Re: (TV) report on lloyd show....

["andy fekete" <andy.fekete@gmail.com>]

Seems an appropriate for my two cents:

Oh, I know that dour look.  Last Sunday I had dinner with Bill,
Richard and Richard's son Dylan at a local Indian restaurant in
Raleigh NC.  The evening was quite interesting, but until the food
came it was tough sledding, as Richard was sensitive to the point of
contentiousness (he later apologized, saying that he's always grumpy
when hungry). One thing for certain, he made it quite clear he did
*not* want to discuss Television.  All I can think of is that maybe
some guy in the audience during the previous night's show shouted
"Marquee Moon!" just one too many times...  Eventually Richard warmed
to a conversation about his musical influences growing up in the 50s
and 60s, but man, until he got some food in him, papa bear certainly
was a grump.  Chalk it up to rigors of the road, I guess.

Later on as Richard and Jamie (one of my Amps Do Furnish A Room
bandmates) settled into a rather lengthy conversation about religion,
I was able to chat with Bill and Dylan. The conversation ranged from
Sonny Sharrock and free jazz to strategies for lightweight touring
(apparently, Bill hasn't toured with a drum kit since 78 -- he just
brings a set of cymbals and uses whatever the house provides), to the
Boston area and the scene there in 70s (he told me about how he lived
in Boston the year prior to getting the call from Verlaine), to music
videos (that cool shot in "Call Mr Lee", where Bill's face is
reflected on the pounding drumhead?  Bill's idea.)....  Dylan, at 17 a
cool-headed collected kind of guy who is clearly the spitting image of
his dad at that age, seemed totally able to go with the odd ebb and
flow of the evening.  Makes sense, considering his experience:  he
told me he was just 15 when he first accompanied his dad on tour --
with Rocket From The Tombs.  If you go to one of shows, be sure to say
hi to Dylan.  He's the guy working the merch table.


Here's my report of the show the next evening, Monday 8/11, at the
Pourhouse in Raleigh NC:

(First, a shout out to fellow attendees Ken Friedman and Jamie
McLendon of Amps Do Furnish A Room, and also Jane Daley Witten and
Larry of this list and the Television Yahoo Group.  Great evening,
folks -- and thanks for the beer Jane!).

I have to say, Monday night's Sufimonkey Trio show at the Pourhouse
was *quite* good, especially considering the constraints of the
power-trio format and the fact that Richard Lloyd has swore off the
use of all effects save his amp's volume knob, which seemed to be "on
11" most of the time anyway.  These factors collectively produce a
leveling effect: while many tunes, especially Lloyd's solo stuff,
sounded suitably punchy, they seemed to have a certain sonic sameness
about them, as they tended to occupy the same dynamic range and
midrange frequencies;  other tunes, like his cover of Television's
"Elevation", benefited tremendously from the stripped-down,
hyper-aggressive approach.  Still others, like the many Hendrix covers
he did sometimes, occasionally cried out for more juice than what
anyone could have coaxed out of Lloyd's minimalist setup (a
wonderfully beat-up sunburst strat running straight into what looked
like an ancient Fender Vibroverb -- can anyone confirm?).  Still,
quite fascinating to watch; and when it all came together, like on his
knockout version of "Field Of Fire" and the aforementioned
"Elevation", it's easy to grok where a lot of Television's power came
from.

As ever, Bill Ficca was a joy to watch.  The guy seems to embody that
certain Charlie Watts no-sweat demeanor, especially the way he seems
to smile grimly as he leans into the tighter curves.  Amazing how the
guy seems to get such a muscular, varied sound out of so spare a drum
kit.  Bassist Keith Hartel provided the necessary bottom end to anchor
the evenings proceedings, and meshed well during the many lengthy
improvisational passages.

The encore included an ambitious cover of "Are You Experienced" -- all
the more startling because, not only was this live, but Lloyd got
pretty darn close to reproducing the song live without tape loops,
echo units, flanging, distortion units or other effects -- just
fearless, he-cant-possibly-be-attempting-this boaudaciousness. For a
guitar player, watching it was unnerving. I am not certain even
Hendrix would have even attempted such a thing.

Set list:

01  I Thought You Wanted To Know
02  Wicked Son
03  Spanish Castle Magic (Hendrix)
04  Monkey
05  Friction
06  There She Goes Again
07  Purple Haze
08  I Don't Live Today (Hendrix)
09  Elevation
10  Amnesia
11  Carousel
12  Swipe It
13  Castles Made Of Sand (Hendrix)
14  Big Hole
15  Field Of Fire
16  ??
17 Are You Experienced


-A

Amps Do Furnish A Room
http://www.youtube.com/user/ampsdofurnisharoom

On Wed, Aug 13, 2008 at 5:36 PM, eRacerX <eracerx@verizon.net> wrote:
> My experience was nothing like Jay's
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----
> From: Jay >lloyd came up to my table, and summoned me backstage before the show
>
>
> I met Billy outside, shared a smoke, talked about various shows (Central Park last year especially) and he kindly autographed my copy of the Old Waldorf CD.
> I saw him again inside, while the opener was playing, and I said hello to Keith Hartel.
> Richard came out from backstage, didn't appear to be in a good mood. I said hello and have a good show as he walked past. very little acknowledgment.
> There were 15 people in the Gravity Lounge in Charlottesville, 4-5 associated with the opening band.
>
> It took 5-6 songs before Richard "got into it", but for 45 minutes after that, he played and sang very well. 3 Hendrix songs, and mostly others from Field of Fire and the new one. I like the song 'Monkey' - I haven't heard the new CD yet. I'll probably buy it tonight. They played 'There She Goes again' and 'Wicked Son' - I think.
> Billy was great, of course, and I dig Hartel's playing. Very smooth, and he made it gracefully through a mid-song amp malfunction. One comment: he looks like Mick Ronson from 20 feet away.
>
> Interesting: There was one gentleman in the audience who called out for 'Alchemy' a few times between songs. Richard's last words before he left the stage: (partially paraphrased) 'I know some of you want to hear 'Alchemy' and 'Blue and Gray'. These guys want me to play those songs (motions to the band) I just can't do that, not right now.' ....etc. and ended with "Tom has to play Marquee Moon every night...for the rest of his life". He had a dour look on his face. Spoke slowly, as if he was choosing his words carefully. Like I said, he didn't seem to be in a good mood.
> I thought his last words were especially interesting as he played 'Friction' and 'Elevation'. I don't know if he plays those every night.
>
> I will be at the Richmond show tonight.
>  They're playing the Velvet Lounge (Wash DC) Thursday, but two nights in a row is enough for me.
>
>  - H.
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