RE: (TV) anyone catch patti / tom at bowery ballroom?

["Nancy E. Elgin" <nelgin@nyct.net>]

I've now seen Tom play with Patti's band four times--twice at the 
Horses shows at the Brooklyn Academy of Music and both shows at the 
Bowery Ballroom. I couldn't see him the first Horses night and had 
trouble hearing him as well, but on the second Horses night I had a 
clear view of him across the stage from my vantage point at the extreme 
right, second row back. At the BB shows, I was variously two to four 
people back pretty much right in front of TV. He does a fantastic job 
of adding atmosphere and transcendence to Patti's songs, especially the 
more ethereal tunes--I think they come from a similar region of outer 
space. TV stands out especially on Beneath the Southern Cross, Dancing 
Barefoot, and--best of all--Ain't It Strange, on which he scrapes the 
strings with the top edge of a butter knife for a skittering, scratchy 
sound. I really love Patti's band (one of the clearest cases I've seen 
of a band being far better as a unit than any of the people are alone), 
and adding Tom to the mix makes it absolutely outstanding. TV does, 
basically, his TV thing with Patti's band--single notes struck at odd 
intervals, riffs repeated with minor variations, unusual tones produced 
in mysterious ways. He is an alchemist, just as Patti is a shaman. Best 
of all, though, they're both real people, and we're lucky enough to be 
able to hear what they have to say in real time (and endlessly 
repeated, thanks to the wonders of recording technology).

It seemed to me that Tom was feeling more comfortable on stage with 
each show and is finding his "place" in the band's soundscape. His 
playing interacts really well with Tony Shanahan's keyboard playing, 
and it was also my impression (I don't play, so I have no idea if I'm 
full of shit or not) that his and Lenny's guitar parts were meshing 
very nicely last night and that they are increasingly playing off each 
other rather than just playing the same song. I'm not a huge fan of 
Patti's clarinet playing (ahem), but somehow even it sounded good 
combined with TV's characteristically uncharacteristic (if you know 
what I mean) guitar playing. He also did a fine job of playing bass on 
Godspeed and several other songs the past two nights.

Well, I wish I could say important and wise things that would make each 
of you feel like you were there (as I wish you had been, although only 
if you were standing BEHIND me), but I've had a wee whiff of weed to 
cope with the brand-new-year,-same-old-story feelings that inevitably 
surface on New Year's Day and am thinking it's about time to retire for 
another hit. Best wishes to all of us for a happier, healthier, more 
peaceful year ahead that will bring us much great music to make it 
easier to deal with the bad things and enjoy the good things even more.
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