Dollar General

* 'Dollar General'
* 'Dolor Generar'
* On Demand
* On Demand Alt.
* Bobuck Ver.

* *Chicken Scratching with The Residents* (2010)

***Dollar General (One Lost Night In Van Horn, Texas)*** *(AKA, Dolor Generar - Una Noche Lost En Van Horn, Texas)* is the 35th studio album by The Residents, first released in a limited and numbered edition of 800 in 2010 by Ralph America.

## History

### Background

Starting in 2007 with *Night of the Hunters*, The Residents began writing and recording dark ambient albums. The group realized these albums wouldn't be as attractive to their larger audience as their song-based material and began considering the appropriate ways to release them. The group started to put these albums out through their mail-order label, Ralph America (Which released *Night of the Hunters* & *Postcards From Patmos*), or through their web-store, RSD *(*Released *Hades).*

*Dollar General* was the fourth in this string of albums and a direct follow-up to Hades. It was recorded throughout late 2009 as walk-in music for The Residents' *Talking Light* live show.

The liner notes for the album contain a short story written from the perspective of a character from the Talking Light show, Charles Bobuck, the band's keyboardist. It details his last meeting with *Carlos,* the former drummer of The Residents, who had quit six months before. The liner notes flesh out these two entirely silent characters and presents their personalities on the page. Charles is quiet and contemplative yet meek, and Carlos is carefree but rude.

### Release

The album was released on January 23rd, 2010, in a limited quantity of 800. It was the final release by Ralph America before it was phased out in favor of the RSD webstore.

On March 15th, 2011, The Cryptic Corporation began selling a revised version of the album titled *Dolor Generar - Una Noche Lost En Van Horn, Texas,* at Talking Light shows. This version featured 9 minutes' worth of bonus tracks. Both versions of the album have been out of print for over a decade.

### Legacy

*Dollhouse* was later featured on the compilation album Morning Music in 2010, and an edited version of *Una Noche Lost* was featured on the Charles Bobuck compilation album *THIS* in 2016.

## Track listing

#### *Dollar General (One Lost Night In Van Horn, Texas)* (2010)

1. Black Scars (3:13)
2. Burning Madrone (2:15)
3. Mary Achi (2:41)
4. Memory of Transgression (2:41)
5. Rats Fight For Water (3:25)
6. Restrained In The Ward (2:46)
7. Carlos Buys A Round (3:07)
8. Dollhouse (3:08)
9. Last Rites for Billy Bago (1:51)
10. Blow Row (3:13)
11. The Red Powder (3:58)
12. Shoeless Thorn Game (2:04)
13. Temple of Dragan (3:09)
14. War Zone (3:46)
15. Hassled by Mamasan (2:30)
16. Drunk Again In Van Horn, Texas (3:38)

#### *Dolor Generar - Una Noche Lost En Van Horn, Texas (2011)*

1. Black Scars (3:14)
2. Burning Madrone (2:15)
3. Mary Achi (2:42)
4. Memory Of Transgression (2:41)
5. Rats Fight For Water (3:25)
6. Restrained In The Ward (2:47)
7. Carlos Buys A Round (3:07)
8. Dollhouse (3:09)
9. Last Rites For Billy Bago (1:52)
10. Blow Row (3:13)
11. The Red Powder (3:58)
12. Shoeless Thorn Game (2:04)
13. Temple Of Dragan (3:09)
14. War Zone (3:47)
15. Hassled By Mamasan (2:31)
16. Drunk Again In Van Horn, Texas (3:40)
17. Oil Jobber (Bonus track) (4:15)
18. Una Noche Lost (Bonus track) (4:39)

## Liner Notes

"I didn't mean to get drunk.

Though even saying that already makes me feel like I am on the verge of making excuses. I won't do that. All I can tell you is that I went to Van Horn for a legitimate reason. Carlos had walked out on The Residents about six months ago and I believed I deserved to know why. My name is Charles. I play piano.

Carlos had gone to the Southwest to take a job near Van Horn, Texas. I wasn't certain what he did there but Carlos was always the smartest of us all.

We agreed to meet in the parking lot of the abandoned Dollar General store on the main drag. We exchanged the usual pleasantries and then took off for dinner despite that I had been driving all day and felt more like going to sleep. The nearby restaurant, Chuy's, seemed to be obsessed with John Madden. It also had a vaguely unsettling mural painted on the wall. Jesus watching over the town. We drank a lot of cheap beer.

Carlos dumped a small amount of red powder in my beer saying it would help my exhaustion. I immediately had a radical change in attitude. The powder seemed to encourage me to become more friendly with the locals.

Unfortunately I can't tell you much more. I don't remember. At some point I was laughing with a couple of Mexicans who insisted on taking us to a "more colorful" bar, the Dollhouse, on the edge of town. I think I got in an argument with a biker who made fun of my shoes. I remember the waitress handing Carlos a small box wrapped in newspaper. It looked like it had rocks inside. The box made Carlos uncomfortable and he excused himself. Later two guys in blue jackets showed up looking for Carlos but he was gone. They seemed upset about something and asked me questions in broken English but the questions made no sense. I threw up. They took the box that had been left on the table.

It was almost daylight when I walked back to my car at the Dollar General. Three Mexican guys were sitting in the doorway of the store drinking beer and laughing. Someone had spray painted "faggot" on the side of my car.

I never found out why Carlos Quit"

- *Charles*

## Credits

* Written, performed, recorded by The Residents

*Additional Credits (2011 pressings)*

* Produced by TheResidents (Typo, later corrected to The Residents)
* A Charles Bobuck contraption

## See also

* Talking Light
* *Lonely Teenager*
* The Randy, Chuck and Bob Trilogy
* Combo de Mecanico
* Sonidos de la Noche

## External links and references

* *Dollar General*on Discogs
* *Dolar Generar*on Discogs

**Ralph Records (1972 - 1987)**
*Meet The Residents* (1974) · *The Third Reich 'n Roll* (1976) · *Fingerprince* (1977) · *Duck Stab!/Buster & Glen* (1978)*Not Available* (1978) · *Eskimo* (1979) · *Commercial Album* (1980) · *Mark of the Mole* (1981) *The Tunes of Two Cities* (1982) · *George & James* (1984) · *The Big Bubble* (1985) · *Stars & Hank Forever!* (1986)
**Ryko and Enigma (1988 - 1989)**
*God In Three Persons* (1988) · *The King & Eye* (1989)
**East Side Digital (1990 - 2002)**
*Freak Show* (1990) · *Our Finest Flowers* (1992) · *Gingerbread Man* (1994) · *Have A Bad Day* (1996) *Wormwood* (1998) · *Demons Dance Alone* (2002)
**Mute Records (2004 - 2007)** *Animal Lover* (2005) · *Tweedles!* (2006) · *The Voice of Midnight* (2007)
**MVD Audio (2008 - 2015)**
*The Bunny Boy* (2008) · *Lonely Teenager* (2011) · *Mush-Room* (2013)
**MVD Audio and Cherry Red (2016 - present)** *The Ghost of Hope* (2017) · *Intruders* (2018) · *Metal, Meat & Bone* (2020)

**Fan club / off-label albums**
*Buckaroo Blues* (1989) · *The 12 Days of Brumalia* (2004) · *Night of the Hunters* (2007)*Hades* (2009) · ***Dollar General*** (2010) · *Night Train To Nowhere!* (2012)
**Soundtrack albums**
*Whatever Happened To Vileness Fats?* (1984) · *The Census Taker* (1985) · *Hunters* (1995) · *Icky Flix* (2001) *I Murdered Mommy!* (2004) · *Postcards From Patmos* (2008) ·  *Strange Culture/Haeckel's Tale* (2010)*Chuck's Ghost Music* (2011) · *Theory of Obscurity Soundtrack* (2014) · *Sculpt* (2016) · *Music to Eat Bricks By* (2019) · *Triple Trouble* (2022)
**Collaborative albums**
*Title In Limbo* with Renaldo & The Loaf (1983) · *I Am A Resident!* with You? (2018)
**Live in the studio**
*Assorted Secrets* (1984) · *Roadworms: The Berlin Sessions* (2000) · *Talking Light Live In Rehearsal, Santa Cruz, California* (2010)*Mole Dance 82* (2021) · *Duck Stab! Alive!* (2021)
**Related articles**
The Residents discography (W.E.I.R.D., 1979) · Ralph Records discography