Nostalgia Time (The Last Word, 2008)

"Nostalgia Time" is the eighth instalment of the blog The Last Word, authored by Will Rothers (better known as Big Brother, the former webmaster of The Residents' official website). It was published in December 2008 in the Historical sub-section of the website.
In this blog Rothers reflects on The Residents' activities over the previous year; it follows an earlier entry of the same name posted at the end of the preceding year. 
==The blog==
===Nostalgia Time (2008)===
Big Brother
Good Lord! Another year.
:Animal Lover Instrumental
:Smell My Picture
:The Bunny Boy
:The Bunny Boy (tour)
:The Bunny Boy (internet series)
:Postcards from Patmos
Am I wrong in thinking that 2008 has been the most amazing year yet for The Residents?  Yes, I thought 2006-2007 was the big era, but as far as I can tell, the top of this Bunny peak has not yet been reached as The Bunny Boy is set to roll into 2009.  The Bunny Boy could prove to be The Residents biggest and most ambitious project to date.  And dare I say it, the best?  Let’s say top 10 anyway when you consider the album, tour and internet series.
The story no one is talking about... The eyeballs AND skull seem to have vanished in the most recent production.  I, for one, don’t miss them.  The Residents have survived so long because they are not afraid of change.  They know that the past will just drag 'em down if they let it.  Once I made a remark to one of the guys that something they planned to do, I forget exactly what, didn’t seem very “Residential.”  I got the craziest look back from them.  One said, “We decide what is Residential, Residential doesn’t decide us.”
That sent a chill down my back as I realized that I was fully prepared to drop my preconceptions back onto them, despite knowing that conforming to expectation is truly the kiss of death for people like The Residents.
The backbone for the Bunny events was (is) the internet tale.  At this point, the first 44 episodes have been published.  More are coming.  The Residents' interest in narrative aspects has a long history.  Last year they gave us The Voice of Midnight as a merger of music and story.  This year, they seemed to feel that the CD was not really big enough to do both jobs very well, and so the “backbone” was ripped out of the album and given all the room it needed to grow over time.  Even better, they invited the public to write emails to Bunny and these emails had the potential of influencing the direction of the story line.
Then we got the the Bunny tours (maybe there will be more in 2009, I don’t know), and there were variations for the USA and for Europe depending on where the story line was at that time on the internet.  “The tour” became part of the content of the tour.  The Residents dared to create a two-act show that started out by making the audience uncomfortable with the first act, only to win them over as allies in the second act.  The proscenium was not just broken, it was smashed.  Bunny became a much deeper character, weaving manic behavior with enduring charm, and just a tiny bit of terrific stand-up comedy.  The band pushed and prodded The Bunny Boy’s insanity, and then in a surprising turn at the end, wove a gentle sonic bed for him, bringing him back to a safe place.  It was a performance not to be missed.
The Bunny Boy album (Mute/ Santa Dog Records) was a surprising turn of direction from the last few Residents albums.  Freed from storytelling responsibilities, the music became fun to listen to, and obviously fun for them to perform live as well.  The Residents say it is a collection of songs inspired by the Bunny story.  I say it is another classic Residents album.
In all the sound and flashing lights, it is easy to overlook that three intriguing instrumental albums were also released in 2008.  These were all limited edition releases aimed at the people who are reading this.  Hope you got your copies.  Each title was unique and showed the various musical colors The Residents use in writing.  And, perhaps most importantly, none of them sound at all like The Bunny Boy album that Mute and Santa Dog Records released.
I usually try to see into the next year at this point.  A few things are not very well hidden, like the continuation of The Bunny Boy story on the internet.  The question remains - Are we at the end of The Bunny Boy saga, or is this only the beginning?  We will just have to wait and see.  Will we see more tours?  History would say yes, as previous shows have played cities that have not yet felt the Bunny touch.  Will we hear another album?  History would say yes.  There has been a new album every year for the past four years.  Will Ralph America release more obscure limited edition CDs?  History would say yes.
But history does not always repeat itself, does it?
Holiday Greetings to all,
Big Bro
== See also ==
* Will Rothers
* The Last Word
* Nostalgia Time (The Last Word, 2007)
== External links and references ==
* "Nostalgia Time", archived November 27th 2010 via archive.org
Category:Will Rothers
Category:Residents.com
Category:The Residents Historical
Category:The Last Word
Category:Blogs
Category:Reference texts