Assholes in Attendance / Re: (TV) Richard at TT the Bears, Boston

["Leo Casey" <LeoCasey@comcast.net>]

> One of the stranger concerts I've been to.

Everything Ty wrote is absolutely true.

>(Leo, where you there? I looked for you but only saw people with clothes).

I arrived at the last minute as band were setting on stage, but due to
bitter cold and pouring rain I had to wear clothes.  At 11:50 there were
only about 85 people in the club at 11:50 pm (half of whom where club
employees, the warm up bands friends and the people drinking at the bar).
Richard and band started chant at 12:05 am sharp.

I was constantly looking for Joe Hartley and you (Ty man): I walked
throughout bar area, corner where bands were hawking their wares and, and
all of the floor in front of the stage.

During the standoff and first 5-6 songs, I was standing dead-center in front
of Richard's microphone (3 tiny rows of people in front of me).  When the
guy responded to Richard's (and a little latter the owner of the club's
request) for a minute of *total* silence---with, "You asshole, who the hell
do you think you are?" [he was standing behind my left (diagonally up
against the back wall with his friend], I was the person who said to him,
"Maybe you're the asshole."---and then prepped myself for physical
retaliation.

Not that I need to prove I was there, but:
Richard was wearing a bright red T-shirt with something like the letters
"(der) ispep" written backwards on it; he also had a bunch of 'necklaces (or
a least pieces of rawhide with things (amulets, crystals?) attached around
his neck.  The amp I saw was a brand I'd never seen before-- began with an
'Syxxxx' something like 'Syelvert' [I kid you not!]; his Stratocaster was
not anything I've ever seen him play with Television. It was dark blue with
symbols on it,  one of which was a strange version of a 'peace symbol' (or a
sideways trident?)--the guitar was pretty beat up [like me after the two
guys behind me got their revenge--pretty sure it was the same guitar he used
when I saw him play at his Boston shows in 1985 and Matthew Sweet/John Doe
tour-stops during the 1990s at TT and The Bears and a 1984 NYC at The Ritz.

My reaction to requests for *total* silence from Richard (and according to
my watch the 20-minute!! standoff in which it resulted) was that Richard was
a very courageous person for doing what he did, or he was a very stupid
person.  I kept going back and forth all night and still can't decide.

Regarding the latter:  
it's more than a little naove (stupid? arrogant? silly? ridiculous?
foolhardy? very brave?) I'll go with *unrealistic* to think that you're
going to get a minute or two of total silence from people in the bar area
many of whom are: 
a) just there for socializing; or 
b) came into club out of habit and to get out of the cold rain; or
c) never heard of Richard Lloyd; or
d) selfish pricks; or
e) very drunk; or 
f) all of the above.

And Richard would not settle for silence from, say, approximately 96.4% of
everybody in club (say, 82 out of the 85) but a total of 85 out of 85 = 100%
was required.  

OTOH, there was absolutely no doubt in my mind that from Richard's words,
phrasing, and demeanor, that he *absolutely would not have played* a note if
some of his later words to those in attendance somehow stopped/stunned
everyone for a few seconds---a lucky window that allowed him to begin his
prayer.

The only thing that I would disagree with about Ty's spot-on report was that
many times Richard's guitar was buried in the mix, and the vocals were
always distorted [at least where I was standing; towards the end I tried
leaning against the back wall where club's sound engineer was but sound
still stayed poor.  I had $1 earplugs in place (except for last three
songs--I was gone before the encore) in place to protect my golden ears from
TT & the Bears egregiously bad sound system/acoustics).

Also, I was not very impressed with the material from 'Rxxx Monkey' and I
really wanted to be.

	Leo 

PS: Ty where were you standing in several different spots?  Were you near
the couple (sometimes 2) dancing to most of Richard's song? Or near the
guy/gal with the over-powering cologne that smelled more like a powerful
anti-perpirant? Or were you wearing a disguise that made you now
unrecognizable to everyone except your family and Wesley Morris?



-----Original Message-----
From: tv-owner@obbard.com [mailto:tv-owner@obbard.com] On Behalf Of Ty Burr
Sent: Saturday, May 19, 2007 1:56 AM
To: tv@obbard.com
Subject: (TV) Richard at TT the Bears, Boston

Just got back. One of the stranger concerts I've been to. (Leo, where  
you there? I looked for you but only saw people with clothes).
--------------
To post: Mail tv@obbard.com
To unsubscribe: Mail majordomo@obbard.com with message "unsubscribe tv"