From: wildman@athena.mit.edu (Timothy Worsley)
Subject: Gary Lucas, Zorn, Blind Idiot God, etc.
Reply-To: eprice@sybase.com
Organization: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Date: Mon, 16 Nov 1992 19:52:26 GMT

Well, I just got back from another trip to New York City.  Thought I'd
share some news and thoughts and other random things.

The most exciting news (to me) comes first:

* BLIND IDIOT GOD is playing CBGB (NYC, 3rd ave at Bleecker -- or Bleeker
if you believe the sign...) next Saturday, Nov. 21.  Besides their
not-so-successful attempt to close the 15th anniversary Knitting Factory
"What Is Jazz?" program last summer, this is the first time they have
played live in a long time (maybe two years?) I believe.  I strongly
recommend their two albums, "Blind Idiot God" (SST) and "Undertow" (Enemy).
The CD of "Undertow" has a tune written, produced and featuring John Zorn
called "Purged Specimen" that is not on the LP (but it is available on
vinyl on the *EP*, called "Sawtooth", which also has three other tunes from
"Undertow").  They have at least one other album that has been recorded
(also produced by Bill Laswell) but as of the writing of the program notes
to the afore-mentioned Knitting Factor-sponsored concert it was unsigned.
I think this is a shame; BIG is a fantastic band.  Anyway, I'm going back
to New York next weekend to see them.  (I would save thousands of dollars a
year if I just moved to NYC!!!)  I'm seriously considering an attempt to
record this gig; if anyone has any advice feel free to make suggestions,
especially if you're familiar with the venue -- I've never been to CBGB's
before <ok, ok, so that's pathetic, i know, give me a break...>.

* Picked up Branca's Symphony #1.  Seemed like the same kind of thing as
the other one I have so far (#6).  This music is obviously meant to be
heard *live*, in a club with a killer sound system and while under the
influence (of something or other...).  Which makes me think how much fun
seeing Blind Idiot God next weekend is gonna be! :-)

* Naked City's "Grand Guignol": I *think* that the album is not out in
Japan yet (I heard it was due out this month though).  However, I was told
that an EP exists, and contains the 25-minute dirge-like piece with which
they opened their concert at the Marquee last April.  Everyone who has ever
talked to me about Naked City has heard ravings about this composition.  It
was fucking insane!!  I can't wait for this album.  I don't care if the
Downtown Music Gallery charges a fortune for it!  Oh, BTW, this is supposed
to be Zorn's nastiest cover yet.  It apparently has a picture of a person
(indeterminate gender) being hung and dismembered.  Lovely...

* Finally got a Boredoms album ("Soul Discharge").  This is, in case you
didn't know, Yamatsuka Eye's native habitat, so to speak.  (Eye is the
highly esteemed vocalist for Naked City.)  Anyway, this album is very
strange.  But I like it.  Fans of the more bizarre elements of Naked City
might like it as well.

* How come nobody told me there was a cover of "Surfin USA" on that Frith,
French, Kaiser, Thompson album ("Live, Love, Larf, Loaf" or whatever it's
called)?  An amusing tune.  Good album in general too.  Maybe the Beach
Boys are the "new standards", eh?  Frith covers em.  Naked City covers
em...  That reminds me, Keith Jarrett frequently plays "Somewhere over the
Rainbow".  Well, that tune is also at the end of the classic (and not bad
actually) film "The Abomidable Dr. Phibes" (with Vincent Price as the
abomidable Dr. Phibes) and there's a tune called "Dr. Phibes" on Pain
Killer's first album ("Guts of a Virgin").  Just thought you might want to
know.

* Oh, yeah, I almost forgot: I saw Gary Lucas on Saturday at the Knitting
Fatory.  He played half solo and then with "Gods and Monsters", his band
(drums and bass plus him on guitar).  He uses tons of effects; there's a
table of them and a bunch on the floor, for foot operation (pedals).  He
had three guitars, a Fender electric, an acoustic but with a pick-up under
the strings above the sound-hole thing or whatever [hey, I know nothing
about guitars ok!] and a steel guitar (sounds like the same kind of
instrument he played on "Ghosts", a track from one of the Knitting Factory
compilations, and where I first heard Lucas' playing).  Anyway, it was fun.
He did lots of tunes from "Gods and Monsters" as well as some from his
earlier album ("Skeletons <something or other>").  They did some of the
music from "Psycho" (Bernard Herrmann [sp?]).  They did the Jack Johnson
thing from Gods and Monsters (originally Miles Davis of course).  One of
the most interesting things he said was that he had been in Europe (Munich
I believe) doing a soundtrack to the film "The Golem" (an old silent film,
quite a classic).  This was apparently part of John Zorn's Radical New
Jewish Culture project.  But they didn't have space in the Knitting Factory
to present the film (35mm).  I hope this plays in theaters; it sounds
great.

* Picked up Hoppy Kamiyama's "Welcome to forbidden paradise".  Has Zorn and
Marc Ribot and lots of other people on it.  I like it.  It's fairly
diverse, funky at times, more free at other times, almost hardcore-ish on
at least one tune.  Found it at Tower in the Zorn section

* Also picked up "A Confederacy of Dances I" (Einstein).  I remember
reading Bill Hsu's review of this a long time ago, but it's obscure enough
that I had to really think about it and make an effort to find it (ie it
wasn't in the Zorn section or prominently displayed in the "New Releases"
display).  It's a good collection of things.  Bill Frisell's opening track
is nice, with him playing his guitar with a 16-second digital delay
(Electro-Harmonix or something if I remember correctly).  Zorn has a piece
on the album.  There's an excerpt from a Christian Marclay solo performance
(him playing four turntables with 50 records).  I really like Marclay.  His
work on "Forbidden Fruit" (from Zorn's "Spillane") is cool.  But I really
started to be a fan when I saw him perform live a few months ago at the
Knitting Factory.  All this music is so much more fun live.  Anyway, these
people that put out this CD say they have 500 or 1000 hours or something of
recordings sitting on shelves.  Maybe they picked some of the best stuff
for this CD, or at least some of the most markteable (so people like me who
are just now learning about this music will buy it for the big names, like
Frisell and Zorn).  I hope they release more.

Well, that's enough for now!   Comments are more than welcome.

Happy music-listening/-going/-playing,

-Ed (not Tim), eprice@sybase.com (not wildman@...)
Newsgroups: rec.music.bluenote