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RutlingKen
member
Joined: 21 Oct 2003
Posts: 74
Location: Illinois
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Sat May 01, 2004 6:59 pm Uh oh, Rutling Ken is writing now too... |
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After finally getting around to reading through Pink and Tom's tour diary, I am inspired to put down some of my thoughts too for those who aren't bored silly yet. If you aren't, you might well be after I'm done. Once I start writing, I tend to go on and on and on and on… Anyway, here is my first brain dump -- fearlessly unedited (sorry), presented with nearly no proofreading (very sorry), overly laden with first-person verb conjugation, and surely flawed in some way.
I think it was the LA shows that Bonnie and Laurie organized last year that inspired me to seriously consider asking Neil if he’d come over to do some shows in the Midwest if I could put a mini-tour together. I asked him back in August, and apart from some fun I really had no idea what I was getting myself into when he said yes.
…and Friends
My first task was to assemble a band. My goal was to put together a talented and well-rehearsed band for Neil. Neil is usually happy enough to just informally get some players together and have a bit of fun, but I wanted to put together the best shows musically I possibly could. I wanted this to be a musical experience that would be very special for Neil. Ok, be honest; I wanted us to knock his socks off. I wanted this to be great for the audiences too, of course.
I have been so fortunate to get to play guitar with Neil and thank my lucky stars. Now I wanted some of my good friends to have that pleasure too. Apart from being great players, the ability to sing was important. I wanted to be able to faithfully cover the harmonies as well as the instrumentation. Which friends to ask first was easy. I have been in bands with some great players that I truly enjoy working with. I knew these guys would be very excited about the opportunity, would take it seriously, and be more concerned with the thrill and fun of it all than the paycheck.
Vet Ken was first on the list, though I wasn't sure if it would work out with him living three hours away. He's become a good friend over the last few years, and I knew this would mean as much to him as it did to me. He is a fellow veteran of the 1650 show in LA last year, but he's called Vet Ken due to his occupational choice of working with fluffy family pets. Luckily, he didn’t mind doing all of that driving for rehearsals and was able to take a break from expressing glands to go on the road with the band.
John Ganser (aka by some as John Extrava-Ganser), on drums was next. He is an amazing drummer and has been in many of my favorite local bands. We currently play together in an instrumental prog rock band called Von Frickle, which is the most fun and talented band I've ever been in. [That picture to the left is me in my old VF alien uniform.] He was a fan of the Rutles film. I gave him a copy of Archaeology and was pleased that he really dug it (sorry!) even more than the original Rutles soundtrack like several of us in the band do.
Then there was Pink Bob on keys. For a few years now, we have played together in the Sediments, a band that has played a Rutles tune or two on stage. It's the only band I’ve ever been in that encourages me to get silly, which despite my usual serious demeanor I assure you I am fully capable of doing if you can get me to let my guard down. Pink is a big fan of the Rutles and is a fellow champion of the Archaeology album. The look on his face when I asked him to be in the band was priceless.
I had slated Jeff Walker as the bass player. A best friend for years, a very funny guy, and a Rutles fan. But he had just made a temporary move to Mississippi and wasn't expecting to be back in Illinois until about the time the shows would be happening. No worries though, because Clay Thompson was available. He is a fantastic bass player, can sing well, and has also been some of my favorite local bands.
I toyed around with the idea of a small horn section like we had for the Rutles Unrugged shows in 2001. More people means more coordination headaches, however, so I abandoned the idea in favor of me and Pink covering the horn parts ourselves. How does a guitarist cover horn parts? I have been using a guitar that can interface with a Roland guitar synthesizer with Von Frickle, and I have slowly been getting better at using it. It actually has the ability to emulate horn parts better than a keyboard controller. Anyway, I ended up using it for various horn sounds, flutes, strings, and even a tamboura for Joe Public. It certainly made my role in the band more fun. Neil thought it was funny and started calling it the magic guitar.
I really wanted a percussionist, but again I was reluctant to increase the size of the band. Then Tom Sparrow, the drummer for the Sediments, offered to be a free roadie. I figured if he’s willing to be a roadie without any guarantee of taking home a wad of cash, maybe he’d be up for playing percussion instead.
And so the band was completed. And there was much rejoicing.
I made CDs of all of the songs (more on this later) for everyone to start listening to and we started getting together at the end of February for rehearsals in my basement. I wasn't sure if my studio was going to be big enough or too loud, but everyone kept the volume under control and it worked out. I almost went out and bought a PA, so big thanks to Vet Ken for bringing along a little PA for us to use.
We only had a few hours each week (minus smoke breaks), so I know I took things seriously and tried to keep us on task without taking all of the fun out of it. With the songs we were playing, that would be virtually impossible anyway.
We had a lot of vocalists with tenor ranges in the band, but Vet Ken and I ended covering nearly all of the harmonies. The two of us worked late after one of the band practices to suss out all of the harmonies. It was a little tricky singing during rehearsals, because one of us also had to switch to singing Neil's parts to give the band a reference.
By about the third rehearsal, we were already sounding really good. It made me laugh sometimes how true to the recordings we were playing some of the songs, especially when John started playing the signature Wom drum fills. I remember laughing through just about the entire song the first time we really nailed "It's Looking Good." Too bad we ended up dropping that one from the set list.
I should probably apologize to Tom for not getting him to a rehearsal before Neil got to town. We were supposed to practice with Tom on the Saturday before Neil's arrival, but there was an unexpected conflict and we agreed to change it to Sunday without realizing that was Easter. Sorry if you were a little apprehensive about the situation, Tom, but you were great straight out of the gate and instantly made the band sound better.
I think that in the end we had five full-band rehearsals (sans percussion) before Neil came to town.
See? I warned you. And this is me trying to edit myself. More later, if you can stand it…[/code]
Last edited by RutlingKen on Sun May 02, 2004 2:37 am; edited 1 time in total
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Pink Bob
Underwater Trumpet
Joined: 20 Mar 2004
Posts: 1167
Location: Near Normal, Illinois
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Sat May 01, 2004 9:11 pm King of the MAGIC GUITAR! |
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Look out, Rutling Ken's in the house! 
So the look on my face was priceless, huh? I bet it was NOTHING compared to my mug after each of those first three shows. I don't doubt that I had a once-in-a-lifetime look on my face when asked if I'd like to play with Neil, though. I was amazed that Ken asked, because compared to people like him and Ganser, I'm pretty much a hack. That's one nice thing about Bloomington-Normal, though: we have a lot of decent guitarists, drummers and bassists, but not so many keyboardists. I guess it's no shock I'd make the short list, because there aren't enough of us to make a long list!
I first heard Neil Innes when I was about 16 years old (1978) and I've been a big fan ever since. Neil's one of my favorite songwriters, and he has one of those voices that you just can't get enough of. When Ken alerted me to Archaeology after it came out, I bought a copy and my jaw dropped. It was the best records I'd heard in years. I played it for anyone who would listen. In fact, I still do.
So, yeah, this was a Big Deal to me. And it wouldn't have happened had it not been for my good friend Rutling Ken Thornton!!!
Now that I've spoiled your first post, Ken, Do Go On! 
--pink
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RutlingKen
member
Joined: 21 Oct 2003
Posts: 74
Location: Illinois
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Sat May 01, 2004 11:28 pm Hacknowledgment |
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Yeah, you were displaying a priceless Pink Bob mug I had never seen before during the whole tour. I'm happy that you had such a blast. Apart from playing keyboards, that was the reason I wanted you to be a part of this. Another thing that kept the positive side of the scale heavier than the side with a big pile of BS on it (more on this later).
As far as you being a hack on keys goes, I must protest. Ok, maybe you're not technically a Mickey Simmonds on the keys, but you are far from being a hack. I think you said this was the most you had practiced for something ever? See? You fell for my little scheme! Really, this entire thing was nothing but a sly, complex plot to make you become a better keyboardist for the Sediments.
Seriously, I know you worked very hard. Don't think I didn't notice all of the bits you were doing in Back In '64! And the underwater trumpet was a big hit. You really did a fantastic job, Pink. How is that for a hacknowledgment? 
RK
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RutlingKen
member
Joined: 21 Oct 2003
Posts: 74
Location: Illinois
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Sun May 02, 2004 12:09 am Is there someone else up there we could talk to? |
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Is there someone else up there we could talk to?
This episode won't be much fun to read, I'm afraid. But I'm writing about the overall experience, and dealing with all of the booking/press BS was a necessary downside to it all. I now can fully empathize with what Bonnie and Laurie had to deal with when they booked the LA shows last year. Maybe I should skip this chapter. Maybe I'm just looking for sympathy…
After the Friends had been assembled, I set out on my quest to book the shows. Neil and I agreed that we should stick to smaller clubs that would hold around 300 people. We really had no idea what to expect in terms of audience turnout, and that seemed like a safe number.
I put together a bio of Neil’s career and a press release on the upcoming shows and began calling the clubs and press. It soon became clear that things were not going to be easy. 
Dealing with talent buyers at the clubs was the absolute worst. Some were kind, but most of them were full of crap and/or themselves and seemed to be suffering from a mixture of cretinism and lethargy. Some of them were simply bitter and nasty to me. And I was spending a lot of money to talk on the phone with these wonderful, cheery people! Most of them did not know anything about Neil and were not willing to take a chance no matter how much I pleaded our case.
Sometimes I found myself feeling like Sir Galahad in The Holy Grail facing the taunting French knight asking if there was someone else up there I could talk to. Other times I was tempted to pull a quote from the Rutles film and ask "What's it like to be such an asshole?"
It got even trickier, because the better clubs book months in advance. Though I started looking in January, it was difficult to find places with dates available in April. Chicago was the most difficult. The club there that I originally wanted to book gave me a tentative date and led me on for a few weeks before giving the date to someone else. I tried a bunch of places and just as I was about to admit defeat and postpone the entire mini-tour until who knows when, I got lucky and was able to book a date at Martyrs' in Chicago. It turned out to be a great place to play, and the guys there were great to work with.
Wow, you are suffering through this quite well…
The only appearance that was painless to book was the Bob and Tom Show. I had listened to their show regularly for years and had heard them mention the Rutles several times. I thought they would probably enjoy having Neil on the show, and at the same time they would probably help with publicity for our gigs. Marty Bender, their program director, is a Bonzo Dog fan, so it only took a couple of calls. Joni Downing, the guest booker, was a pleasure to work with and made sure we had everything we needed. The show was very excited that Neil was going to be a guest. 
Vet Ken took charge of booking the show in Indianapolis (thank God). Fortunately, the guy who books bands at one of the first few clubs he contacted was a Neil Innes fan. So, Ken was able to book the show at Birdy's with ease -- at least compared to the crap I was dealing with.
With the shows booked, Neil got to booking his flights, and I turned my efforts to publicity.
Maybe a little joke would break this up and make it more bearable? Do you know any? Good, go on then...Ha ha ha, that is hilarious! Ok, now I'm ready to continue.
I worked with Jeff Little, a good friend and a fine artist, to design the posters and flyers. We also made some small handbills to pass out at Ju Ju’s in Bloomington when a popular Beatles tribute band was playing there. I was relieved that everyone liked the posters.
I arranged telephone interviews with Neil for the Bloomington and Urbana local papers. Neil said those went well, and Dan Craft ultimately did an impressive set of feature articles in the Bloomington paper. I contacted WGKC radio, the Bob and Tom affiliate in Champaign-Urbana, and suggested they might be able to get Bob and Tom to record a custom spot for the Canopy Club show. They did get a radio spot and did a promotion to give away some free tickets. I was very happy to learn that they were playing tracks from Archaeology on the air 
Again Chicago proved to be a problem. I called and sent press releases to many journalists from the Tribune, the Sun Times, and The Reader. No responses at all. Even Terri Hemmert from WXRT, a big Neil/Rutles/Bonzos fan that I was sure would want to help in some way or at least come to the show, was unable or chose not to respond. In the end, the Chicago Reader did run a short mention of the Martyrs’ show. Much appreciated, but not a great result considering all the efforts made to get the press involved.
Still reading? It's almost done. I hope.
And so the list of things to do just kept growing. It was like working a second job, really. As Pink can testify, it took a toll on my nervous system for a couple of months. The lengths people will go to just to have a bit of fun…
Regretfully, dealing with all of that plus a hurried trip to the UK to have a blast with The Rutles in London (I couldn't pass that up, could I? And glad I didn't because the 100 Club shows are the funnest shows I've ever been a part of) on top of everyday life resulted in me being pretty well exhausted by the time it came to start the mini-tour. Hopefully it was not evident during the shows.
Ironically, Neil hooked up with some publicists and a booking agency in the USA just after I had finished making most of the arrangements for our mini-tour. On the positive side, that probably means that if we ever get the chance to do this again, I will not need to be responsible for much and will be able to fully enjoy it.
Thanks to Vet Ken, the Cranes, and everyone else who volunteered to help me out with things. If I could have delegated more things to you, I gladly would have!
Also, a big thanks to everyone who came to the shows for making the whole thing worthwhile. Especially those who came from far away. Seeing and hearing the audience having such a great time was the best, and you made us have a fun time as well. Some of you even thanked me personally for putting this thing together, and you probably had no idea how much I appreciated hearing that. 
Ok. Stop this. It's getting silly. Or needs to get much sillier. And overuse of those emoticons isn't helping one bit. Try to write about something fun next time, you stupid bastard.
RK
Last edited by RutlingKen on Sun May 02, 2004 7:17 pm; edited 4 times in total
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Lyons Gate
Guest
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Sun May 02, 2004 1:46 am |
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As mentioned in an earlier post, I'm the guy who flew in from Seattle just to see the concert in Indy. I clearly want to thank everyone of you for all you did to pull this off. I'm amazed that you were able to get any booking people interested in Neil. Few people today have a sense of humor, and even fewer know good music when they hear it. Almost 2 weeks after the concert, I am still reflecting back on it daily.
I am 44 years old and first heard the Bonzo's when my older brother was in college back in 1969. He borrowed a copy of Tadpoles which I just thought was great. Our father just died back in Feburary. And when I heard about this tour, I thought this would be a great thing to lift our spirits. So I called my brother, who still lives back in Michigan, and proposed a road trip for him and an air trip for me. He thought it sounded like a crazy idea. I said, you're right, it is crazy and that why we should do it.
So know, after reading about all the work and trouble the"and friends" went through, I am convienced that flying from Seattle was nothing compared to your whole ordeal. So thanks again to all of you for helping make a dream come true for me and my brother.
Tom in Seattle
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RutlingKen
member
Joined: 21 Oct 2003
Posts: 74
Location: Illinois
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Sun May 02, 2004 2:35 am Between Us It's Oh So Easy To Seattle |
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Hi, Tom. I don't think I had the pleasure to meet you and your brother in Indy. We're so glad you came all that way to see the show and left so happy.
As far as getting "crazy" to see Neil play, I can relate. The first time was when I flew to LA to see The Rutles at Beatlefest in 1997. It was nutty, but I just couldn't miss it.
Then I went to England in 2000 to see a Neil Innes show in Liverpool (and visit the Halseys). It was on that trip that I had a little dream come true of my own and got my first chance to sit down with Neil and a couple of acoustic guitars. So, sometimes good things happen when you get a bit crazy!
RK
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RutlingKen
member
Joined: 21 Oct 2003
Posts: 74
Location: Illinois
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Sun May 02, 2004 2:57 am Singing A Song Is Easy. Choosing Them? Not So Easy. |
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Singing A Song Is Easy. Choosing Them? Not So Easy.
My initial list of songs I'd like to do for the shows was ridiculously long. No surprise there, I suppose. Neil has written so many great tunes.
Neil was not opposed to doing any of the songs on my shorter list, which didn't make choosing any easier. But we agreed it would be best to focus on the Rutles and the Bonzos, since that is what most people would want to hear. I also wanted us to do a bunch of his new songs, which are fantastic. Evening Sun was my special request.
Sometime after the band began rehearsing, I realized we still had more than two hours of music not including the songs Neil would be playing on his own. So, Neil and I shortened the list again by dropping Dream On/L'Amour Perdu, Lead Us, Momma Bee, Elvis and the Disagreeable Backing Singers, Hero of the Motorway, Quiet Talks, and No Matter Who You Vote For, which seemed like a good idea with elections around the corner. So now the list was down to "only" 30+ songs!
Then Neil came for rehearsals, started working out set lists, and we ended dropping a few more that the band had worked up. I was sad to see "Montana Cafe" go, because the band sounded really good on that one. But Neil had been so busy touring that he understandably couldn't find time to relearn it before coming over. We also put aside “9-5 Pollution Blues,” “Ego Warriors,” “Slaves of Freedom,” and “It's Looking Good,” which was replaced at the last minute with “With A Girl Like You” and a short version of “Good Times Roll.” That left us with two sets that were roughly an hour long each.
Neil said he enjoyed revisiting some of his old songs. I am proud that this band is the first ever to perform Equestrian Statue live on stage. I'm also glad Neil went along with the idea of doing Bold Sir Robin with Pink and I covering the horn and flute parts and Tom on percussion. That was so much fun and was always a big hit with the audiences. I wonder if that was also a first. If not, certainly Pink playing underwater trumpet at the end of Urban Spaceman was!
Pink has already provided set lists from the individual shows, but here is a recap of all the songs we played:
Bonzo Dog Band:
Equestrian Statue, I’m The Urban Spaceman, Humanoid Boogie, I Want To Be With You
Rutles:
Goose-Step Mama, Hold My Hand, With A Girl Like You, Between Us, I Must Be In Love, Ouch!, Doubleback Alley, Piggy In The Middle, Good Times Roll (short version), Another Day (short version), Cheese and Onions, Get Up and Go, Major Happy…, Questionnaire, Hey Mister!, Eine Kleine…, Joe Public, Back in ‘64
Solo:
Feel No Shame, Randy Raquel, Face Mail In The Meat Zone, One Of Those People
Solo (Neil on his own):
How Sweet To Be An Idiot, Protest Song, Godfrey Daniel, Evening Sun, Short Blues, Love Is Getting Deeper, I'm The Urban Spaceman (short version)
Solo (Neil and Rutling Ken):
Friends At The End, Eye Candy, Never Alone, Ego Warriors
Monty Python: Bold Sir Robin, Philosophers' Song
George Harrison: Isn't It A Pity
Next episode: Neil arrives on a supersonic pla-ee-yane.
Last edited by RutlingKen on Sun May 02, 2004 6:04 pm; edited 1 time in total
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Pink Bob
Underwater Trumpet
Joined: 20 Mar 2004
Posts: 1167
Location: Near Normal, Illinois
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Sun May 02, 2004 4:51 am Oh yeah! |
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This is getting good. After reading page after page of me talking about hunting down fishbowls/piggy masks/MiniDiscs, what kind of beer was consumed, how many B7 chords were harmed, and what musical "artists" most frightened me in my childhood, it's nice Rutling Ken is sharing some details about the actual music and how he got us all to play it so well.
And this was all a complicated ruse just to get me to practice? I suspected it all along. Hell, he could have hacktually gotten me to go for FOUR hours a day instead of two if he'd gotten off his butt and figured out a way to get Apollo C. Vermouth involved...
On a more serious and somber note, Lyons Gate, I'm very sorry to hear of your loss. And I hope that in some small way, NI&F eased the burden and helped you and your brother smile for a few hours. We really appreciate that a lot of people travelled some distance to see us, but the fact you came so far to have a little fun with your brother means a lot to us. Innesboard doesn't seem to have an emoticon for "big digital hugs", but I'm sure the whole band would give you one, and Neil would be first in line. My brother Jim and I saw each other for the first time in a few years at Birdy's, so there sure was a whole lot of brotherly love in that wonderful establishment, wasn't there?
--pink
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ickybaby
member
Joined: 09 Apr 2004
Posts: 59
Location: normal, il
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Sun May 02, 2004 2:10 pm |
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All things considered, my favorite thing to do was "Brave Sir Robin". I mean Neil has written some great lyrics but nothing, I repeat NOTHING, compares with "nostrils raped". That my dear friends is sheer brilliance.
_________________
It's a spradoinkle day!
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RutlingKen
member
Joined: 21 Oct 2003
Posts: 74
Location: Illinois
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Sun May 02, 2004 2:17 pm |
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Tom, I second Pink's thoughtful words regarding your loss. Here is the hug he mentioned. I assume the pink one is Bob. ==> 
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RutlingKen
member
Joined: 21 Oct 2003
Posts: 74
Location: Illinois
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Sun May 02, 2004 9:07 pm Wednesday, April 14 Stig O'Hara Airport |
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Wednesday, April 14
The two-hour drive to the Stig O'Hara International Airport seemed to take only half an hour. I was excited -- the fun was finally about to start. I made it there on time, but Neil's flight was running a bit late. Just before hitting the road, I had an idea to make a sign like those that chauffeurs hold up so that Neil could spot me in the crowd. Mine read "ROCK GOD." I turned away for a minute while I was waiting, and he spotted me before I could hold it up. We had a laugh over it at least. After a post-flight cigarette, we were on the road.
He told me about the post-London dates of the recent Rutles tour on the way home. They added "Elvis and the Disagreeable Backing Singers" as an opening number. The shows were all well-attended by enthusiastic audiences, just like in London. One venue was more like a comedy club with everybody sitting at tables, and oddly they were asked not to get up and move around during the show.
I was very happy when I first heard that Neil and John were going to do the Rutles shows, because after the 2001 Unrugged shows it seemed unlikely that the Rutles would be a live act again. With the recent enthusiastic audiences, hopefully Neil and John will continue with additional Rutles shows beyond those coming up in June.
I figured he would be tired from the trip and would want a quiet ride home, but I brought some CDs along just in case. We did listen to a few tracks from various things. Utopia's "Deface The Music," which is Rundgren's 1980 rutle-treatment of the Beatles' music. Not nearly as endearing as The Rutles, we agreed. The Dukes of Stratosphear, which is XTC under a different name playing pyschedelic 60s stuff. Andy Partridge of XTC is one of my favorite songwriters. Like Neil, I think he is a genius with words.
Next was probably a cruel choice, but I put in one of my compilations of hilariously bad music -- Mrs. Miller, Portsmouth Sinfonia, William Shatner, etc. I don't think we actually made it through more than a couple of the songs all the way through, but it was good for a few laughs. Neil's reaction to the Mrs. Miller country song I played was particularly memorable, especially when she started harmonizing with herself.
Lastly, we listened to some of Roy Harper's "Stormcock" album. I have been on a Roy Harper kick lately. The acoustic guitars on that album sound great, and I think Neil likes Roy's voice and sense of melody as much as I do. I got pulled in by the vocals of the "The Same Old Rock" and missed my exit off the highway!
We arrived at Chez Thornton, and after hellos with Debs and our cat, Kissa, I showed Neil to his room. Deb and I have been at our home for seven years now, but Neil was to be the first guest to stay with us. You could say we were a little worried about being good hosts. Anyway, quicker than a flash the suitcase was open and Neil presented a very nice gift to me. Neil, if you are reading, thank you again. Lah dee doo dah…
I gave him a quick tour of the house. I must admit I was a little nervous about his reaction to the basement. It is like a little rock and roll museum, and there is a lot of Rutles, Bonzos, and Neil stuff down there (along with a lot of Beatles memorabilia and other stuff I've collected over the last twenty years or so). I guess he already knew I was a bit of a nutter, though.
He seemed impressed with the recording studio, which sadly isn't used enough. I think we fired up the jukebox. Yeah, we did, because I remember us listening to Viv's Labio-Dental Fricative and talking about the quiet section Neil wrote for the song and Clapton's solos.
Neil was tired, as was I, so we made it an early night. Tomorrow would be the first day of rehearsal!
Maybe I should cut the sheets he used into little squares and sell them on eBay with certificates of authenticity from Leggy that say "Nasty Slept Here." Well, maybe not…
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Pirate Bob
Eternal Buttinski
Joined: 23 Aug 2003
Posts: 105
Location: Skeleton Island
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Sun May 09, 2004 4:53 am All Hail Swami Anand Nagara! |
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| RutlingKen wrote: |
I figured he would be tired from the trip and would want a quiet ride home, but I brought some CDs along just in case. We did listen to a few tracks from various things. Utopia's "Deface The Music," which is Rundgren's 1980 rutle-treatment of the Beatles' music. Not nearly as endearing as The Rutles, we agreed. The Dukes of Stratosphear, which is XTC under a different name playing pyschedelic 60s stuff. Andy Partridge of XTC is one of my favorite songwriters. Like Neil, I think he is a genius with words. |
ARRRRRRR!
Any man,wot can appreciate ye Dukes O'Stratosphear,be well worth his salt in my books,sez I.
trivia #1: XTC was almost called "Dukes of Stratosphear"
trivia#2: Andy Partridge also produced an e.p. for the equally psychedelic "Doctor & The Medics"
_________________
Dead Men Tell No Tales
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Modern Relic
Fresh Fish
Joined: 19 Apr 2004
Posts: 8
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Mon May 10, 2004 2:44 pm Re: All Hail Swami Anand Nagara! |
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| Pirate Bob wrote: | | RutlingKen wrote: |
I figured he would be tired from the trip and would want a quiet ride home, but I brought some CDs along just in case. We did listen to a few tracks from various things. Utopia's "Deface The Music," which is Rundgren's 1980 rutle-treatment of the Beatles' music. Not nearly as endearing as The Rutles, we agreed. The Dukes of Stratosphear, which is XTC under a different name playing pyschedelic 60s stuff. Andy Partridge of XTC is one of my favorite songwriters. Like Neil, I think he is a genius with words. |
ARRRRRRR!
Any man,wot can appreciate ye Dukes O'Stratosphear,be well worth his salt in my books,sez I.
trivia #1: XTC was almost called "Dukes of Stratosphear"
trivia#2: Andy Partridge also produced an e.p. for the equally psychedelic "Doctor & The Medics" |
Aye, Matey. Thems that has a likin' for th' likes o' the fine Mr. Partridge and his crew be alright in the Relic's book, fer certain. Just don't wait till yer boat goes down, eh? 
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RutlingKen
member
Joined: 21 Oct 2003
Posts: 74
Location: Illinois
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Sat May 22, 2004 6:07 pm |
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Thursday, April 15
Bright and early morning. Whipped up some food and tea -- no biscuits, though. I can make a mean omelet, apparently.
Popped out to pick up our local paper, The Pantagraph, to check out Dan Craft's article on Neil. We were pleasantly surprised. Nearly the entire front and back pages of the entertainment section were devoted to Neil, which is much more than I had expected. There was a big story and interview titled "Meet The Rutle," a Python trivia quiz, and a shorter article on how Neil and I met and the resulting mini-tour of the Midwest. Dan didn’t actually interview me, so I'm not sure where my quotes came from. If he had, the the phrase "lucky bastard" would not have been conspicuously absent.
Neil started working on set lists, which did not prove to be an easy task given our selection of songs. By Saturday he had come up with something we were happy with, though. It was a great day, so we took the guitars outside for an hour or two and ran through some things he wanted to brush up on like "9-5 Pollution Blues" and "Randy Raquel". The alternate key for Randy Raquel he suggested proved to be too low, so we put it back in its original key.
I told him more about the Bob and Tom Show and all of the publicity we were getting, especially for the Indy and Champaign shows. He had the idea to do a jingle for them. Hold My Hand struck me as the obvious choice -- "Bob and Tom, yeah yeah". I didn't consider that we'd have to sing it at 7:00 in the morning, though! Over the next few days, Neil and Kens threw around ideas and settled on mentioning "Chick and Kristy too."
The phone rang a lot Thursday morning -- Neil's booking agents, publicists, people I hadn't heard from in years who had just seen the Pantagraph, etc. Neil's booking agency sent a fax for us to pick up at Kinko's, so we headed out to get that, pick up some wine for later, and have lunch at a nice Italian place called Biaggi's. Great food. Of course, I couldn't talk him out of picking up the tab. There was a baseball game on in the bar area, so I explained the basic rules to Neil. That is about all I remember anyway, as it's been many years since I've had time for sports.
I spent the rest of the afternoon before the band members were due to start arriving getting my guitar synthesizer sounds organized. Vet Ken was the first to arrive. We had a nice hello and unloaded his car, including the huge box containing the keyboard he was able to borrow from Guitar Center in Indy for Neil to use for the whole tour. All Neil had to do was thank them during the shows. By the time we were set up, the rest of the band started showing up.
I must say it was fun to watch them all meet Neil for the first time. All very happy. Some a bit nervous.
The first night of rehearsal went very well. Neil being in the room really energized everybody. We were finally doing it! Neil was there to sing his parts, so we could finally hear what the three-part (sometimes four-part) harmonies were going to sound like.
It didn't take long for the band to realize what an easy-going nice person Neil is to work and hang out with. Before Tom knew what was happening, Neil had put their heads together to make an ass of themselves. Pink has posted my picture of this along with my subsequent dressing up of the moment on the web at http://www.thesediments.com/neil1/.
With nearly everyone in the band being smokers, there were a number of smoke breaks out on the back patio. This is when Pink, John, Tom, and Clay got to know Neil better and vice versa. Of course, Neil shared a lot of funny stories and was his usual engaging self. As Tom Icky Baby Sparrow has pointed out, I don't own any ashtrays, so the band had to use pop cans. What a horrible bastard host I am! Anyway, any trace of initial awkwardness was gone after one or two of these breaks.
Apart from a few of the more challenging songs, we ran through all of the songs one time making a few observations along the way. My guitar synth, quickly dubbed by Neil as "the magic guitar," was a source of amusement. Sometimes he'd look up thinking a flute or a trumpet sound was coming from Pink, and he'd laugh when he realized it was coming from a guitar. Pink also debuted his underwater trumpet, which was an immediate hit with Neil. Indeed, it became a surreal highlight of the shows. Neil was pleased with how things were sounding already, so I was feeling good about that.
The band left relatively early the first night. Neil and I stayed up a bit late and watched some video of Von Frickle from a show the previous weekend. Neil really liked our last CD and what we do in general, but this was the first time he saw us -- white jump suits, creepy masks, fog machines. He enjoyed the newer tunes and said we should be playing the Edinborough festival. For those who like experimental instrumental prog music, you can sample a bit of Von Frickle at http://www.soundclick.com/bands/4/vonfrickle.htm.
Next episode: Friday (duh)
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