Sitting in the squirmish frontal room
She says I'm not very cool
But I know better than that
She knows better than that
And I know more than her
And she knows better than that
No no no no no...
Sitting in the squirmish frontal room
She says I'm not very cool
But I know better than that
She's no better than me
I'm no better than her
But it's not hip, not okay
I say no no no no...
(wild photo credit goes to Kelp Records)
Yes, Jon Stewart has been around for as along as GBV was (were?). Check out GBV's national TV debut - March 31, 1995 - performing 'King & Caroline' and 'Motor Away' on Jon Stewart's mid-'90s late night show.
While I was away on a summer break, there was a bit of a GBV reunion at the GBV fan-organized Heedfest in early July. Bob Pollard, Chris Slusarenko, Nate Farley and Jim McPherson gathered onstage to belt out a happily inebriated "A Salty Salute" for the group of online forum fans gathered in Dayton over the weekend of July 1-2.
See their A Salty Salute here.
Also, a gang of cool kids dubbed The Heedonists put together a set of beloved GBV songs and turned their covers into happy celebrations. Swingin Party's got all their videos from the event. More at Empties Crushed. Marvel at the the tall, bushy-haired songwriter in the front jumping around and hoisting beers. What a guy!
Baby, You Got a Stew Goin' writes about the GBV-B1000 music/art night over the weekend at Brooklyn's Don Pedros:
-- "What did we get? Some abominable "dramatic art", some even worse "musical art", and zero performances, let alone even a "hello" on the mic, by Bob or Toby. Granted, they might have played some songs after we left, but we walked out the door about 30 seconds after Bob left around 11, and it sure didn't look like he was coming back."
A poster on the GBV message board Disarm the Settlers wrote...
"meh. place was like 200% over capacity.
the string quartet was PROPER.
the dudes that played hot freaks sucked a truckload of rhinodongs.
we split at like 10:30.
this dude and this chick on acoustic guitars played awful bliss. I could see tobin - he was looking at them sorta confused. He had a "WHAT THE HELL, BRO?" look on his face."
Is this true? I thought there was gonna be a kickass full band karaoke thing? Did this go down at all (perhaps after 11pm?)? Anyone who was there, drop a line in the comments....
The good kid(s?) behind the immensely great Guided by Voices database is offering up MP3s of a June 17, 2001 Austin, TX live show. Right on. This particular show comes from the Isolation Drills tour. 
At the same time, Robert Pollard had recorded an LP with Tobin Sprout called Tower in the Fountain of Sparks, including the cool chugger Stifled Man Casino, which according to the database, was played at only 8 live shows. So this bootleg is worth catching maybe just for that (oh, and Whiskey Ships in the encore, a Pollard classic).
Not that I need any more GBV boots; I think I'm currently sitting on (give or take) about 5 vinyl boots, 50 cassette boots and 35 or so CD boots. But you might need this. And that's why I'm here. To spread the love. To the fans of rock. On warm spring days.
I forgot if I wrote about this recently, but is anyone else enjoying My Impression Now - the GBV song blog? Unraveling Liquid Indian is the task of the day. Great chorus on that one.
Hey, and loyal reader KK reminds me of an upcoming Todd P joint on Saturday, June 9th at Don Pedro's in Brooklyn, celebrating GBV's B1000 songs, to help apparently give Marc Woodworth a sales kick for his 33 1/3 B1000 book that came out in late '06. (And I went to THAT kickoff party.)
Garish flyer by Marc Woodworth
In any case, GBV honcho Robert Pollard, artist Tobin Sprout and other Dayton boys are scheduled to come hang out with the kids. Looks like mega-fun. Feels like 1999 all over again.
