kung

I'm willing to concede that was not a well thought out action. Which is exactly my point it WASN'T A THOUGHT OUT ACTION. I'd even apologize if I pissed anybody off other than you. I would be totally lying if I said I wasn't embarassed by my behaviour, on the other hand it was pretty harmless and a good laugh for most. You're attributing a bit too much agency to this on my part and further you really aren't saying much of substance.

I'm still not quite sure what the point of this exchange is. Is it to establish some sort of code of conduct or is it to shame me into toeing the line? Really though think about it, did I just really irk you and hence you feel the need to put me in my place. I think what you're getting at is sort of valid in a way but insomuch as it involves trying to shame me in a public forum I can't concur. My 'friends' would need to speak to this rather than me but I really don't think that very many if any of the band or audience members made much of that other than to get a chuckle out of it. Look what you might be missing is that I'm a dandy, the dandy represents an important juncture between the spheres of aesthetics and ethics, the dandy known for a sort of pompous flare of dress and action (an aristocracy of the spirit without the resources of a true aristocrat) makes their life into a kind of work of art. Baudelaire is the most famous dandy I suppose, Virginia Woolf was as well I suppose and she said it best: 'all interesting people are egotists which is not necessarily a good thing.'

In his role of dandy writer, he was determined to avoid all sentimentality, all facility in writing, all turgid use of common sense. What attracted him, what he insisted on cultivating in himself, was a new form of beauty characterised by the strange, the bizarre, tha abnormal. Dandyism permitted Baudelaire to scoff and blaspheme.

The dandy, as he saw it, was a historical phenomenon, the product of a particular kind of age, an age of decadence. Baudelaire understood that the aristocratic society of the ancien regime, with its values of honour, elegance, nobility of attitude and life, was gone forever. It had been replaced by the base world of capitalism and industrial progress, a world in which "Get rich" could be an electoral slogan. The dandy, however, still clings to the now-dead values of the by-gone age. Despairing in the face of naked materialism, he seeks to re-create those values, single-handed, for his own benefit. He does so through style. In contrast to the frugal society in which he finds himself, he indulges in extravagance and conspicuous consumption. He dissociates himself from that society in other respects: through his impractical emphasis upon elegance and the poetry of appearance, through his cult of artificiality, and through his supreme and unshakeable impassivity.

Baudelaire's dandy was a kind of ascetic. Totally devoted to the construction of his own self through style, and the worship of that creation, he must never allow emotion, spontaneous or natural and hence vulgar behaviour, to put that creation at risk. The dandy treads a narrow path in search of the sublime. He seeks to create himself through poise, a poise that is permanently at risk because the dandy is in permanent danger of making a fool of himself .

In his attempt to be different from the bankers, notaries, and money makers that surround him, the dandy attempts to turn himself into a self-made aristocrat....

if only an aristocrat of style.

"Dandyism is not, as is commonly supposed, simply an excessive love of clothes and material elegance. To the perfect dandy such matters are merely symbolic of his own spiritual perfection. To his eyes, valuing as he does distinction above all, perfect dress is founded in absolute simplicity - which in fact is the best way to distinguish yourself ... [Dandyism] is above all the urgent need to make oneself original, within the exterior limits of conventional behavior. It is a kind of cult of the self, which [goes beyond] the quest for happiness through women...which can even survive the loss of...illusions. It is the pleasure of astonishing and the proud satisfaction of never being astonished ....

In truth, I am not altogether wrong to consider dandyism a form of religion."

Excerpt from 'The Painter of Modern Life' 1863

No I think it's pretty clear you're a grumpy old fucker. There's a core to your sentiment that's valid but otherwise offbase. The thing that makes our scene so great is the rapport between the band and audience, whether based on kinship or otherwise, the intermingling of the two. It sounds like you like to tape and have an ultra serious experience, cross armed musical appreciation, still others can't contain their exuberance whether tonally or chemically motivated. I think you're attributing too much to discursive thought and not enough to the fact that this music taps people on all sorts of levels and they are bound to express that in ways that you don't implicitly condone.

I believe you said something like this but then pussed out and took it off.

how do i put this?!

i think it's disrespectful, immature, distracting, uncalled for, egotistical, brainless, self-centred, unwanted and undeserved for kung to go on stage during the GTB performance and sit behind Andrew's drum kit like he did!

what an ass you were!

i wasn't there to see you on stage!

and I doubt the Bus asked you to do that.

if i were Andrew i would have had you tossed out.

smarten the fuck up

sorry to offend anyone else, but who needs that kind of disrespect!?

Now I don't know that you were actually there or if you were that you are taking this a bit too seriously. First of all it was a small crowd of intimates and not a really 'serious' show if such a thing is possible. In hindsight I'd never do something like that but at the time, in a polluted headspace, it seemed like a funny thing to do. Based on the shit eating grins on the boys faces, the Bus after all are old friends of mine, I don't think they really cared which is the main issue. It was for a laugh and that's what I think it was taken as. There's an element of egotism if you like but more likely just maniacal action.

I wasn't there but I think some of our kids were. Here's the dirt:

The show was FUCKIN' NUTS. it was a beautiful day all day, and about 20 minutes before ween hits the stage the clouds roll in. No rain, but it was interesting to see that, i guess ever since the boyz made that deal with that demon god boognish they git the clouds over the show.

anyways,

wooks galore, but that shit didn't stop me from haveing a great time. The best part was that no more than 10 minutes after the show let out, there was a drum circle and two nitrous tanks with Dead blastin out the rear of a car in the parking lot. I was watching from on the bridge just waitin for the cops to show and everyone to scatter.

The show was one of the funest i've heard in a while. Gener was in high spirits, and was really lovein it up the whole time. All the guys seemed to be really diggin it. Whereas the levittown show was real tight on point solid ween show, this was fun joyous memorial day weekend bash.

Exactly where i'm at

Freedom of '76

Nan (yea beothes!)

Spinal Meningitis (Got Me Down)

Happy Colored Marbles

Final Alarm

Touch My Tooter

Roses Are Free

Push Th’ Little Daisies

Transdermal Celebration

Back to Basom

Birthday Boy

Buckingham Green

Captain

Bananas and Blow

What Deaner Was Talking About

Oh My Dear I Must Be Falling In Love

You Fucked Up

Stroker Ace

Pandy Fackler

Zoloft

Ocean Man

You Were The Fool

Fluffy

(encore)

Pork Roll Egg & Cheese

I’ll be your Jonny on the Spot

Dr. Rock

I can’t put my finger on it

(i still think it may be out of order)

Started with Exactly.. ended with Fluffy. It was fuckin incredable. Final Alarm was at like 10x Speed and they kicked the shit out of it. With GW just rippin' the guitar. Nan was totally unexpected(by me) and a pleasent surprise. At the end of Pandy, shit got real...well it got brown. During Zoloft, the wind had just picked up and was blowing over Geners face and hair, you could tell he was really feelin' it(the vibe, and the wind too i guess). Oh my dear i must be falling love was great too, just gener on his guitar. cool stuff. Oh yea and Buckingham Green was really bitchin and then the guitar just took it right into Captain and it was really neat. the solo was just complete waste, GW yet again on the axe just tearin' it apart. very very dark vibe during this song. Fluffy was just outta hand and it ended the set perfectly. i wish i could write more, but no brain energy left over.

oh yea, and during the set this poor little kid got sepereated from his 'rents, and they had to come out a make an announcment. the poor guys was cryin' n shit; it was a shame. Oh yea, and apperently this guy jumped in the water and drowned. I heard it was his second offense too, he jumped in earlier, they fished him, but he went back in and the second time they just couldn't find him. This is rumor though, i'm not sure what really happened.

i guess i'm a horrible reviewer but the shit was awesome. i don't know why anyone wouldn't think it was fun. Fuckin' A. Great Great Set. I only saw one mic boom just right of FOB, and i can't wait to git a gander at what the show sounded like in retrospect.

i didn't git to see any of you guys, but i made a couple anonymous spottings of Brkrdgrl and JMo runnin back to the stage from the beer tent. didn't want to interrupt you guys though. When do I git a Lamanent too??? hehe

anyways, there you have it. the actual review. Grip Taylor, i don't know what didn't measure up for ya. It was a terd, a beautiful golden turd dropped right on the delaware river.

What's with all the post deleting huh? Come on who's going to fill me in? I guess the cowboy was complaining about my air drumming but what did booche delete?

I forgot about my sweet ass air drum solo during the Bus (little frenchy stage manager was not too happy about that)

The whole thing is coming back to me in bits and pieces. Some of the more noteworthy interludes:

(I tend to give The Slip boys canadian history and politics lessons in the history rich Montreal, this time it was our hornery 5 party political system and how we're moving towards 'proportional representation')

At the afterparty on the first floor Marc turns to me and goes: 'yeah I get it you've been telling me about it for the last hour'. A class act as usual. It's not like the Slip come to my workplace all fucked up. Sheesh.

Turkey bags of ganja

Making the first of many trips to the Depanneur Saturday morning. Chilling with my crackhead peeps in the park while the kids were out to breakfast.

Getting kicked out of Super Sexe on Saturday afternoon after no sleep for shorting a ripper on an erotique mini bed (no more contact danse apparently). The floor manager comes up to me sitting stage side grabs my frisbee and hat and shows me to the door, I'm schwilling back my beer and he's trying to grab it from me: 'you need money to be here buddy, you didn't tip the bartended and only payed her $8.50'. Yeah but I payed buddy his $5 seating fee cut me some slack brah.

Jonas turning up out of the blue.

The Out On The Weekend! Class act of the boys to finally learn a Canadian tune. Not sure if I heard the 'I Shall Be Released' maybe it'll be clearer on the dates.

The Ode To Joy was entirely melifluous.

The Zeroes fuggedaboutit.

On paper it was a sort of staid show. Given that backstage their buddies (myself included) were pushing for Air Is The Body, Djangoes Mangos, (The Earth Will) Dissever (And Consume You After These Messages) and they had a handful of others written down like Clementine and Rhythm and Gold was at the top of the list!

Read the book Dream Brother for a great account of his life and that fateful day.

Majorly jealous I was just passing through toronto on the way back from montreal as this was letting out. I can only imagine.

this is sooooo two days ago

Saw these:

07.16.94 Horse > Silent -- Sugarbush Vt

10.31.95 5:15 -- Chicago, IL

Come on kids whose gonna give Brad backrubs if I don't go.

Some more news:

May 25 KR in California...

Kyle's spent the last 2 weeks in California and is in the process of recording his funkified debut record.

Guests so far have included session drummer extraordinaire, Gregg Bissonette, former Prince drummer, Michael Bland, Brazilian drummer Jean from "Udora" and the remarkable pedal steel guitarist, Robert Randolph. Robert and KR became fast friends after they shared the stage earlier this year in Detroit.

While in California, KR also performed at the Doheney Heritage Festival May 22 and 23. The crowd was dazzled by the unknown kid from Canada performing along side legends like Etta James, James Brown and Lucinda Williams.

Kyle will take a 2 week break from recording to promote his Canadian release. Don't forget to visit KR's Canadian site at www.kyleriabko.ca

I think people are talking about a few things here. The demise of Phish, especially in an offhanded gee who woulda thunk it kind of way, is unsettling for all. There is also the idea floating around that a high tide carries many boats, which is to say that when a big fish goes down there is a new equilibrium established.

We also have to look at what made the big two, The Dead and Phish, so unique. It does have to do with creating that sense of mystery, that anything can and will happen, and hence creating a kind of collector or connoiseur mentality in their fans. But in their own ways they really delivered and I don't quite see any of the bands out there, all of whom will undoubtedly benefit in a supply and demand sort of way, filling the void. I've always hoped that some new Wonder would come out of nowhere and it hasn't yet. The other thing is how the Dead and Phish with their festivals really raised the bar on the execution of large festivals. You could say that Lollapalooza in it's infancy was a response to that value add that came from the lot scene with the Dead. So the festivals now will definitely capitalize with a lot of mid tier bands with core audiences and playing for good loot.

That's exactly what I figured. Trey is totally the Robbie Robertson of Phish, trust him to have worked this out well in advance to get his side of the story out and posture himself for whatever he wants to do next.

I think you will be pleasantly pleasantly surprised. I was sort of wondering what would happen when his voice broke but apparently, and the signing would confirm this, it's even better. He's a great songwriter and his tone and touch rivals even Lauzon's pedals.

Just got an email from Kyle Riabko- 16 yr. old guitar prodigy just signed to Columbia Aware- and he's playing the Rivoli on June 1st. This is likely the last chance you'll have to see him in a super small setting like this. He's already opened for John Mayer, Keb Mo, Robert Randolph, Edie Brickell and others. He really is The Kid. When I first saw him he was thirteen had never seen Phish and ripped out a spotless DWD and a Punch> Blue Bossa> Punch unfuckingbelievable. Seriously the kid is the great white hope. He mentioned this too:

And yes, Rob Randolph is a buddy now. We just spent a day in the

studio together and came up with some wicked stuff. He'll be a very

special guest on my album.

You can imagine what that conversation will be like: 'Well you know when I started Phish...'

Come on you internet detectives there must be a lot more of this dirt going around. I mean we already obviously knew about the big glass table but not the needle necessarily. It's not like all of us can't think of a handful of smacky shows. Heck really early on for me (Sugarbush '94) we were too young to know what smack was and when they came out for the second we looked to one another and went 'smack?'.

Do not incur the wrath of Kung.

Aye Aye Aye Aye your sister's in love with a carrot

I'm not aware of the Pavement connection, that's straight up Yeats although Chinua Achebe used the line Things Fall Apart as the title of a novel and The Roots probably thought it was a black thing. The poem came to mind in light of this Phish business...

The Second Coming -- W. B. Yeats

Turning and turning in the widening gyre

The falcon cannot hear the falconer;

Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;

Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,

The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere

The ceremony of innocence is drowned;

The best lack all convictions, while the worst

Are full of passionate intensity.

Surely some revelation is at hand;

Surely the Second Coming is at hand.

The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out

When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi

Troubles my sight: somewhere in sands of the desert

A shape with lion body and the head of a man,

A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,

Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it

Reel shadows of the indignant desert birds.

The darkness drops again; but now I know

That twenty centuries of stony sleep

Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,

And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,

Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?

Fuck that I want to read the Brad Sands book! 'Groupie wrangling, dope scoring, borderline pedophilia: My Life With Phish'