Much more annoying was having to stand next to so Rock 'n' Roll (wooooo!) neanderthals w/too much fire water yelling out during the WaT set at the Roxy on Sunday night. They seem to have a tangible idiocy that wafts about them and they call to each other in cicadian rhythms from all points in a small club like the Roxy so that they are inescapable. Goes with the territory I guess. Thank god those people never show up at Everything But the Girl shows.
If someone is wondering where to catch TR next time and he's playing the Ventura - I say pick the Ventura. He always throws in the odd song (last time: "Sometimes I Don't Know What to Feel" - this time: "Lost Horizon"). I wonder what Santa Ana's like.
Oh yeah, "Born To Synthesize" is getting better, the improvisations more interesting and weird and fun. I wish they'd do the same treatment to "The Individualist". They played "Hit Me Like a Train" and pushed the vocals enough so that it surpassed the recorded version which I think sounds stilted (I, I, I, I...). Jesse got this really weird sound on WorldWideEpiphany where it sounded like there was a pickup in the nut of his guitar as he was picking on the other side of a bar (like Fred Frith does with the capo). It's cool how John does the rising pitch synth part of Drive by merely sliding up string by string. I heard someone say he was using the guitar as a synth controller - does anyone know if that's true?
I enjoyed the shows despite the lack of variety in set lists betraying a lack of rehearsal time prior and it was great seeing Prairie behind a drum kit again. I tried to find some wiz list people without success (I wanted to say "hey Barry" to every one who passed by in a low tone but there were just too many people there who looked like they could be named Barry). Nobody I talked too seemed too perturbed that TRTV has gone missing - most seemed to feel it was to be expected.
