Cube-E

Three Residents on stage during a Cube-E performance.

**Cube-E (The History of American Music in 3 E-Z Pieces)** is a performance piece by The Residents, which was toured from July 1989 to November 1990 across the world; a conceptual performance trilogy focusing on the development of American music, *Cube-E* is comprised of three acts ("Buckaroo Blues." "Black Barry" & "The Baby King.") developed over the course of 3 years, representing cowboy poetry, slave songs, and Elvis Presley.

## History

### Early performances

Following the release of their *God In Three Persons* album in 1988, The Residents were commissioned by the German television station Tele-5 to create a 24 minute long performance piece for their variety programme *Off Beat Night*. The Residents decided to adapt selections of Cowboy poetry they had begun researching the year prior. *Cowboy Songs* and *Ballads of the Great West* were two collections that proved the biggest inspirations for **Cube-E**. Four months prior to the TV performance, they were invited to perform at the Boudisque 20th Anniversary Party on November 26th, 1988, where they premiered the Buckaroo Blues suite.

In January of 1989, they released the *Bucakaroo Blues* album exclusively through their UWEB fan-club. This was a 49 minute long studio album centred around the studio recording of Buckaroo Blues, with two recent tracks created as studio versions of then abandoned live performances; re-recordings of Land of 1000 Dances / Double Shot / Fine Fat Flies (which had been performed as encore at the Boudisque show) and an abandoned overture (or, 'over,' as they referred to it) for the God In Three Persons live show. This release was followed in March of 1989 by the Off-Beat Night performance of the piece, which was bookended by exclusive arrangements of two covers by The Residents, Hank Williams' "Jambalaya," and "Burning Love," made famous by Elvis Presley.

Following these performances, the group was invited to perform at the Serious Fun Festival at the Lincoln Centre in New York in July. For this performance, they once again built upon their show, featuring a second piece focusing on slave songs, titled "Black Barry." With the successful performance of these pieces, The Residents began to consider touring again.

### Tour

Once the group had decided these suites would be the basis for their next tour, they began working on the final third. The show they had developed by that point was only 49 minutes long, and so they began working on additional material to round it out. This material became known as "The Baby King," and was comprised of ten Elvis covers, four puppeteering segments, as well as two instrumental compositions designed as both Overture (or 'Ober'), and Outro (or 'Out'.) This segment was equal to the length of Buckaroo Blues and Black Barry combined, and followed an intermission. This version of the show also features "From The Plains to Mexico" as its opening track; it is however unknown wether or not it was featured in the July version.

This 103 minute long version of the show, dubbed **Cube-E**, was toured worldwide for 14 months from September 1989 to November 1990. During the first leg (September - November 1989), they released *The King & Eye* album, which was a studio version of The Baby King, and *Bucaroo Blues & Black Barry,* a cassette only live album which proved to be the final release of the original Ralph Records.

By the second leg, the group had become overly familiar and tired of the material and perhaps. Following a show in Bologna on March 11th where the group had, by their admission, been "going through the motions," an angered Singing Resident gave the band a "dressing-down" backstage, telling them he had felt that he had been "carrying the whole show by himself"; at the following show in Athens on March 13th, the band "put [their] all into making up for it." On March 29th, the final show of the second leg, the show was recorded and eventually released as 'Cube-E Live in Holland - despite its title, the show had been in Spain, with only the last track of the album being from their Holland show. This was likely to keep in line with their other live CDs, which had to that point all been subtitled Live in Holland.

A planned Cleveland performance had to be canceled due to the venue owner filing for bankruptcy, and on November 23rd, at a show at the Beacon Theater in New York, a speaker fell into the audience and started a fire. The Residents decided to end the tour after the Beacon Theater show, swearing (not for the first time) that they would never tour again.

This time The Residents held to their conviction for more than a decade, only appearing live in limited engagements throughout the 1990s, until their next large-scale tour, in support of their Wormwood album in 1999.

## Cube-E in 3 E-Z Pieces

### Buckaroo Blues

The first part of the *Cube-E* performance, "Buckaroo Blues," derives from a collection of traditional cowboy poems and songs discovered by The Residents.

The book in question may have been a 1938 edition of *Cowboy Songs and Other Frontier Ballads*, a collection of cowboy poems originally compiled by John A. Lomax in 1910.

This collection inspired The Residents to develop their adaptations of these historical songs, creating a twenty-minute, seven-song suite (with a closing reprise), which debuted at the Boudisque 20th Anniversary Party in Amsterdam on November 18th, 1988.

For the Cube-E performance of the suite, The Residents appeared in all-black outfits featuring blue glow-in-the-dark buttons and mouths, oversized cowboy hats, and torches for eyes, dancing and singing around a campfire against a backlit set decorated with projected stars of varying sizes.

#### Movements

* From The Plains To Mexico
* Theme From Buckaroo Blues
* Stampede
* Trail Dance
* Bury Me Not
* Cowboy Waltz
* Saddle Sores
* Theme From Buckaroo Blues (Reprise)

### Black Barry

The second part of *Cube-E*, "Black Barry," is the only piece of the performance with no released studio recording; although studio versions of "New Orleans" and "Forty Four" have been released, and instrumental versions of the piece can be heard soundtracking a 1990 Homer Flynn interview.

Much of "Black Barry" features sequenced instrumentation but, on the whole, includes more live instruments than the other two parts of the performance.

#### Movements

* The Gospel Truth
* Shortnin' Bread
* Black Barry
* Forty-Four
* Engine 44
* New Orleans
* Voodoo Queen
* What Am I Gonna Do?
* Organism

### The Baby King

Like their 1989 album *The King & Eye*, "The Baby King" focuses on Elvis Presley, or more specifically an Elvis impersonator, who is relating the history of Elvis to his grandchildren Shorty and Shirley.

#### Movements

* Ober
* The Baby King Part 1
* Don't Be Cruel
* Heartbreak Hotel
* A Fool Such As I
* All Shook Up
* The Baby King Part 2
* Devil In Disguise
* Burning Love
* Teddy Bear
* Viva Las Vegas
* The Baby King Part 3
* Love Me Tender
* The Baby King Part 4
* Hound Dog
* Out

## Dates

### Early performances (1988-1989)

* November 18th 1988 - 20th Anniversary Party for Boudisque, Amsterdam, Netherlands
* March 15th 1989 - Tele 5 Studios, Grünwald, Germany
* July 21st 1989 - Lincoln Center, New York City, New York
* July 22nd 1989 - Lincoln Center, New York City, New York

### First leg (1989)

* September 21st 1989 - Cowell Theater, San Francisco, California
* September 22nd 1989 - Cowell Theater, San Francisco, California
* September 23rd 1989 - Cowell Theater, San Francisco, California
* September 24th 1989 - Cowell Theater, San Francisco, California
* October 13th 1989 - Nancy Jazz Festival, Nancy, France
* October 14th 1989 - Grenoble, France
* October 16th 1989 - Theaterhaus, Stuttgart, Germany
* October 17th 1989 - Tempodrom, Berlin, Germany
* October 18th 1989 - Audimax, Hamburg, Germany
* October 19th 1989 - Kurhaus, Wiesbaden, Germany
* October 21st 1989 - San Giovanni Valdarno, Italy
* October 23rd 1989 - Theaterfabrik Unterfoehring, Munich, Germany
* October 24th 1989 - Festspielhaus, Recklinghousen, Germany
* October 25th 1989 - L'Aerouef, Lille, France
* October 26th 1989 - La Cigale, Paris, France
* October 27th 1989 - Ancienne Belgique, Brussels, Belgium
* October 28th 1989 - Pumpehuset, Copenhagen, Denmark
* November 1st 1989 - Stora Salen, Lund, Sweden
* November 2nd 1989 - Nya Vagen, Gothenburg, Sweden
* November 3rd 1989 - Oslo Opera House, Oslo, Norway
* November 5th 1989 - Saddler Wells, London, England
* November 7th 1989 - Club Rodon, Athens, Greece
* November 8th 1989 - Club Rodon, Athens, Greece
* November 9th 1989 - The Cinerama, Tel Aviv, Israel
* November 11th 1989 - Cankarjev Dom, Ljubljana, Yugoslavia
* November 12th 1989 - Graz, Austria
* November 13th 1989 - Bank Austria Zelt, Vienna, Austria

### Second leg (1989-1990)

* December 29th 1989 - Cowell Theater, San Francisco, California
* December 30th 1989 - Cowell Theater, San Francisco, California
* December 31st 1989 - "Cube NYE", Cowell Theater, San Francisco, California
* January 5th 1990 - Gould Hall, New York City, New York
* January 6th 1990 - Gould Hall, New York City, New York
* January 7th 1990 - Gould Hall, New York City, New York
* January 11th 1990 - Gould Hall, New York City, New York
* January 12th 1990 - Gould Hall, New York City, New York
* January 13th 1990 - NBC, New York City, New York
* January 14th 1990 - Gould Hall, New York City, New York
* January 25th 1990 - Japan American Theater, Los Angeles, California
* January 26th 1990 - Japan American Theater, Los Angeles, California
* January 27th 1990 - Japan American Theater, Los Angeles, California
* January 28th 1990 - Japan American Theater, Los Angeles, California
* February 3rd 1990 - Berklee Performance Center, Boston, Massachusetts
* February 7th 1990 - Lisner Auditorium, Washington DC
* February 11th 1990 - Barrymore Theater, Madison, Wisconsin
* February 13th 1990 - Royal George Theater, Chicago, Illinois
* February 14th 1990 - Royal George Theater, Chicago, Illinois
* February 15th 1990 - Royal George Theater, Chicago, Illinois
* February 16th 1990 - Royal George Theater, Chicago, Illinois
* February 17th 1990 - Royal George Theater, Chicago, Illinois
* February 18th 1990 - Royal George Theater, Chicago, Illinois
* March 6th 1990 - Muziektheater, Amsterdam, Netherlands
* March 7th 1990 - Robert Schumann Saal, Dusseldorf, Germany
* March 8th 1990 - Munsterlandhall Kongressaal, Munster, Germany
* March 9th 1990 - Bruckenforum, Bonn, Germany
* March 11th 1990 - Sala Europa, Bologna, Italy
* March 13th 1990 - Palace Theatre, Athens, Greece
* March 16th 1990 - Teatro Fantarca, Bari, Italy
* March 17th 1990 - Teatro Astra, Verona, Italy
* March 18th 1990 - Teatro Cumunale, Pisa, Italy
* March 19th 1990 - Cineteatro Ciack, Milan, Italy
* March 21st 1990 - Muenchener Volkstheater, Munich, Germany
* March 22nd 1990 - Muenchener Volkstheater, Munich, Germany
* March 23rd 1990 - Konzerthaus, Karlsruhe, Germany
* March 25th 1990 - Haus der Kultur, Berlin, Germany
* March 28th 1990 - Teatro de la Alianza, Barcelona, Spain
* March 29th 1990 - Arena Auditorium, Valencia, Spain

### Third leg (1990)

* November 9th 1990 - Le Spectrum, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
* November 10th 1990 - Le Spectrum, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
* November 11th 1990 - Music Hall, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
* November 14th 1990 - State Theater, Minneapolis, Minnesota
* November 15th 1990 - Barrymore Theater, Madison, Wisconsin
* November 16th 1990 - Riviera Theater, Chicago, Illinois
* November 17th 1990 - Riviera Theater, Chicago, Illinois
* November 19th 1990 - Michigan Theater, Ann Arbor, Michigan
* November 21st 1990 - South Hills Theater, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
* November 23rd 1990 - Beacon Theater, New York City, New York

## Legacy

In 1991, Japanese computer company NEC hired the group to create a new live show based around their 1990 concept album *Freak Show*, directed by Ty Roberts. The show re-used some costumes from Cube-E.

In 2000, the group remixed a selection of recordings from the Cube-E tour with the computer software Dynasone. The resulting mixes were later collected on the 2011 Robot Selling Device release *Cube-E Dynasone 3EZ*.

In 2006, the group released a three-disc box set simply titled *Cube-E*; the box set featured a recording of a previously unreleased complete show recorded in Holland in March 1990, with a DVD compiled from footage shot during the Cube-E era.

In 2020, the group released *Cube-E Box - The History of American Music in 3 E-Z Pieces pREServed*, as part of their comprehensive pREServed series of remastered and expanded reissues. The nine-disc box set contains a complete performance of the Holland show featured on the earlier box set, the Buckaroo Blues & Black Barry cassette, a remastered version of *The King & Eye*, and assorted bonus tracks.

## Dedication

**"CUBE-E is respectfully dedicated to the real baby king, Elvis."**

## Released Recordings

#### Cowell Theater, San Francisco, California, September 24th 1989

* First 49 minutes released as *Buckaroo Blues & Black Barry* cassette in 1989. Additional 40 minutes released on Cube-E box. Final 15 minutes not recorded.

#### NBC Studios, New York City, New York, USA, January 13th 1990

* 6 minutes (full appearance) released on *Cube-E.*

#### Muziektheater, Amsterdam, Netherlands, March 6th 1990

* Full show released on *Cube-E* and *Cube-E Box*.

#### Arena Auditorium, Valencia, Spain, March 29th 1990

* First 68 minutes of this show was released as *Cube-E - Live In Holland.*

## See also

* *Buckaroo Blues*
* *The King & Eye*

## External links and references

* Cube-E at The Residents Historical
* Cube-E at RZWeb

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 https://residents.com/historical/?page=cubee
2. ↑ Ian Shirley, *Never Known Questions: Five Decades of The Residents*, 2016
3. ↑ *Cowboy Songs and Other Frontier Ballads* by John A. Lomax, 1910 edition at Open Library
4. ↑ Ima Buddy, *Ima Buddy's Totally Impartial Companion to Uncle WIllie's Highly Opinionated BIG MAMAS*, 1992
5. ↑ Cube-E promotional tour program, 1990