They finally got recognized,
so they left in obscurity and misery

So, last night I went to see Guided by Voices play their last Carrboro/Chapel Hill show ever. Mac Macaughan came out as Portastatic and wowed everyone by playing nothing but Superchunk songs. Then, a projector was set up and a short film was played, displaying pictures from GBV’s 21 year career; it was done in the style of something you might put together for a funeral, with birds flying about, a butterfly on a flower, the skies rolling slowly, the sun making its way over mountaintops, with the synth version of GBV’s “Windows of my World” as a backing track. It was sad, everyone cheered. I gave Bob his first cigarette of the night, they gave me a cold one from their on-stage cooler, for their final encore, they played most of Alien Lanes. After the show, after I shook each member’s hand, I headed out to the parking lot where some guy in a Jett Rink shirt tried to start shit. I ignored, but he wouldn’t lay off, he got in my face, wouldn’t let me get to my car. He struck me, I struck back, we were rolling around the lot pummeling the shit out of each other. Frank came out and broke it up, threw the other guy at Derek, told him to call the cops, asked if I was alright. In that moment I felt like a champion, like I had finally taken Lucien McAllister down back in 8th grade for punching me at the museum. I raised a fist, spit out a bloody, “YES!” Frank laughed, invited me in for a beer and to get cleaned up. GBV heard about what was going on, so I got to hang out with them some more. They invited me back to where they were staying, we stayed up really late drinking, talking about music, and then, as the sun was rising, Corey Rusk from Touch And Go walked in and gave us a record deal. And I was completely sober for the ride home. The End.
Actually, most of this untrue. Portastatic played, but, to be honest, I find them kind of boring. I like some of the older stuff, where it sounds really raw, just Mac and a recorder. Last night it was a full band, so I went out back to rest my legs. Bob Pollard did sing one song with them, which was interesting in that I didn’t realize he is completely gray now, short, cropped hair, all gray, he looks like your happy, drunk uncle or grandfather. I don’t mean that in a bad way, he looks like one of the happiest people on Earth. The short film part actually happened, it was quite funny, an old shot of the band from 10 years back, then a butterfly, etc. Bob explained that a friend of his died yesterday from complications due to cancer, so he has now given up smoking, so I didn’t give him his first cigarette like I did several years back when they played. Plus, I was behind the soundboard and my arm was sore from dodge ball, so I couldn’t have thrown it that far. They were handing beer out, but I had none, just two from the bar that gave me a headache. For the most part, they seemed to play their new album, and some stuff from Bob’s latest solo album, neither of which I own. Played stuff that I didn’t really recognize and older stuff at a slowed pace. “Redmen and Their Wives” was great to see as I love that and most of UTBUTS. It was sad to see just how much time Doug Gillard gets to show off his chops, I’ll get into this rant some other day, but the songs all seemed shorter before he joined the band. Nate Farley is a good Mitch Mitchell, but Doug Gillard is too showy to be Tobin Sprout. I know I sound like an ass right now, but Alien Lanes and UTBUTS shaped how I wrote music, all the albums prior, these were my blueprints, and most everything since has left that behind. They played “Teenage FBI,” “Echoes Myron,” and “I Am A Scientist” right at the end, that was a good way to go out, no “My Valuable Hunting Knife,” but that’s why I own albums, I suppose. Back to what I was saying before, it’s not that I don’t like GBV’s more recent albums, there are a lot of good songs, “Hold on Hope” might be one of the best songs ever written, but things changed when the lineup changed for good. And with that, I got older, they got older, if it could be 10 years ago and I was hearing Alien Lanes for the first time, that’d be great, but that all ended when side four ended.
Anyway, it was somewhat disappointing, but, in retrospect, I don’t think I could have been satisfied. They were a great band to see live, they had great energy, Bob’s between-song-banter can’t be topped (he explained at one point that they put themselves in a corner by playing 3 hour shows because everyone started expecting it from them, while Sebadoh only plays for 45 minutes, “Pavement,” he said, “they play for three hours, but no one wants to hear them play for three hours because they don’t like playing, we like playing, that’s why we do it, Sebadoh, Pavement, they don’t.”).
So, the point of all this is that I am sad that GBV is going away. Archers, Polvo, Pavement, Sebadoh, GBV, these were the five bands that served as the diving board, but they’re all gone now.
Today, weird as it may sound, I feel like I’m a grown up.

posted by beta at 9/29/2004 02:15:00 PM