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UWEB Newsletter Vol. 2, No. 2

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UWEB Newsletter Vol. 2, No. 2 is the sixth newsletter sent to members of the official Residents fan club UWEB in March 1990.

The newsletter

What does the American press think about CUBE-E? THE BOSTON HEARLD ...as dour, funeral, nasty and caustic as it often was, The R take was not a cheap shot. Elvis was rendered as simple and affable, easily manipulated - rather Reagan-like, the implication seemed....moments of wild cacophony and sheer splendor. Ultimately, The R are dedicate to unearthing the dark and bloody truths buried in seemingly benign pop. It was one of those rare occasions where "art" and "rock" existed in the same sphere, and, now, belong in the same sentence. THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE ...an extraordinary event. It was a fascinating display of visual symbolism and aural suggestion, a triumph of ideas over personality. ...a tour de force force the narrator/Elvis impersonator who commands center stage throughout...the force of his personality, the electricity of his warped charisma were undeniable. CHICAGO SUN TIMES The manner in which they stretch and extend their music must stand on its own merit, which makes it very honest. It's like seeing Bob Dylan. ...examines the music of Elvis Presley in much the same way a nerdy kid tears apart the inside of a transistor radio. ...If you don't have an open mind venturing into "CUBE E" you'll have one when you come out. THE LOS ANGELES TIMES ...a mind bending modern music and dance package. "Buckaroo Blues", a meditation on violent death on the lone prairie, may be the most evocative thing The R have ever done - sort of Aaron Copland via Mummenschanz. ...a grotesque Elvis caricature alternately flushed with power and imploded from emptiness. SAN FRANCISCO EXAMINER ...genuinely inspired. ...a R took a solo on a stringed instrument and the result was nothing short of heavenly. Never has His story been told with such poignancy and entirely appropriate perversity. SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE The first two parts of "Cube E" are plenty of fun, but the show's raison d'etre is clearly the second half, with its mordant Elvis tribute. Most of the songs have been fitted out with new music - dark, venomous and disquieting - and what emerges from them shakes the imagination. "Love Me Tender" with its climatic, pathetic pleas for love from the audience, may never be the same again. THE NEW YORK TIMES ...a kind of futuristic backyard theatrical. The image might be too ominous for most Presley fans, but it's arresting and the segment is a tour do force for the singer. NEW YORK DAILY NEWS For those who smugly think nothing new is happening under the rock 'n' roll sun, The R are in town to prove you wrong. ...turns cliches into frightening indictments of racism and oppression. ...at once repelling and compelling. NEW YORK POST It is extraordinary musical theater, at once simple and challenging; two engrossing hours in which unabashed fringe weirdness becomes illuminating entertainment. ...a fascinating show. THE VILLAGE VOICE ...have gloomed the CD format as if they'd invented it, creating long-form works of substance and emotion, most notably their late-1988 masterpiece of sex, religion, and domination God in Three Persons, and their recently released "wild" psychoanalysis of Elvis Presley, The King & Eye. And let's hear it for weirdness of quality. The R probe areas of sexuality and religion you'd expect a Bataille or Cronenberg to broach and never a pop group, not even one with a somewhat corny rep as weirdos. ...the radically rearranged Presley hits drive the point home forcefully over and over eking every hint of s&m, desperation and sheer need. ...something no one would have expected of the masked marvels 10 years ago. But these '90's Resi's - hey, they're just TCB 'n' all that.

Live and let Liver

Just before finishing this essay, I was told that my CD project has gotten held up and will not be available until April. Fooey.

The idea of collecting rare tapes of BIG R performances into a CD seemed really good to me. The problem with the idea is that some of the live recordings definitely become 'live-like', or as I tend to call it, 'liver' when scrutinized. When I accepted the offer to compile the tracks for a 'live' CD, I was given a stack of tapes to listen to that would seemingly be a Buddy wet dream. Not so, my friends. This was a frustrating job.

Most of the tapes are just poorly recorded, and many of them are repetitious of each other, like 20 recordings of The 13th Anniversary Show, or something like that. Talk about useless garbage. I have tried to strike a good balance between the poor recordings that are so very unique and the quality recordings that are missing from other live projects.

I did compile the CD. Here is a list of the tracks and a bit more information on them. At least you can hear some of my problems in putting this together.

I have a basic problem with the first selection right off. The "Diskomo" track, simply put, is a fake and does not deserve to be on the compilation. There is no longer any doubt in my mind that this is a studio recording. The band and the Cryptic Corporation may insist that it is authentically live, and I will include it in this CD as such, but primarily because I personally think it is a great track. But, folks, it ain't live.

The next tape my greedy hands fell on was Oh Mummy, Oh Dady, Can't You See That It's True? What The Beatles Did To Me, I Love Lucy Did To You. A somewhat awkward title for an even more awkward recording. We are talking chaos here. Perhaps with the visual elements intact, this recording would make more sense, but as it is, there is no way I can accept responsibility for turning this trash loose on my unsuspecting Buddies. I copied this onto another tape and cleaned it up as best as possible and then did massive editing.

Now I think the recording captures the essence of the chaos without ever becoming tedious. At least... that is the idea.

This Is A Man's World is a dream to work with. A beautiful recording and easily fits into the package, right? Guess again. Do they really think they are dealing with an idiot? Cryptic guys give me these tapes and then think I don't really listen to them. Snakefinger is playing two different parts at once, a feat that is impossible in a live situation. But do I worry about this? These are the tapes they gave me, it is a good recording to have on CD. They say it is live, but it's liver, and I know it.

The next selection is a blessing.

It is a cassette but seems to be rather well recorded. It is from the Snakey Wake. The overall performance (taking a rather distant and clinical view) is uneven, but this track, in particular, is excellent.

The Red Rider, etc. tracks are from a live in the studio situation, and interesting as they are historically, I still don't know if this counts as legitimate live or just more liver.

Here is where a real turn gets taken. I've been given a tape called The History of Digital Music. I think "What? I've never heard of this and it looks suspicious". But everything looks suspicious to me. I listen to it and it is definitely not live. I scream in disgust. "More liver!" I go to Hardy Fox of The Cryptic Corporation, who had given me the tapes originally, to find out just what is the story. He claims that THEY had suggested pulling out this tape for UWEB because it was so different. "But", I exclaimed, "it isn't live!" He replied that it was a demonstration of digital music for a junior high school class, and that they had done the programming, and that the programming was "played live". May I buy it, maybe I don't.

Certainly, I can't leave off something as unique as these two tracks. But I did elect to leave off two other tracks that were less interesting.

The next tracks, Lizard Lady / Semolina, were selected authentically, being tracks left off the Live In Japan album (THE EYEBALL SHOW).

A real treasure in the mess of tapes was the so-called Party. Had it not been for the fact that most of the recording was so garbled and distorted, much more of this would have appeared. This recording is obviously from the same time as the "Boarding House" show (whose tape was not in my stack) because the material is almost identical. I selected two sections and edited them together eliminating a series of unlistenable distortion. I feel certain this was recorded outdoors at some private gathering.

The nervous laughter of the unsuspecting party-goers is wonderful.

Next is OBER. This is the opening song of "The Baby King" part of Cube-E.

It is from the same audience tape that the Buckaroo/Black Barry cassette was taken.

The Uncle Sam Mole Show (Washington DC) was recorded on cassette.

This show is very much the same as the Mole Show CD that was recently released, except the final moments when the band played a twisted "Star-Spangled Banner". This track originally ended this CD. But then came the CUBE NYE New Years Eve show 1989-90.

THEY played a rousing version of Santa Dog live and I was angry that it was not recorded. However, as fate would have it, J. Raoul Brody of The Stupeds had been recording his band, who opened the show. He had turned on the tape deck just missing the first part of "Santa Dog" (note the fade-in on the CD). The recording was from a microphone that was pointing more at the audience than at the stage so no one knew what to expect. Raoul turned the tape over to Tony Janssen, sound person for the RZ, who pulled the best out of the recording he could. The song was attached to the end of the tape only minutes before it was picked up and sent to L.A for mastering.

So there you have it. A lot of live, a lot of liver. Does it really matter? I will certainly appreciate your response to this project. Assembling a CD is a new thing to me and I look forward to any advice you may have for future projects.

Tour news

This seems a bit strange. I have just received the list of dates for the upcoming EURO II tour but it starts so soon that there is no way I can get this into your hands before the tour starts. At least the later dates may be useful. As far as i can tell, these Euro II dates mark the end of touring until fall. Other dates that I have suggested are still valid, but it looks like other projects are moving in, including the start of a new album.

  • March 6 - Amsterdam
  • March 7 - Dusseldorf
  • March 8 - Munster
  • March 9 - Bonn
  • March 11 - Bologna
  • March 13 - Athens
  • March 16 - Bari
  • March 17 - Verona
  • March 18 - Pisa or Pistoia
  • March 19 - Milan
  • March 21/22 - Munich
  • March 23 - Kurlsruhe
  • March 25 - Berlin
  • March 28 - Barcelona
  • March 29 - Valencia

Hidden Treasures

HI, I'M REX AND I'M THE ONE WHO TAKES ALL OF WILLIE'S NAPKINS, CANDY WRAPPERS AND OTHER SCRAWLS & NOTES AND MAKES THEM INTO THESE HERE NEWSLETTERS. WHAT WITH COMPILING A CD, TRAVELING WITH THE DUDES, AND THE SIMPLE CONFUSIONS OF LIFE, UNCLE WILLIE FORGOT ABOUT HIDDEN TREASURES FOR THIS ISSUE. WHEN I CALLED TO TELL HIM, HE SAID YOU DO IT, SO HERE'S A BRIEF LIST OF MY FAVORITE THINGS.

AFRICAN HEAD CHARGE - MY LIFE IN A HOLE IN THE GROUND · T-REX - UNICORN · GYPSY ESMA - SONGS OF A BALKAN GYPSY · THE MISSING BRAZILIANS - WARZONE · HARUOMI HOSONO - KOCHIN MOON · YOUNG MARBLE GIANTS - THE LP + THE TV THEMES 45 · PUBLIC IMAGE LTD · FLOWERS OF ROMANCE · IGGY & THE STOOGES - RAW POWER · SYD BARRETT - BARRETT + OPEL · ANNETTE PEACOCK - X-DREAMS · BRIDES OF FUNKENSTEIN - NEVER BUY TEXAS FROM A COWBOY · YOKO ONO - FLY + APPROXIMATELY INFINITE UNIVERSE · FUNKADELIC - COSMIC SLOP + UNCLE JAM WANTS YOU + STANDING ON THE VERGE OF GETTIN IT ON · MALCOLM MCLAREN - SOWETO 12 INCH · WORLD FAMOUS SUPREME TEAM - HEY DJ 12 INCH · FRANKIE SMITH - DOUBLE DUTCH BUS · WEEKEND - LA VARIETE · WIRE - CHAIRS MISSING + PINK FLAG · KITTY WELLS - SONGS MADE FAMOUS BY JIM REEVES · WAS (NOT WAS) - FIRST LP · THICK PIGEON - THICK PIGEON · OHIO PLAYERS - HONEY · DUSTY SPRINGFIELD - GREATIST HITS · DAKOTA STATON - LATE, LATE SHOW · SPARKS - KIMONO MY HOUSE · RIP, RIG & PANIC - I AM COLD · PRINCE - THE BLACK ALBUM + SIGN OF THE TIMES + CONTROVERSY · WANDA JACKSON - ROCKIN WITH WANDA · THE FLYING LIZARDS - 1ST LP · HOLY MODAL ROUNDERS - HITS DOUBLE LP · HOLGER CZUKAY/ROLF DAMMERS - CANAXIS · HOLGER CZUKAY - ON THE WAY TO THE PEAK OF NORMAL · CAN - FUTURE DAYS + RITE TIME · ROBERT JOHNSON - KING OF THE DELTA BLUES SINGERS VOL 1 + 2 · JAMES BROWN - DEAD ON THE HEAVY FUNK + LIVE AT THE APPOLO + EVERYBODY'S DOIN THE HUSTLE & DEAD ON THE DOUBLE BUMP · SLY STONE - STAND + THERE'S A RIOT GOIN ON · FLIPPER - SEX BOMB 45 · INFLATABLE BOY CLAMS - I'M SORRY 45 · PROPOGANDA - SECRET WISH · LIZZY MERCIER DESCLOUX - PRESS COLOUR · X RAY SPECS - OH BONDAGE UP YOURS · CAPTAIN BEEFHEART - TROUT MASK REPLICA + LICK MY DECALS OFF · CRAMPS - GRAVEST HITS · DE LA SOUL - 3 FEET HIGH AND RISING · ERIC B & RAKIM - PAID IN FULL · PUBLIC ENEMY - IT TAKES A NATION OF MILLIONS TO HOLD US BACK · MAGAZINE - THE CORRECT USE OF SOAP · GOLDEN MOMENTS OF CABARET VOLTAIRE · DIAMANDA GALAS - MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH · THE PRETENDERS - THE SINGLES · NICO - CHELSEA GIRLS + DESERT SHORE + PEEL SESSIONS · RENALDO & THE LOAF - SONGS FOR SWINGIN LARVAE + THE ELBOW IS TABOO · OH, AND OF COURSE, THE RESIDENTS - COMMERCIAL ALBUM + THIRD REICH & ROLL + LIVER MUSIC, JUST TO NAME A FEW... · CURTIS MAYFIELD - SUPERFLY · OTIS CLAY - SOUL MAN LIVE IN JAPAN · EARTH WIND AND FIRE - GREATIST HITS · MC 900 FT JESUS AND DJ ZERO - I'M GOING STRAIGHT TO HEAVEN 12 INCH · LES VAMPYRETTES - DIE BIOMUTANTEN 12 INCH · SNAKEMAN SHOW · XAVIER CUGAT - VIVA CUGAT · ESQUIVEL - EXPLORING NEW SOUNDS IN HI FI · PLAYTIME - MUSIC FROM THE FILMS OF JACQUES TATI · ERASERHEAD SOUNDTRACK + ERASERHEAD RECONSTRUCTION BY RALF DORPERS · BORN TO BE BAD VOL 1-??? MUSIC THAT INSPIRED THE CRAMPS · HELLRAISER SOUNDTRACK - CHRISTOPHER YOUNG + THE UNRELEASED HELLRAISER THEMES BY COIL · FUTURISM & DADA REVIEWED · SOUNDTRACK TO JOHN CARPENTER'S THE THING (SECOND COLDEST ALBUM NEXT TO ESKIMO) · DAGMAR KRAUSE - SUPPLY & DEMAND · POLYPHONY OF THE DEEP RAINFOREST - THE MUSIC OF PYGMY IN ITURI · BOX SET OF ANTHOLOGIE DE LA MUSIQUE DES PYGMEES AKA CENTRAFRIQUE · SONG OF THE NILE - HAMZA EL DIN · SOVIET FRANCE - SHOUTING AT THE GROUND · MALI: LA NUIT DES GRIOTS · MUSIQUE ET CHANTS DE TRADITION POPULAIRE MONGOLIE · AND BOOKS!!! ORDER THE NEW AMOK BOOK CATALOG WITH OVER 2000 OF THE WIERDEST BOOKS + VIDEOS YOU COULD EVER WANT TO READ OR SEE. WRITE TO AMOK P.O. BOX [redacted] LOS ANGELES CA 90086-1867 USA SEND $8.50 FOR MONSTER 400 PAGE CATALOG -- WORTH EVERY PENNY...YOU WON'T BE SORRY

HEY! MR. PROBLEM MAN!

gotta problem with your uweb order or whatever? Please direct all complaints and inqiries to the problem man, someone who's agreed to handle all problems... you can reach him by writing Mr. Problem Man 109 Minna St. #391 San Francisco Ca 94105

See also

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