank him for doing that and pretty sure he owes me a debt of gratitude for the experience as well. Didn't get to many concerts before we had our driver's licenses, but do recall a great Styx show on the Paradise Theatre tour, and The Kinks from the Give The People What They Want era. For that Kinks show, we were just too young to drive ourselves, but just old enough to be intrigued by smoking pot, and were excited cause one of us was supposed to bring some to the show after a mom dropped us off. That kid wasn't in the car when I got picked up and the ride to Inglewood was strangely quiet. I soon learned that the kid's mom found his stash and that she sent him to a drug rehab center where he would remain for many many months.
Kiss was my first love and will have to detail those years one day. They were followed by superfandom of Queen, Led Zeppelin, The Kinks and Neil Young. While my siblings were much older than I, 10 and 6 years respectively, I didn't get a super heavy dose of their musical tastes, but was instilled with the knowledge of Yacht rock from my brother (Doobies, Steely Dan and Kenny Loggins) from my brother, and Bowie from my sister.
Once we got our drivers licenses, it was game on. I could go on forever about the shows we went too, but in LA in the early 80's, it was an equal split between stadium rock (Stones/Who) and punk shows (Dickies/X). Then came The US Festival. While Kiss provided the introduction, this is where I got hooked. All I need to do is detail the lineup and you'll get the point.
September 3rd, 1982
Gang Of Four
The Ramones
The English Beat
Oingo Boingo
The B-52's
The Talking Heads
The Police
September 4th, 1982 (my 17th b-day)
Joe Sharino
Dave Edmunds
Eddie Money
Santana
The Cars
The Kinks
Pat Benetar
Tom Petty
September 5th, 1982
Grateful Dead (Breakfast with)
Jerry Jeff Walker
Jimmy Buffett
Jackson Browne
Fleetwood Mac
Shit.
The 80's get slammed for new wave moody Brit bands, and am not gonna say that I didn't listen to some of that, but there was good rock in there too. REM, Costello, English Beat, Midnight Oil, etc. And the Grateful Dead. Got in with that crowd in college and we'd roadtrip for weekends in Hampton or Philly and see the weekend freak show. I kept my toes in many musical pools, but some of the Deadheads were hardcore and saw thousands of their shows. I estimate that I saw 50-80 shows between the above 'Breakfast with' in '82 and the last one I saw in Seattle on May 26th, 1995. Jerry would pass less than three months later.
A move back to LA after college saw these trends continue until an old college buddy named Howie, who was a Deadhead in the university days, moved to town in 1990. Howie had left the Dead behind and was a font of knowledge about what was called alt/indie/grunge rock. He was new to town and we each found a willing partner to go see any and all shows passing through town during the early 90's. Everyone comes to LA and we saw them all. Highlights in my memory were Fishbone, Primus, Blake Babies, Young Fresh Fellows, and Luna. We saw Nirvana open for Sonic Youth for cryin' out loud and they both destroyed their equipment that night (although Howie had one too many of the bad beers from the awful Russian brewery called Gorky's that was our usual pre-show stop and doesn't recall much from that night...loser). Before these shows, we would meet up at his apartment in pre-gentrified Echo Park and hang before going out. We'd sit on the floor (cause we were poor and had no furniture) and he'd pull out records. One evening, he put on this album.
I am not going to tell you that I was the massive Yo La Tengo fan from that moment on cause we were massive fans of a lot of bands at the time and they were one of them. One that I would never miss when they passed through, but never would I have guessed that I'd be sitting here 28 years later writing a love letter to them.
It all started innocently. Immediately made a cassette of this disc and played it a lot. This was around the time my Grandmother was in the hospital and whenever I would pull into the parking lot to go see her, the song Alyda would be playing and whenever I hear that track, I think of her and that time.
Had just started trying to date my future wife Betty at the time and while we come from different planets musically, this was an album that both of us could groove to. All acoustic, mostly covers and just a groovy little mellow affair that we listened too endlessly, and is an album I associate with her and those times whenever a track from it pops up in rotation.
This story is currently somewhere around 1991, which was the pre-internet days, so we had to get our information about bands and music from magazines. Hard to remember which ones we even got our hands on but do remember that Tower Records had some kind of 'zine that previewed upcoming releases. I was all in on all things Yo La Tengo, but who they were was still a mystery. I think at this point that from pouring over the liner notes and what we could read in the LA Weekly, I knew that the guitar player and drummer were a married couple, and that the bass player changed for every album. My first "show" of theirs was an in store record appearance before a show at the Roxy when they opened for Teenage Fanclub. Can't remember what they played at the store, but do remember seeing the drummer outside before the gig eating a burrito on the sidewalk and asking her how it was. "Good" she said.
The first new release of theirs that I snatched up the day it came out (February 28th, 1992), was called May I Sing With Me
Picked it up and went to Betty's where we listened to it in the dark. They had periods of noise on their previous albums, but this one brought it hard from start to finish. Pretty sure this is where Betty and I split on our love for them. She still humors me by going to the occasional show and will bob her head at their mellower interludes, but the 9+ minutes of roaring squall of the appropriately titled Mushroom Cloud Of Hiss set her up and the 9+ minutes of droning feedback on Sleeping Pill finished her off.
I will add that this album has a song I loved immediately and remains my favorite of theirs...Swing For Life.
It has everything I love about them in 5:06. Droning bass, soft lyrics, big drums, first guitar solo that would sound good in a small club or giant arena, and a second solo that is incendiary in a way that speaks to my soul.
For the uninitiated, Ira Kaplan is the primary guitar player and Georgia Hubley is the primary drummer. On this album, they were joined by bassist James McNew who would remain a part of the band till this day. I say primary cause while that is what they play most, they will all switch instruments as they see fit. I don't want to be informal should I refer to them going forward so will go NY Times and call them Mr or Ms going forward.
Have listened to all of their albums dozens/hundreds of times over the last quarter century and could do a track by track take on what I like from each or a memory that I associate with most songs, but will run through each album and give one of each for each.
October 5th, 1993...Painful. If one took a poll, think this album would be the critics favorite, which is strange cause this is the one album of theirs that I would put on last. I can't explain why but then again, don't have to.
Live memory. I know that this was Betty's first show she saw of theirs as she was blown away by the noise. They introduced some noise on keyboards and there was a moment when Mr Kaplan was pounding on their Acetone with one forearm and shaking a maraca with his other arm (and entire body) that made an impression on us both.
Personal. Have struggled with this one and am gonna leave it blank for now. As I have been working on this for a couple weeks, and thinking about it for 28 years, I keep coming up with memories to add, and as I can edit these posts whenever, think I will need to come back to it in the future.
Song that always gets me...I Heard You Looking. They have a selection of songs they play at the end of their concerts. Ones that sort of start slow and build to waves of roaring noise and this is the one I always hope for when I attend a show.
May 2nd, 1995...Electr-o-Pura.
Live memory. Betty and I are now married and had just moved to Seattle and they played a club a block from our Seattle apartment. The band has told the story from that night where they got into a fight with the management and were pissed off at them for some reason. In protest, they decided that they were going to play until they turned off the power and did, ending the show with a 25 minute rendition of Speeding Motorcycle, which consisted of 25 minutes of them playing the same two chords over and over.
Personal. I went for my first MRI for my knee and it was the kind that was called "open". One wasn't in a tube but it was like having a giant slab pressing down on you and it took an hour. The MRI place said to bring a CD along to play in the headphones while I lied there and this was what I communed with. The MRI technician said afterward that she really liked it.
Song that always gets me....Pablo and Andrea. Not a soul doesn't like it when it comes on...so beautiful
April 22nd, 1997...I Can Hear The Heart Beat As One
Live Memory. Not from this tour, but flew to SF as they played three nights at the Fillmore in 2010. The first song of the encore was Green Arrow and it was so haunting that I can still feel the hairs on my neck stand up.
Personal. The day I bought this disc, drove to the airport immediately after to pick up a dopey buddy that I hadn't seen in years that came to town for work. I had him crack the packaging so we could play it and he drops the disc between the car seat and scratches it on the song Autumn Sweater. Everytime I played that CD till today, I know exactly where it is going to skip and am not sure I have ever heard the whole song without that scratch.
Song that always gets me. There are so many from this album that I am having a hard time picking one. Perhaps their biggest hit is called Sugarcube and the video for it is a work of comedic art. Featureing David Cross and Bob Odenkirk, it is the movie School of Rock before the movie School of Rock, and done way better. I don't know the band, but if I were to infer what they are like in real life, this video is how I picture them to be.
February 22nd, 2000...And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside Out
Live Memory. The show on this tour in Seattle was at the King Cat Theater (R.I.P.) and Lambchop opened. This was such a different sounding album for them as the use of keyboards took over from the guitars. Was worried cause I am a junkie guitar and the show was on March 7th, 2000, so didn't have a ton of time to absorb it, but the mood that night was something else. They opened with Night Falls On Hoboken, which is a long acoustic number that goes all over the place. Sublime
Personal. Our son was not even a year old and since he became the primary love of Betty's life, I had to take the dog for a walk every night. I remember listening to this album for several nights/weeks in a row on a Koss brand discman I won as a raffle prize while the dog would sniff out baseballs I would throw in the tall grass. As it was late Winter/early Spring in Seattle, whenever I see steam come out of my mouth on a cold day, I associate with this album and that time. I loved that dog.
Song that always gets me. Two this time. My daughter 's oldest friend is named Madeline and the lyrics in it are about two good friends whose relationship evolves over time. The other is the aforementioned Night Falls. It is a beautiful song at first, then has a long outro that is quietly noisy. They don't play that one enough for me. It also has another place in my heart as I met one of my best friends because of it. Went to the first day of Chinese class a few years ago and was wearing a Yo La Tengo shirt. A new guy in town/class sees it and says he likes the band. He fell in love with them because of that song. Long story short, we became fast friends and he and his wife are two of me and mine's favorite people.
April 8th, 2003...Summer Sun
Live Memory. I don't have one. To be honest, this thing I have with Yo La Tengo now hadn't really manifested itself yet. A lot of other bands that I was hip to were still in their prime, and living in Seattle gave access to a ton of bands that I would consider their equal at the time (Built To Spill, Modest Mouse, Ween, Afghan Whigs, etc.). I must have been out of town when they came through on this tour and wasn't at the stage where I would have rearranged a vacation or flown somewhere to see them. Plus, this was a huge departure as the album didn't have any of the noise that was flipping my switch at the time, but what was strange was that many of my other music loving friends that didn't like them, loved this album.
Personal. They freaking name check Professor Frink. They love the Simpsons and the Simpsons love them. I love both.
Song that always gets me. Moonrock Mambo. Not only does it mention Frinkiac, but it enhances just about any good mood one is in and will turn whatever may be causing that frown upside down.
September 12th, 2006... I Am Not Afraid Of You And I Will Beat Your Ass
Live Memory. This album had two long noisy jams, one at the beginning and end of the album. I talked two of my buddies who had jumped on the bandwagon with their appreciation of Summer Sun to go to the show. It's at the fabulous Showbox in Seattle, and they start the show with both of the long jams back to back. There are moments during most Yo La Tengo shows where the noise gets really weird and starts to swirl into a vortex that becomes more than just sound and starts to affect your internal organs. I am out of my mind by the end of these two songs and turn around to say something to my buddies, and they were long gone.
Personal. This album has it all. The guitar tsunamis, punk, funk, hushed lullabyes, etc., all very familiar and only sounds like them. At about this time my boy is knee deep into Little League and my memories of driving him from his school downtown to the practices/games were always with this disc playing.
Song that always gets me. Mr Tough. Like I said before, this disc has a ton of songs and picking a favorite would be based on mood at the time. Mr Tough though is one our whole family knows and will sing when it pops up. The kids were learning piano at the time and I contacted the band to see if they could provide sheet music so they could learn a song that would make me happy (cause piano teachers never teach that kind of stuff). The band says they didn't, but the piano teacher the kids had at the time was a savant and he listened to the music and wrote them down. I know I have them filed away somewhere. Kids never did learn piano.
September 1st, 2009. Popular Songs
Live Memory. Caught many a show on this tour including a three night stand in SF at the legendary Fillmore. The one moment from these shows that I recall was at the Showbox's crappy stepchild to the south, the Showbox Sodo. That night, the place was great as the crowd wasn't big, but I had some cold or flu that was severely hampering my style. At one point during Periodically Double or Triple, they did something with the speakers that went from left to right channel and then back and forth between the two. My buddy that was with me that night turned to me and said "Woah"
Personal. This is about the time that I consciously became somewhat obsessed with them. While so many of the other bands in my heavy rotation broke up, got stale/monotonous or were simply touring as nostalgia acts, Yo La Tengo never did any of those. This was when traveling to see them became the thing for me to do. If there was a Seattle show, then there were Portland and Vancouver ones too, and I was gonna see those too.
Song that always gets me. This was a hard one, but will go with Periodically Double or Triple. Not for the live moment above, but the line in it that goes, "I never argue with improving the view" is one of those simple statements that makes life better.
Live memory. I do not have a memory from this tour cause I wasn't living in America at this point, and they didn't come to our corner of the world. Since then though I have seen them play all of the songs from this disc and their move during the noisy end part of Ohm is to pass the guitar into the crowd and let us bang on it for a while. I've touched/played/banged it on four occasions and consider myself a guitar God because of it.
Personal. This album came out in January of 2013, but they dropped a couple of tunes on the Internet a couple weeks before. This was our first year living in Taiwan and we took a trip to Italy for Christmas. Was in an amazing hotel in Montepulciano the night the songs came out and remember playing them over an over while sipping some of the local grape in the lobby. Good times.
Song that always gets me. Stupid Things. A simple song about being in love and getting older, but it is the long instrumental version that I could listen to on repeat for an afternoon and not even realize it.
August 28th , 2015...Stuff Like That There
Live Memory. Was not going to make the same mistake as I did with the last album and not see them live this time. After a couple years overseas, was able to establish with my Boss/Wife/Bosswife that I would get one Rock Pilgrimage each year and figured I could see 4 shows in 5 nights in November from Eugene to Vancouver. The shows were all great, but the last night I attended solo and sat next to a couple of dudes that were as much a music junkie as I. We got to know each other over the course of the evening and they had much respect for my pilgrimage. One of the guys was the type that talks to the band (and probably anyone that gets in front of him), and he gets the set list from the stage for me. I never have the gumption to ask for those but am glad he did this for me. Am gonna take it along with me this summer to see if the band will sign it (or maybe I will chicken out like I always do)
Personal. The tour above was pretty personal, but the moment this disc entered my consciousness was on a perfect beach in the Philippines. Sitting in a hammock with a very good Bluetooth speaker listening on repeat. That is my happy place and can go there whenever I play it.
Song that always gets me. Automatic Doom. So many relistenable songs on this album, which is a follow up to Fakebook for them as it consisted mostly of covers done acoustically, even with guest guitarist from that previous album Dave Schramm, on hand for the whole thing. I love the two new tracks a ton too, and they covered themselves on a couple other, but this track from the band Special Pillow that I know nothing about gets me cause the lyrics seem like they are from a psychedelic trip but each verse comes around with a poignant thought. This is during the current Presidents rise and there is a line in it that I wish he could hear and think about..."Are you prepared to see the bad things that you say emblazoned boldly in gold letters on your tomb."
March 16, 2018...There's A Riot Going On
Which brings us to today. This album came out a month ago as I write this so I have no live memory nor am I ready to commit anything to the personal archive or have a song that stands out. I have arranged to go see them 8 nights in 10 days down the west coast this June, and just snapped up tickets to see them 3 more times in Japan in October. Expect an addendum to this post on all of that come the Fall.
You'll see from above that the album/tour/album tour thing is in their DNA, but with roughly three years between releases, they stay busy doing different things. While I obviously love the type of music they produce, it is all the ancillary stuff that makes them endlessly interesting. Here are some of the unconventional ways they burrow their way into my thoughts.
They are baseball fans and I have never met a baseball fan that didn't have a great soul (with the notable exception of late stage Red Sox fans)
Like I said above, the band and I both love The Simpsons. The Simpsons must love them back as they were asked to do the closing credit theme song. I buried Flanders...
A man taught his little monkey
How to help out with the chores
Together they sanded the woodwork
And painted all the windows and doors
They stained the wood in the bedroom
And laid new tile in the hall
Then the monkey tried, all by himself,
To put paper on the wall
There was nobody home to help him
So he thought up his own little trick
He wasn't sure what he was doing
Or how to make the wallpaper stick
Instead of using paste
He stuck it up with monkey spit
Now the house smells like bananas
Wherever paper is hung in it
Helpful monkey wallpapers entire home
The night this show came through town was one where a communal friend that had moved away was visiting and this was his only free night. I twisted all the arms and a large group of us met at the club for this event. I loved every second of it as it was silly and bizarre and remember seeing all the band members laughing hysterically throughout the set. My friends were not as amused as I and 20 years later whenever I see one of them, and Yo La Tengo invariably comes up, they will cite this night as why they don't like them. It takes all of my restraint not to hit them with a shovel, but I have never respected any of them the same way since.
In the same year of 1998, Betty and I were trying to have a baby, but as one didn't come naturally for us, we started trying with the help of science. It came to the point of giving in-vitro fertilization a try and once the egg is fertilized and inseminated and returned to the womb (I guess it was the womb, but you get the point), it takes a few weeks to find out if it took and she was pregnant. That day was Saturday September 5th, 1998. The reason I know that date was that it was the second day of the annual music festival in Seattle called Bumbershoot, and each year two of my dearest friends, including the aforementioned LA buddy Howie, would come to town and we would rock out for the weekend. Saturday was going to be a good day as Modest Mouse and Yo La Tengo were playing back to back...but this news hung over us all morning. Was it going to be that we were pregnant, or that all the pain and money that we just went through was going to be a waste and if so, Betty was going to be a mess emotionally. And if she was a mess emotionally, how was I going to get out to go watch Yo La Tengo. My friends later said they were on edge as well and felt uneasy just being in the same house.
Around 9AM, the phone rings and the test came back positive. Smiles all around, Betty is more than happy to let us go so she can call her sisters and such, and we are delighted to be able to rock out without a cloud hanging over our heads. Modest Mouse were amazing that day but in a an unexpected turn, the Yo La Tengo show was probably my least favorite I ever saw. The setlist from that day looks OK, but I remember the sound being awful where we were standing.
In 2002, they put out an album called The Sounds of the Sounds of Science where they scored music for these 6-8 minute black and white undersea documentaries made in the 50's by French filmmaker Jean Painleve. Interesting mood scapes and makes for good listening at certain times, but they came to town and performed it live at the old school movie house downtown while the films played on screen. I begged and could not find a person to join me. Just a great scene.
They've gone on to do several movie soundtracks, but the only one that I actually saw was called Adventureland, which is a fun flick and recommend it for non-Yo La Tengo reasons.
2004 saw a collaboration with The dB's great Chris Stamey. Not sure what they call the album as it had various names, and never seem to see it around, but there is a track called McCauley Street that fills me. Wanna know how obscure that is? You can't even find it on YouTube. If I didn't own it, I wouldn't believe it ever happened. They have collaborated with a bunch of legends like Robyn Hitchcock, Ray Davies, Nick Lowe and Yoko Ono. Look at this piece of gold...Yo La Tengo along with Thurston Moore going off while Yoko Ono does Yoko Ono stuff. The best part is when Ms Ono goes to look at her sheet music.
In 2007, they broke out a tour they called The Freewheelin' Yo La Tengo, and the premise was they would play acoustic-ish and take audience questions with the question leading to the next song they would pull out to play. I saw two or three of these things, but the first one I went to was with a buddy in Seattle at the Town Hall, which was some old government building turned venue. This was October 30th, 2007 and the reason I know that is that I keep all my ticket stubs and have them in a photo album. With the Setlist FM website, you can go back and see what was played at a ton of shows. It looked like a good set of songs but I only remember two things from that night. First, the seats were these old courthouse wooden benches that were not made for sitting over a long period. The other was that my buddy decided to ask a question of the band.
Quick detour...I have read a lot of articles about Yo La Tengo, they even had a book written about them a few years ago, and they are an enigma to me. Feel like I know so much about them and nothing at all. They are extremely private about their lives, and can be almost nauseatingly humble when you fawn over them, but at the same time are wildly accessible. As long as I've gone to see them, they make themselves available (starting with seeing Ms Hubley eat her burrito on the sidewalk in '90-'91). They man their merch table all the time, either before or after the shows, and while I used to ask questions or such a long time ago, all I can muster is a "hello" now. Since I travel all over to see them, go on tour multiple nights and such, everyone asks if they know me and vice versa, but am such a fanboy that I cannot muster the guts to engage and cannot think of anything to say that wouldn't make me look like a bumbling idiot.
They have also been so consistent in their output that the venues they play are almost the same size as the ones when they started. This is great cause tickets are reasonably priced (this summer tix average $25) and you can almost always stand anywhere you want, and since I have distinct spots I like, it is a perfect experience every single time. They must exist, but I cannot think of another act that has this kind of longevity, where they are always putting out new music that is equally familiar and fresh sounding, that is so easy to see. The Stones definitely have longevity, and you might even say their output has stayed interesting, but at hundreds of dollars a seat, where you are miles away and you can never actually get close to them, they pale in comparison.
Back to the show, my buddy asks his question...he is a big Lambchop fan (was with me in the live memory above where they opened for them at the King Cat) and knows they are friends with the band leader Kurt Wagner. Lambchop had been pretty quiet for a while before this show so he asks Yo La Tengo if they know what Kurt Wagner is up to, but he pronounces the name like the German composer 'Vahgner'. Mr McNew answers that they pronounce his name 'Wagner'. I don't know if we ever talked about it in detail after, and he still goes to their shows with me, but don't think he has really forgiven them for being publicly embarrassed.
In 2009, they dropped an album under the pseudonym the Condo Fucks with a title that winks at their past called Fuckbook. They set up and recorded 10 cover songs live to tape. Very heavy garage sound with sketchy production values that is a visceral joy. The liner notes are a hoot in that they all take names in a Ramones kind of way like Georgia Condo and Kid Condo. Sloppy fun.
Another tour they did during a period between albums that was different was The Wheel tour. They would have an audience member and spin a wheel and play the first set with whatever it landed on.
From above, there were pie pieces for things like the Sounds of Science (pt 1 or 2), Condo Fucks, Mr McNew's side project called "Dump" and so on. I caught three of these shows in the I-5 PNW corridor, and two of them came up with Sounds of Science part 1, which was kind of a bummer. The show in Seattle February 17th, 2011, we got the Name Game, which is songs of theirs with people's names in it, and that was a great night. Also notable was that it was an all ages show so took my son, who was 11 at the time, to his first real rock show. Was unable to pass down this love to him as he passed up seeing them in Charlottesville a couple weeks ago, but he still wears the shirt I passed down to him regularly.
This Wheel tour also had a pie called Sitcom Theater and if it landed on that one, the trio would have to act out an episode of a sitcom.
I mentioned a bunch of live memories and in thinking about this post, have to say that the best show of theirs I attended was at the Crocodile in Seattle on August 7th, 2016. Betty, my buddy that goes with me to many of these shows and is the one in the Kurt Wagner story above, and his wife (who also went to my son's first show a few years earlier) all go, and it is the last night of our summer and we depart back to the wasteland for live shows that is Taiwan the next morning.
The night was billed as being two sets and the first set is a quiet one as is their style. I typically stand in the middle for these quiet sets and then go up front to be assaulted for part two. Not sure why, but my crew doesn't want to come up to the front with me for set two and they collectively decide they want to chat and leave the club to go next door. Big mistake cause Yo La Tengo comes out swinging and rocks as hard as I've ever seen for the next hour or so. Quintessential versions of many songs, all so loud and long and great. Little Honda, a Beach Boys cover they have played for years and is one of the few that I don't get excited about, took this left turn into noise from another galaxy. Waiting for the encore, the crowd is abuzz from what we just saw and from the ringing in our collective ears, but what set this night apart was the encore, which featured a cover of a song from the movie the Producers that is attributed to Mel Brooks called Love Power. You gotta check out the original...
Another note from that night in that talking to their crew, we learn they are planning a trip to Asia later in the year. They announce shows in HKG, Thailand, Seoul and Taiwan. I get a ticket to the Seoul show as soon as they go on sale (by the way, flew over afternoon of the show and slept in the airport catching the first flight out the next AM). As for the Taiwan show, tickets never seem to go on sale until I learn from my local buddy, the one from the Chinese class above, that they did go on sale on a special deal with the promoter early and were all gone. Like I said, I am afraid to talk to the band in person, but they have an email on their website and have sent them notes and stuff in the past. In another example of just how accessibly cool they are, someone always replies. I never know who it is, but the responses are always thoughtful. Anyhoo, we go back and forth and they are surprised as they weren't told they went on sale either. After a few back and forths, they say they will put me and a guest on "the list" to get in that night. I mention this story only because this is the only time in my 52 years I have ever been on any 'list' (in a good way). Such a great night.
Almost every year, the band performs in NY/Hoboken 8 nights in a row over Hanukah. Each night they have a classic opening act, comedian and then do a show where they play only their songs or covers by Jewish artists and proceeds go to charities. I look at the setlists and it is rare if a song is repeated over the course of those 8 crazy nights. And Mr Kaplan has his mom come out to sing the last song on the last night. Awwww. I better get to one of these 8 day extravaganzas soon as going is one of the few things left on my realistic bucket list.
For many years/decades, they go on NJ college radio station WFMU during their pledge week and for a donation to the station, will play any song requested (within reason). It is always sloppy and joyous and the end medley usually breaks down into an amp blowing skronk-fest. Have been babbling on and probably said this several times, but who does that? In any biography of them, they are credited with having an encyclopedic knowledge of rock history and at every turn, they will incorporate covers into their records and live shows. Through them, they have introduced me to all kinds of music I didn't know and a bunch of bands that I now love. I will not even try to list them all but will say that my favorite that they have exposed me to is New Zealand icons The Clean.
One month from now, I will meet them in Seattle and see them 8 times over the next 10 nights ending up in LA. Their current tour is two sets a night, one quiet and one louder, so that is 16 glorious sets for yours truly. In each place, will get to see and hang with beloved friends and family, which is the real point of this. As I proof read the above, so many points in time, people that come in and out of ones life, personal and collective memories associated with this group and their music. While being at their shows, like having any really great in the moment experience, is fantastic, they are fleeting. That I get all of the anticipation of going and then all the memories after is what gives these moments their weight.
In the movie Contact, during the scene where Jodie Foster is hurtling through a psychedelic space trip, she says, "They should have sent a poet." I feel that way at this point cause I am certainly not one. About the only appropriate way I know to close this out (for now) is by saying Thank you.
