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Re: (TV) Baloon / "Black Postcards" Revisited / Steve Albini
from what I hear the paperback is slightly different from the hard-cover.
The Barry the tour manager story is one that I know is missing
cod
In a message dated 7/28/2009 9:32:09 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time,
gurquhart@madasafish.com writes:
Leo Casey wrote:
Pure speculation: But maybe Wareham was actually being nice by *not*
mentioning Tom.
Maybe T.V.'s behavior was bizarre, or/and Wareham was disapponted when
T.V. failed to live up
to his unrealistic guitar-hero image he had of him?
Thanks for the notes Leo. I'm waiting for the paperback to arrive. I am
also surprised that there is no mention of Verlaine and wonder whether
your hunch about not mentioning Tom may be correct.
I've been trawling some old Galaxie and Luna interviews on the excellent
site:
http://www.fullofwishes.co.uk/
Its beyond all doubt that Television were a major influence on Wareham -
for example from an early Galaxie interview:
/....Deans list of favorites includes Sterling Mornson, Tom Verlaine
and Richard Lloyd, Robert Quine, and the Feelies Glenn Mercer on
guitar, and vocalists Ian Curtis, Jonathan Richman and Lou Reed. "They
have such technically pure voices, but I start to cough when I try to
sing like Ian Curtis."
/I'm probably reading too much into the following or it could be subject
to journalistic editing whatever but note how the comment about Tom is
pretty matter of fact whilst Sterling was: 'fun to be around...'/
/*I/n Luna you've utilised some of the great guitarist of all time - Tom
Verlaine of Television and Sterling Morrison of the Velvet Underground.
Two distinct characters?/* /
*Dean*: They are both such great "stylists", that is, they don't sound
like anyone else, which you realize when you are sitting in the control
room and they start playing. Tom Verlaine played two memorable guitar
solos on our //Penthouse album. Sterling played a long guitar solo on
'Friendly Advice' on our //Bewitched album, and I think that was his
last studio recording, he was diagnosed with cancer soon after. He was a
lot of fun to be around, had lots of stories to tell./
Graham
Leo Casey wrote:
> Obviously my joke about Television's cd-release party went over like a
> lead baloon...pretty lame. (smile). [Hey, isn't 'Baloon' a Television
song?]
> So, for penance I'm typing up some quotes from Dean Wareham's (of Luna)
new memoir.
>
> Russ wrote:
>
>> No mention of Verlaine seems like a big oversight, am I right?
>>
>
> Yeah given that T.V. played on more than 1 track and contributed the
monster solo on "23
> Minutes In Brussels", I was a little taken aback.
> Moreover, he does mention VU's Sterling Morrisson's guitar solo on
another Luna album.
>
> Pure speculation: But maybe Wareham was actually being nice by *not*
mentioning Tom.
> Maybe T.V.'s behavior was bizarre, or/and Wareham was disapponted when
T.V. failed to live up
> to his unrealistic guitar-hero image he had of him?
>
>
>> I had heard , maybe it was a review, that this book was
>> Wareham obviously score settling. Did you get that feeling?
>>
>
> Definitely. The very first paragraph of the book is a scathing putdown
of Wareham that a
> couple of the members of Galaxie 500 (Damon Krukowski.and Naomi Yang)
had given in a 1997
> magazine interview.
>
> But Wareham doesn't defend himself immediately; instead he begins with
his boyhood in
> Australia. By the time I got to the end of the book he had discussed
all of the 'charges'
> against him. He's paints a honest and not always pretty portrait of
himself (... 'brutally'
> honest and blunt are probably better descriptors).
>
> Along the way are accounts of: his favorite bands (and fave-hates)
while in college [pretty
> stellar taste IMHO]; drugs; the grind and temptations of touring; losing
at love; drugs; the
> sleaziness/business-side of the indie-music landscape; drugs; and
self-inflicted wounds
> ...including the dissolution of his marriage.
> He didn't name it "*Black* Postcards" for nothin'.
>
> One of the parts I found most interesting was Wareham's critique of
producer Steve Albini's
> infamous article, "The Problem With Music" in which Albini showed with
dollar and cents
> examples how bands who sign with major labels are totally fucked from
the get-go.
>
> Wareham generally agrees with Albini's indictment but accuses him of
"...using some bloated
> figures..." and that the Albini model hadn't worked that way in Luna.
>
> Just part of Wareham's critique [quoted without permission]: Starts
with a praise of Albini's
> producer skills, then .....
>
> "It is certainly true that a major label deal can bite you. All the
money that gets spent on
> making or promoting your record means that sometimes you are only
digging yourself a hole, a
> deep bit of record company debt. You may get a 14 percent royalty rate,
but with all those
> expenses being charged to your account you are never going to see those
royalties anyway.
>
> "But at least the major labels send out detailed accounting statements,
itemizing exactly how
> you are being overchsarged and underpaid. They have a system in place.
>
> "Are you safer doing a handshake deal with an upstanding indie guy who
doesn't want to bother
> with the formality of signing a contract? A guy who offers you a 50/50
profit sharing deal
> (after expenses), which sounds much better than a 14 percent royalty
rate? Of course, he can't
> give you the $250,000 advance---maybe he can give you $5,000 or $20,000.
But you'll keep your
> costs down and start to see royalties much quicker.
>
> "Unless the indie label files for bankruptcy and retains ownership of
your record. Or the
> label takes your mechanical royalties and buys a new BMW, while your
repeated requests for an
> accounting statement are ignored.
>
> "You pick your poison in the music business. There is a difference
between being promised a
> great royalty and actually receiving it. My own feeling is that you
take the money when it is
> offered---and up front is a good place to start."
>
> Our own MM Mailing List several years ago had a long thread on Albini's
article: it starts
> here: http://tv.obbard.com/tvlist-archive/0204/msg00305.html
>
> Leo
>
>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: tv-owner@obbard.com [mailto:tv-owner@obbard.com] On
>> Behalf Of Russ
>> Sent: Tuesday, July 21, 2009 9:42 PM
>> To: tv@obbard.com
>> Subject: Re: (TV) Wareham & Britta/ "Black Postcards" Lowdown
>>
>> I had heard , maybe it was a review, that this book was
>> Wareham obviously
>> score settling. Did you get that feeling? No mention of
>> Verlaine seems like
>> a big oversight, am I right? Hell, in the recent Sonic Youth
>> bio ( Goodbye
>> 20th Century) it is revealed that Verlaine spent the night of
>> Sept 11, 2001
>> up with the band at the Moore/Gordon household in
>> Massachusetts. Those are
>> the kind of tidbits that distinguish a great read from a
>> merely adequate
>> one.
>>
>>
>>
>> On Tue, Jul 21, 2009 at 6:18 PM, Leo Casey
>> <LeoCasey@comcast.net> wrote:
>>
>>
>>> I finished Dean Wareham's memoir, "Black Postcards".
>>>
>>> It's extemely well written and quite candid (albeit it runs
>>>
>> out of steam
>>
>>> close to the end).
>>>
>>> I'd recommend it if you can get it from your library (or
>>>
>> via inter-library
>>
>>> loan).
>>>
>>> There is absolutely no mention of Tom Verlaine or his
>>>
>> contributions to
>>
>>> Luna's album,
>>> "Penthouse".
>>>
>>> Leo
>>>
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