(TV) O'h the indignity!

["Casey, Leo J" <CaseyL@volpe.dot.gov>]

Brian, 

No need to do penance--that show was penance enough---I was also at that Verlaine acoustic Paradise show in Boston in April 1990 and was sorely disappointed. The only Verlaine performance I ever saw more pitiful was when he was the opening act for The Church at the Orpheum Theater in Boston in 1988[?]. It was like he was some imposter---severely depressed?---almost shellshocked.  

It got so bad after a few songs that two of the Church's roadies snuck-up behind Tom and interrupted one of his songs by singing a Country Western ditty acapella!  Tom was not amused, but instead had this look of horror and disbelief. I remember thinking, poor Tom,  the neglected genius whose albums and concerts have continually met commercial failure, a  great artist and musician reduced to this, O'h the indignity of it all!  He then only played about one or two more songs.  

Most of the crowd was of course there to see The Church and they either hadn't arrived yet or talked throughout his performance, and I'm pretty sure the Orpheum even left the 'house' lights on while he was playing.  Their were a few Verlaine fans, but even they were turning against him. 

One fan in the balcony yelled-out between songs, "Why do you always cancel?" A reference to a Boston show a year or two earlier (with F.Smith, J. Ripp and J. Daugherty)that Tom had been forced to cancel at the last minute because of lack of ticket sales---he or his manager had foolishly booked a show at the very end of May-early June when the bazillions of Boston students and most of his fans had left town for the summer.  Tom, meekly answered, "Because I'm a stamp." 

And no, there was no redemption either--at least not in Boston---no Tom coming out later during the Church's encores to play with them.

I've seen Tom live playing electric with his own band many times and he has always been more than magnificent. The one thing these two shows had in common of course was that Tom was playing acoustic.  It's just not his thing.  

I've never heard a tape/cd of these 2 performances or the 1990 SF(?) acoustic show.  I'd like to hear the Boston ones to see if they were as horrible as I remember, but I'd like to hear the SF acoustic show to hear some of the rarities and his humor.  


	Leo

-----Original Message-----
From: Brian Young [mailto:raggedglory57@hotmail.com]
Sent: Tuesday, January 30, 2001 6:25 PM
To: tv@obbard.com
Subject: (TV) I'll miss Mr. C but...


...I must admit, hearing of this list's recent playlists and discovering 
that a lot of us shared a respect for if not passion for Neil Young to be 
good fodder for discussion.  I admire artists like Tom Verlaine and Neil 
Young who remain idiosyncratic artists true to their inner spirit, but 
there's not been a lot of proof in the pudding lately for Tom.

I'll throw something out there for potential discussion:  The Wonder.  I 
looked for it for years before finally buying over the internet, and when I 
finally got it, I was hugely disappointed. And when I saw Tom play 
acoustically at the Paradise in Boston on April 12, 1990, I was also let 
down that he gave such a lackluster performance.  In comparison to acoustic 
performers such as Richard Thompson, Neil Young, Peter Blegvad and hell, 
Louden Wainwright III fr crying out loud, Tom lacked charisma and compelling 
songs.  And I have the bootleg of that show (taped poorly, by myself 
unfortunately) that I've gone back to a number of times thinking I must've 
been previously wrong.

I say this although I have deep respect for him as an artist.  I will now go 
back to The Wonder and this bootleg and listen again as penance and to see 
if I have since changed my mind.

Well, there you go, the cat's outta the bag. Now I'll probably be banished 
or shunned. Or both.

Cheers,

Brian
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