La Edad de Oro
La Edad de Oro (The Golden Age) was a Spanish television show produced by Televisión Española, which aired on TVE-2 from 1983 to 1985. The show presented concerts from various musicians. Including The Residents, who performed The Mole Show live in front of a studio audience, for an episode filmed in Madrid on June 21st 1983.
This presentation was the first time The Residents ever held a concert for television broadcasting, and - although it was not the first Residents concert to be filmed - it was the first video footage of a Residents live performance to be made public.
History
The program was a variety show focused on the Madrilenian counterculture scene of the early 1980s, giving a platform to avant-garde artists from Spain and all over the world. It was most known for dedicating entire episodes to different live performers, who would then be interviewed by the show's presenter, Patricia Chamorro.
The Residents, who were in the middle of the European leg of The Mole Show tour, were booked for a live concert on the show. After almost a month of touring, and with this being their third concert in Madrid in a row, their whole crew was suffering of fatigue, with the narrator of the show, Penn Jillette, showing signs of illness the last few days before the broadcast.
Concert
The day of the concert, after a successful rehearsal, Penn Jillette had to be sent to the hospital for what appeared to be a ruptured appendix. Thankfully, when The Residents visited him after the show, it turned out to be just a scare. But this left them without a narrator, which would have meant that the complete dynamic of The Mole Show would not work.
With less than an hour to go, the group chose the tour's stage manager as Jillette's replacement for the night, as he had been present at every single show so far, and also had some acting experience. Wearing the modified Groucho Marx glasses, he followed the usual narrator schtick up until his final appearance, prior to "Song of the Wild", where he diverted from the usual monologue to address Jillette's delicate state of health before the studio audience.
At the start of the broadcast, Patricia Chamorro interviews The Residents in their eyeball masks. Because they do not like to speak to the press, the group's publicist Mara Mikialian acts as their spokesperson. A announcer translates Mikialian's answers into Spanish through a PA system.
During the intermission, people in the crowd are asked for their thoughts on The Residents, which elicits both praise and criticism. Mikialian is asked a few more questions, after which she puts the red eyeball mask on Chamorro's head. As there is no narrator to perform the confrontation before "Satisfaction", Mikialian buys time for the group to prepare for the last part of the show. The broadcast closes with a Spanish flag being waved on stage.
Legacy
Excerpts from the broadcast were used for the Mole Show / Whatever Happened To Vileness Fats? VHS, mixed with footage from the first show of the tour and the special Uncle Sam Mole Show, and additional computer-generated graphics. An excerpt from the VHS was used for Video Voodoo and Twenty Twisted Questions. The unedited performances of "The Secret Seed", "The Observer" and "Satisfaction" from the La Edad de Oro performance were included in Live!...On the Outskirts.
La Edad de Oro would do a segment dedicated to Ralph Records' music videos in its episode dated September 27th 1983. The Residents' short films The Third Reich n' Roll, Hello Skinny and One Minute Movies were shown, as well as the videos for MX-80 Sound's "Why Are We Here?", Snakefinger's "Man in the Dark Sedan", and Tuxedomoon's "Jinx" (with the latter band having also previously performed live at the show).
La Edad de Oro was cancelled in 1985. In 2005, a "best of" compilation series was briefly shown on TVE-2, which featured the performance of "Smack Your Lips (Clap Your Teeth)". The entire series, including The Residents' concert, is available to watch for free on Radiotelevisión Española's official website.
See also
Watch online
External links and references
- The Mole Show at The Residents historical
- La Edad de Oro on Radiotelevisión Española's official website
