From PackageThf@aol.comThu Nov 30 01:31:41 1995 Date: Tue, 28 Nov 1995 17:45:06 -0500 From: PackageThf@aol.com To: mransfrd@umich.edu Subject: THE BREADMAN (group 3a) Sorry to be so long between letters, but those damn midterms keep popping up - someone seems to be missing the point of a "midterm" since it's pretty damn near the end of the quarter! A Happy Post-Thanksgiving to all of you in America and a very merry un-birthday to all of you outside of the states. Hope you all had fun this last weekend... and now the news: + VERY IMPORANT: Due to the fact the the University of Michigan is re-organizing its computer system, starting Dec. 1, the SUPERCHUNK WWW Page will be moving to: http://www-personal.umich.edu/~mransfrd/superchunk If you try going to the old address after Dec. 1, you will be forwarded to the new address - but best to make the change now as the forwarding function will de-activate after a few months. Please make a note of this!!! +In response to previous questions, many of you have problems with the sound on your video copy of "take the tube" - so if you thought it was just your copy, it's probably not. I say we all write to merge to complain and ask for a video re-release with good sound. If you need the Merge address, check your Chunk cd's and cassettes or write me... +Being hasty, i had accidentally left out the addendum to jchamber@niu.edu's message in the last mailing - so here's the rest: (CHICAGO SHOW) OK I'm back. Anyway, the show went real well. Guv'ner and Seaweed opened up for Superchunk. Guv'ner did a pretty good set, though Chazzy spent much time tuning his guitar. "Not very punk rock", he said. app.8:30: exit Seaweed, app.8:45: enter Jim - Jim came on stage, alone, and with guitar in hand. He announced that the rest of the band had gone downtown to see some "new traditional" artist and that he would be entertaining us for the evening. I could see Mac standing in the wings downing a beer, laughing. Jim then announced a song called My Last Cigarette and started strumming with half effort. The crowd responded by throwing cigarettes. As the rest of the band appeared on stage, amongst cheers, someone in the crowd handed Jim two crayon drawings. One said 100,000 Fireflies on it and had fireflies on it and the other appeared to be a bench, which I assumed to be Makeout Bench. "Jim's stand-up routine seems to have fallen flat", said Mac. The band then launched into EASTERN TERMINAL. Jim and Jon wore non-descript shirts, Laura wore a black top, and Mac had a shirt which I thought might have said The Bats on it, but I'm not sure. Superchunk continued through their set without much in-between song banter. Chazzy joined the band on keyboards during IRON ON, though I could'nt really hear them. + on the topic of the CHICAGO show, here's aamiller@ncsa.uiuc.edu: I managed to obtain a flyer (from Jim Wilber himself, no less) that they had placed in numerous places around stage which said "Guitarist formerly known as Prince...Jim Wilber" with a big picture of Jim's head. + The show in Eau Claire, WISCONSIN (!), from hybushi@csd.uwm.edu: The show was really good. They came with guv' ner and seaweed. Seaweed was pretty good, but i don't know what mac and laura were thinking when they signed guv'ner to merge. They were quite awful. Anyway, superchunk was amazing. Their set list (not in order) was as follows: iron on, from the curve, hyper enough, seed toss, skip steps 1+3, mower, first part, water wings, yeah it's beautiful here too, sunshine state, eastern terminal, cool, cadmium, and 100,000 fireflies. Despite tons of technical problems, like the p.a. going out in the middle of eastern terminal, the chunk sounded amazingly tight. Before the show i met, and talked to superchunk (minus laura). I first noticed jon standing out in front of the t-shirt stand. I went up and talked to him for a while. He was really cool, and seemed genuinely interested in my own band. We talked for a while, and he was more than happy to autograph a cd single i had bought at the show for this express purpose. Upon entering the show, i notice jim standing near the back during the seaweed show. I walked up and introduced myself, and asked for an autograph. He seemed really happy, and very suprised that i even knew who he was. He said he would love to autograph it for me, but he needed a pen. I told him i could get one, and he agreed to wait, but warned me that he "really have to pee, so i might be gone when you get back, but i'll be around later". As i looked around for a pen, this is when i met mac. He gave me a pen, and was kind enough to sign my cd. He was hanging out with the singer/guitarist of guv'ner, and i talked with the two of them for a while. Mostly we talked about this guv'ner song about pornogrphy. I could see mac was busy, so i decided i should leave him alone, but not before i made a tastless pornography comment that they both seemed to enjoy. I went back into the show, and was suprised to see jim still standing in the same spot. I got his autograph, and talked to him for a pretty long time. He was very amuzing. By far the coolest member of superchunk. We talked to him for most of the seaweed show, and he told us we should come see them at the minneapolis show. I was hoping that he would put us on the guest list, but didn't want to ask since he was being so nice already. When he finally left he thanked us for knowing who he was, patted me on the shoulder, and left for what i assume was the bathroom. A friend of mine met mac a little later on, an apparently mac was a little rude to him when he said something. This kind of marred the show a little. But jim was really cool, and they sounded great, so i ain't complainin'. --- best quote of the night: "i would rather eat a bucket of shit than live in eau claire!" - i agree +here's another concert review, this one from cgiordano@uunorth.north.net: On Tuesday November 7, I ventured to the Phenoix to catch the show of a lifetime. Here it is! I give you as much detail as I can remember because people like that kind of stuff. Guv'ner went on at 9:00. They were really impressive. About four songs into the set, Mac came out and played keyboards for them for a couple songs (he was introduced as Mark McCaug). Guv'ner finished at about 9:45. Then Seaweed played at 10:00. I relly don't like Seaweed but it was still kind of cool. Then played until 10:40. Then at about 11:10, Superchunk came on. Mac was wearing a "Bats" t-shirt and Jim was wearing a "Karl Hendricks Trio" t-shirt. Here is the set list not in the order they played them: Hyper Enough; Silverleaf and Snowy Tears; Yeah, It's beautiful here too; Iron on; Sunshine State; Detroit has a Skyline; Animated Airplanes over Germany; The First Part; Why do you have to put a date on Everything; Untied; Skip Steps 1 & 3; Seed Toss; On the Mouth. There encore was (in order): Like a Fool; 100,000 Fireflies; Precision Auto. About three songs into the set, Jim was jumping around and threw out his back. He spend the next 8-10 songs sitting in a chair infront of his mic (did someone say Superchunk unplugged). A couple songs later some drunk guy in the audience began taunting Jim and throwing stuff at him. Jim said "Why don't you come up on stage and I'll kick your ass!" The guy began approaching the stage and when he was close, Jim bent over and said "If you try and climb on to stage, I'll kick you in the face before you get halfway up." At this point the entire crowd as well as Laura began laughing at him. He backed off and Jim said "Go back to High school." The guy replied, "Go back to your old age home." Then Mac approached his mic and said "I remember when I had my first beer!" The crowd laughed and the guy finally backed off. For most of the songs off of "Here's where the strings come in",Charles from Guv'ner played keyboard. For Sunshine State Mac used this really cool looking guitar he called "The Predator". Laura sang back-up on "Yeah, it's beautiful here too" and "The First Part". She keep asking the crowd to give Jim applause for playing injured. During the last couple songs from the set, Charles from Guv'ner dove into the audience and crowd surfed. Mac dove into the audience and crowd surfed during the last few bars of "Precision Auto". After the show, my friend I went with realized he knew one of the people selling t-shirts. That, plus the fact I got talking to Charles from Guv'ner, was enough to get us backstage. We met Superchunk! We talked for a couple minutes and they all signed the Guv'ner t-shirt I bought. Mac wrote, "I wish I was Chazzy", Laura drew a fluffy little bunny rabbit, Jim wrote, "F**k life", Jon wrote, "Where's Pumpkin", and Charles wrote "I am Mac". I then went home and slept. P.S. Just before Superchunk left stage, Laura said something to the effect of "See you in February". Did I hear her correctly???? P.P.S. The video for "The First Part" is really cool. There are a few sequences. One is them all played touch football with a bunch of little kids, another is of them in a room with a bunch of little kids dressed as bunnies (I think) jumping around, and another is in a kitchen with a small baby in a carrier on the counter top. +something short from Mascisite@aol.com: DETROIT SETLIST - Sunshine State...Detroit Has A Skyline (although I think they would have been lynched had they not played that one)...Seed Toss...The Question Is How Fast...Eastern Terminal...Why Do You Have To Put A Date On Everything... Hit Self Distruct (caught me so off guard that they'd play this that I nearly passed out (either that or it was the fact that I was getting crushed against the front boundary)... Iron On...Like A Fool (Best monologue of the night: "Jim: 'This is our last show, we're breaking up the band. Jon the drummer and I just can't face eachother anymore since the breakup (Mac and Laura look at eachother and grin). But, this is a song I wrote about our problems...it's called Like A Fool...because, well, I was a fool.")... Animated Airplanes Over Germany...Encore: Hyper Enough...The First Part... Short Set, but worth every penny. The best of the five times I've seen them (even if they did ignore "On The Mouth" completely except for ONE SONG). And, of course, Seaweed was their usualy kick arse self. But, the Guv'ner sucked. Someone made a mistake signing them to Merge, they're just a Sonic Youth ripoff band. (DAVE's NOTE: gee, am i sensing a concensus about guv'ner?) some things i have promised you: +hmmm...Mammoth Records is out of Carboro, NC, which is basically a city over from Chapel Hill, where Merge is...(pointless trivia, really) +this list is currently subscribed to by 188 people - internationally - with approximately 45% of subscribers being college students and another (approx.) 7-8% being high school students. +the description of the video for Driveway To Driveway (it's in black and white): DIRECTED BY PHIL MORRISON/PEYTON REED (NOTE - as there are two Superchunks - the band and the people in the band as characters of the "story" - i will refer to the band as "the band Superchunk" or "the band Mac" - I will call the band as the characters by their real name. I'm also adding in a few song lyrics so you can see what happens at what point in the song. I'm not giving you everything that happens, as there are a lot of brief shots, but this is the main thing:) Over a picture of a southern estate in autumn with people in tuxedos and nice dresses approaching some party at the estate, an on-screen message: "A weekend-long party at a sprawling southern estate. Today's festivities are just getting underway-" (shot of Mac - in a tux - stumbling up from a bench, covered in leaves, with a champagne glass) "...even as last night's effects still linger." Mac notices Laura - in a nice white dress - standing in front of the house, as party-goers socialize in the background. Mac comes up to Laura and begins to sing ("i still have briars in my clothes..." etc.) - she seems frustrated and the scene is intercut with blurry night footage of a drunken Mac chasing a woman in white (laura? - "i thought that it was you that i had chased") through the trees while trying not to spill the full champagne glass he is carrying. In the present, Laura gets fed up and slaps Mac. Laura leaves and Mac stands alone, singing the chorus ("i don't remember this too well...") As Mac sings, we see Laura talking to a bunch of people and she seems to be staring at Mac and complaining about him. (This is all still being intercut with blurry footage of a drunken, tuxedo-ed Mac running through the trees at night.) In a cool special effects shot, the camera pulls back from Mac in tux to show a band - superchunk! They're in standard clothes, all are sitting down and playing their instruments very calmly. In front of them are little placards that have a big cursive "S" on them, with "Superchunk" (also in cursive) slanted across the "s" - picture the bandstands they have for Big Bands or on the Lawrence Welk show or something. Also, Laura and Jon have sheet music on music stands next to them. ("and the names were all erased") Different scene: the bedroom of an old house. Jim rings a bell to wake Jon. It appears that Jim is Jon's servant - he helps him get ready, styling his hair, putting on his glasses, etc. In the end result, Jon looks like a stuck-up pompous ass in a tux. (I'm not dogging on Jon - that's the point; he's supposed to look that way as part of the story) At the party, Jon stomps in and sees Laura standing alone in front of the fireplace. Thinking he's so cool, he goes up and talks her ear off - Laura seems bored, but Jon continues...as the camera moves back to show Mac staring at them through the window, singing and looking pained. ("my hand on your heart had been replaced"). Then the chorus again - back to Superchunk (the band) performing, also shots of Mac running drunk at night after the mystery woman (Laura?) and also at the party, singing. During the chorus, the band Laura can be seen flipping the pages of her sheet music. Then the chorus ends, and we see Jon still talking to Laura in front of the fireplace - Mac stomps in and challenges Jon to a fight - the jackets come off and the two start to wrestle. The whole crowd outside the house runs in, throwing their drinks as they run, fleeing past the band Superchunk, still making their way through the instrumental ending. Jim pulls Mac and Jon off each other as Laura stomps out. In another cool special effect, Laura runs off angrily right in front of the band Superchunk, strumming the last part of the song. As the last chords are played, we see - in slow motion - the mystery woman running at night and Mac running after her with a desperate look.... okay, i'll try to get another mailer out in the next few weeks with the last of the concert descriptions + a thank you to all who helped with the concert listing + other things i have promised you in the past, but have been slacking on delivery. and, no matter what, you'll get a transcript of the CHUNK on-line interview at SonicNet, so look to your computers in the near future for a little more CHUNK.... and one other thing - i encourage list subscribers to ask q's of other subscribers and also to share their opinions, but please don't just send out to the people in your "group" - I have to send out my list in segments, so when you send out to your "group" - you only get 1/8 of the list. If you have a question, please send it to me and i'll add it to the next mailing possible. Any q's about what i mean, please send those to me as well...can you dig it?