Newspaper Page Text
December 4, 1991
Flagpole Magazine
Page 7
it's so ridiculous. I mean, in a way it made me laugh. I a'most
thought it was cool, you know, the idea that, oh yeah, I "left
town with an unsavory reputation!" That’s sort of cool; if only
I’d have had such hipness and weight back then, I’d
probably be further than I am now! The other thing you have
to realize about the way [things are] portrayed in that oook
is, I'd lived in Athens for 2 years, been in Buzz of Delight and
Oh-OK and quit both of them by the end of the first year I
was there. So I lived there for a whole ’nother year, was
friends with David Pierce and Linda Hopper, and people
who I was in those bands with. You know what it really
portrays about Athens is it shows you the nasty, dark
underside that was so backstabbing about Athens, which
is the reason I left, partly. I mean, people would come up to
me after I was offered a record deal and they'd go, "You're
not reaily gonna take that deal, are you? You should tour,
like R.E.M., and have a band with four guys and build an
audience."
FP: What about Brown's charge that Buzz of Delight
"banished" Athens' “innocence?"
MS: There was nothing that innocent, you know? That's the
whole thing. None of those people were more innocent than
I was. It’s just people doing music and rock and the whole
aura of it. Obviously what Roger needed was someone to
use as an example so he could illustrate what he perceived
to be the loss of innocence in Athens. And I’m telling you,
when I moved to Athens, innocence had already been lost,
trust me! People knew what was going on, and they all
wanted to be famous. The thing I maintained always was
that I didn’t care so much about being famous as making
records, and even in the article where they say I "calcu
lated, ’ at the end of that paragraph was something like, “I
just wanted to be able to survive and be able to do my
music." And that was really the point I was making in that
whole conversation, but as Athens became a commodity
for a news story, as a place where lots of bands came from,
everybody’s looking for an angle on it. And that's just what
Roger has in his book. He wanted to illustrate what he
perceived to be a loss of innocence in Athens, and needed
to use someone to illustrate it, so he picked me. In a way,
I guess it does signal a time when the place became
attractive as a music scene. But I'm willing to bet it was
already that way. The B-52s happened many years before
I moved to Athens; several, at least.
FP: Are you pretty confide n t of who you can trus there now?
MS: Yeah. And I never went around bashing anything
about Athens, which also made me kind of mad. I never
regretted being there, even though I was hurt by certain
experiences. I don’t regret it 'cause it was an active scene.
The people who were my supporters when I first moved
there, like the people in R.E.M., really encouraged me early
on when I didn’t think I'd ever do anything, and said, "This
is good. You’ll make records someday." And that was real
important for me, and I might not have ever had that, had
I stayed in Nebraska. So, even with Roger's little book
(laughs), I don’t regret it. You know, that stuff's petty,
gossipy stuff.
FP: On to a different subject...
MS: Just please don't make me sound too defensive...
FP: How does it feel to be on a different record label now?
MS: Zoo’s a new label and they don't have a lot of stuff, but
that’s actually been good for me and for my record because
it's been able to be sort of a big fish in a small pond. I think
we've had much more of a chance of getting lost at any
number of larger labels.
FP: Do you plan an album out before you begin working on
it?
MS: No, not really. I mean, I might plan what songs I want
to record. But even with this record, there’s fifteen songs.
"Does She Talk," "Holy War," and "Nothing Lasts," were all
things I made up while we were in the studio. Some of the
other songs weren’t scheduled to be recorded, [which]
was one of the great things about the way this record was
made: it was real free form. I might come in and if I felt like
doing some new thing, I'd just say, 'Okay, we're gonna do
this, this or this' and everyone would be freaked out
because we weren’t doing what we were supposed to be
doing.
FP: You state in Rolling Stone that you were “really on edge
while making this record.*
MS: (laughs) Well, I don’t know; I’m probably always on
edge! It was a particularly strange time for me because I'd
gone through a whole lot of changes in the few months
before I made it. I got divorced and I was going through a
sticky divorce settlement thing in the month or two before
I started making [and as I was making ] the record. That left
me extremely broke during [that time], which put me on
edge because I was having to be pre-occupied with how I
was going to pay my rent while I tried to make a record. It
was ludicrous.
FP: Does it make you nervous with all the speculations
concerning the problems small labels are having staying in
business?
MS: Oh, yeah, but I knew that. And the thing is, it's really
working out to my advantage. [Zoo has] been able to react
to what’s going on with my record than I think a bigger label
might have been. Although, I guess I’m not sure. The next
few months will tell. Ask me again in six months! I’ll love
them because they put it out. All this other stuff is just
amazing fringe benefits. If you’d had asked me last Febru
ary if there’d have been a thing in Rolling Stone, I would’ve
laughed at you. So, who knows what’ll happen, ever.
Katherine Yeske
On the Road with Buren
Drivin’ n’ Cryin’, opening for Bob Dylan
Charlottsville, Virginia
We arrive at the show right on time, pull up in our van to
hear, “You can’t PARK HERE!"
"Excuse me, sir, but we’re the opening band."
“I don’t give a ©#!!!?%#!! who you
are. Go park in the parking lot over the
hill."
Road manager to the rescue.
What can you say about Bob Dylan?
Well, he’s not using the Saturday Night
Live band on this tour. (I thought they
really sucked anyway!)G.E. Smith (Mike
Mills favorite guitarist—NOT!) and Dylan
were both playing electric telecaster
guitars, and who cares what that means
anyway? But that was the last tour, Bu
ren... let’s talk about this tour.
Dylan is pounding an acoustic guitar
this time. His best. His other guitar player
and bass player, whoever they are, play
perfect with him. There’s not tacky solos or crap like that.
His show starts with "Watchtower." He sings it different,
so you don’t know it for about three verses into the song. As
I walk around, people start talking to me.
Halfway through his show, they start telling me that he’s
a “let-down." “I thought he could sing better," a 13-year-old
girl says .to me. And then, of course, it’s time for a dumb,
drunk, collegiate-type dude to come up to me with Vomit
Breath, and half an inch from my already-abused ear
drums, yells, "Hey, maaaan, Dylan suuuuxxxx. Ya’II was
better, man." Then he burps in my face and walks away.
Bob Dylan has given himself and his words to the world
his whole life and has asked for nothing in return. But, of
course, six thousand people at thisshowseem happy. He’s
talking to the audience. A rare treat, and these people don’t
even know it.
His finale is “Everybody Must Get
Stoned * Instead of the easy acoustic
version, now it sounds like he’s playing
with the Georgia Satellites in overdrive.
He drops his guitar, which freaks
out his entire road crew, grabs his har
monica and mic and plays gut-wrench-
ing Blues harmonica and stomps his
feet like Brant Slay on an evil night.
Then he stops, smiles, “good-bye"
and disappears into the night.
Kevn unfortunately didn't get to meet
him that night. The closest anyone came
was when Tim walked past his dressing
room, and the door was opened, and
Tim looked in, and Bob was getting dressed. (Pulling his
pants up, actually.) Bob just smiled and kept on dressing,
the story goes.
Then, DN’C went to a club called TRAX, where the
Willbuddies were playing, and played an acoustic set, and
Kevn was the best I’ve ever seen him be with an acoustic
in his hand. It was a great night.
Buy the Dylan box set. It's incredible.
Buren Fowler
- 5
§&§' n
s' s'"^
till |p|i
x;
NTH. 12:30 AM
the Wild Bunch
HAPPY HOUR
and SPECIALS
Mon. thru Thun
12 Flavors of Mcrgaritas
-— or ——...
Sit In vemiYour Own! fl
#364 £. Broad St. ♦ Athen
— -
THEf”
Coffee Break Catering
The Grit provides out-of house
catering anytime & anywhere.
We specialize in reliable delivery
of our natural homemade foods.
What ever your catering needs,
The Grit will gladly assist you i
making your next function a success.
Whether you need dressed waiters,
tables, linens & china or just
plastic forks and paper napkins,
we are equipped and at your service.
Starting as low as
$2.35 per person.
Let us help you make
your next event a success
Call us at 543-6592 or
stop by The Grit at
199 Prince Ave., (next to Coke)
7 days a week, 11 to 11
(closed 3-5 p.m. weekends)
Have Us Over for Coffee!