(TV) seattle. late and falling far short of the mark

[caryn <clr@drizzle.com>]

i jetted off down to san diego first thing friday morning (off to see some
pete townshend solo shows) so i didn't have a chance to throw any thoughts
together.  it was quite the few days for music.

i, too, was not a fan of mr joel rl phelps.  he always seems to be matched
up with bands i REALLY REALLY want to see and therefore is somewhat
anticlimactic.  his presence on this bill was no exception.  it reminded
me of that scene in 'high fidelity' where they're playing belle and
sebastian and jack black bursts in and puts on "walking on sunshine".  in
that analogy i would be the jack black wanna be.

but i get ahead of myself.

my expectations were pretty much met by the fact that i was holding a
ticket with the word "Television" on it.  i was ridiculously excited.  i
managed to get to work from home in the afternoon so i could get to the
emp fairly early.  i was there by 5:45.  i was first one in line.  i
walked in and stood front and center at the barrier. i didn't care how
dorky that made me.  i had waited too long for this.

i've been to a lot of reunion type shows lately.  either they're
perfunctory and somewhat salubrious or there is a recreation of that
something other that made the effort worthy of reunion in the first place.
i'm happy if i can get moments in those shows that recapture that.  some
of pete townshend's solos on the last who tour would do that for me. (i'm
sorry.  i make no apologies for my who fandom.  it's encoded into my dna.)
the soft boys reunion was also extremely joyful for that type of presence.

based on all the comments i'd read here, i was unsure of what i'd see on
the stage last thursday.  i'm happy to report that that something other is
still there, and the best thing is, i'm now smart enough to comprehend it.
i didn't know if they could really still take us to that place that i
remembered, that place of the undefinable sense of greatness that words
can't quite articulate.

i'm not saying that they were 100% on or it was the best show i've ever
seen in my life.  but it was not a perfunctory reunion, these guys aren't
finished saying what they have to say, and i'm glad i berated my 21 year
old music history protege to get his ass down to this show. (although his
comment after the show was "a little self-indulgent" "peter, these guys
invented self-indulgent").

little johnny jewel was the song that struck me most by surprise, mostly
because - can i say this - it was like i'd *forgotten* about it?  fuck!
this song!  this was the song that did it, that song that i bought on a
thursday afternoon i'd played hooky from high school and bribed geraldine
and laura to take me down to the train and pick me up later and tell my
mom i was at their house if she called.  i snuck into bleeker bob's and
bought it & felt like i was buying a porno mag or something (well, not
that i have that experience to identify with, but i absolutely felt like i
was buying something illicit and *dangerous*).  i was glad tom had
technical difficulties because it allowed them to Be Television in a
spontaneous sense for that small space of time.

the crowd was the most well-behaved and appropriate that i have seen since
the midnight elvis costello and the attractions show at bumbershoot in
1996.  it was quiet and reverential and i really think it was that way
because the people here really didn't know what to expect and were kind of
blown away by what they did get.  aside from the obligatory dumb guys
yelling.

the biggest feeling i got from this show was - honestly - oh my god, i'm
so glad these guys did this, because i was too young to really appreciate
this back then.  i stood there making this connection to the 37 year old i
am now to the 14 year old i was then, the kid wearing fishnet stockings
and my mom's miniskirt and a pair of converse allstars and a who tshirt,
with a fake id that said i was 34.  but i must have learned something from
it, so it wasn't a total waste for me to be there back then.

i concur on the appraisals of "psychotic reaction".  my other big "moment"
was standing transfixed as i watched richard's hands on the fretboard
during "marquee moon" - i can't believe i'm really watching this - i could
have been happy with that one song, and gone home.

i'm still kind of surprised by how emotional the whole evening made me.
and i hope that i get to repeat the experience at the UCLA ATP in october.

other notes:
loved seeing kurt bloch as roadie.  he was just grinning all night.
the vox amps were rented from the local SIR.
michael, absolutely charmed to have met you.  it was nice to have another
east coaster in the vicinity, wouldn't have been the same otherwise.
where the hell were the rest of you :)

i was really surprised at the diehards down front.  there were at least a
dozen people who had CLEARLY seen TV before and were just as clearly not
seattle natives.  this one woman could not contain herself during a
discussion of how mayor schell thinks one of his enduring legacies is the
fact that he synchronized some of the traffic lights in downtown seattle.
gimme a break. </rant>

finally, maurice - the web site's not workin' and i wanna see those
pictures!!

--caryn



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