When The Residents Played Lawrence

On February 12, 1986, The Residents played Lawrence, Kansas. As part of their "13th Anniversary tour", they brought their unique music and stage show (and guitarist Snakefinger) to Cogburns (AKA the Bottleneck). How did a small Kansas college town secure a date on this prestigious tour? Former KJHK jock, music staffer, and Outhouse founding father John Cheney remembers:

FJ: First of all, describe The Residents to the uninitiated?

JC: I remember describing the show as the weirdest musical / dance show you could ever hope to see. It was kind of like seeing a Bob Fosse ballet with Kraftwerk providing sound.

FJ: Who were the principal promoters involved in bringing the Residents to Cogburns?

JC: Duncan Burnette was the promoter and I was his Lawrence "liaison". I approached Mona Tipton about having the show at Cogburns. She was a huge Residents fan and said sure! I also made the posters and tickets. I took a poster for a Z grade movie from the 50's called "Teenage Frankenstein Meets Bloody Mary" and modified things until it was a Residents poster. Duncan lived in Kansas City, managed Rock Therapy records for years, and promoted a few incredible shows there in the mid 80's. A couple of my faves: Einsturzende Neubauten + Foetus, Nick Cave (right after the 1st Bad Seeds album came out), and Sonic Youth.

FJ: Once you found out The Residents were touring, how did you go about securing a Lawrence date?

JC: Duncan is the one who got in touch with the Residents. I think the booking agent that put together the Nick Cave tour recommended him as a potential promoter in the area.

FJ: Give me your impressions of Snakefinger?

JC: I thought Snakefinger was awesome! I talked to him for awhile before the show. He spent quite awhile playing pinball and talking about this and that. He kept bringing up how much he loved Amsterdam and basically wanted to go there and never leave. He was more gregarious than the rest of the folks on the tour.

FJ: To what extent did The Residents go to protect their identities?

JC: The Residents were very cool. They didn't try to hide their faces or anything like that during the day. They looked like a genteel bunch of older San Francisco artists. The Residents are all guys. There were two women with them as well that were dancers. The whole group ate at Tin Pan Alley before the show. I don't remember anything about back stage. I think they hung out in their RV instead closer to show time. I do remember missing the first part of the show because Duncan and I were in the cooler counting money on top of a bunch of kegs.

FJ: How much did the band require for their show? Was it a flat fee or a percentage of the door?

JC: Memory is hazy here. I think it was $2000 plus (after Duncan recouped his expenses) a hefty percentage of the door. That was a ton of money for then! As a comparison I think he paid Sonic Youth about $700.

FJ: Cogburns was packed that night. Did you guys cover expenses?

JC: Unfortunately Duncan lost money. I was very afraid that was going to happen and I had no financial reserves whatsoever. I was doing good to cough up $150 / month for rent those days. He lost money on probably half the shows he promoted. I thought he was nuts but admired his tenacity. His philosophy was that if some of these bands didn't play in the area he would have blown a couple hundred dollars flying to Chicago to see them. So he figure he might as well bring them to town, get to meet them, and maybe, just maybe, not have to pay a couple hundred dollars for the privilege.

FJ: Did the band hang out in Lawrence before or after the show date?

JC: They drove in early that afternoon and I assume left the next morning. They stayed at a hotel somewhere in Lawrence. They were a little bummed about how small the stage was. As amazing as the show was visually, that wasn't their full-on stage show. I remember one of them also muttering that this was the first time they ever played in a "pool hall". Duncan joked about this being the honky-tonk stop on their tour. I thought they were being a little snooty about it. I didn't realize how small that space was for them until seeing them in Chicago a few years later on a full stage. They didn't waste any space even on a huge stage.

FJ: What surprised you the most about working with The Residents?

JC: I was surprised they were so mellow about being out of costume. I expected them to all secretive like KISS was. They were the first people I met who were very involved in the San Francisco art scene. I was impressed. They were more genteel than I expected. They looked like they would have been right at home chatting with actors in the green room after some opera performance. I half expected a bunch of skinny junkies and social misfits, which pretty well describes what Einsturzende Neubauten looked like.

FJ: Do any bootleg recordings exist of the concert?

JC: I don't think so. Someone said the sound man recorded the show but I don't think I ever heard it. They were one of the first bands I ever heard live that generated almost all their sound via synths and effects. Snakefinger had a strange, almost synth-like sound to his guitar too. The show sounded amazing.

FJ: What was your favorite moment of the evening they played here?

JC: Finally relaxing during the 2nd set [with] A little pot in the ole' cranium and a beer in my hand. The music and visuals literally made me feel like I was tripping. I was pretty much speechless after the show.

FJ: Besides The Residents concert, what other shows of note did you help bring to Lawrence?

JC: I don't know how noteworthy the individual shows were. A small group of us at KJHK did the bulk of the hustling that created the Outhouse. A lot of those shows were local bands. There was a lot of group effort in the shows, so I certainly can't take all the credit. I did most of the work bringing DRI and Flaming Lips to town. I tried to bring 7 Seconds to the Outhouse but they cancelled at the last minute. The drummer got beat up so bad somewhere that he lost part of his hearing. One of my favorite shows there was the "Scum of the Earth" Halloween party at the Outhouse. It was all local talent: Near Death Experience, Mark Birch and V2 Snider, Battery Idiot, and a theater performance (ex-KJHK staffer) Tom Hoyt was in.

I went to Kansas City the night before that show and brought back a couple of pig heads. They were stage props for a Foetus show Duncan promoted. The drummer of Near Death Experience had some day-glo paint. One thing led to another, and one of the pig heads ended up hung on a wall under a black light. People painted it all night. A lot of people didn't realize it was a real pig's head. I wasn't sure what to do with the head after the show. I wanted to throw it in some farmer's pig pen hoping to trigger some rumors of some very weird cult in town, but couldn't think of any pig farms around. Some guys asked for it. They wrapped it up and gave it to some girl as a Halloween present. They made her promise not to open it until she was in her dorm room.

I don't know how many people remember Jed and Cindy. They were two crazy old school preachers that used to preach on campus. They were so outrageous and comical that I thought they were amazing. I talked Jed into preaching between bands at the Flaming Lips show, which was somewhat amusing to watch. I kind of forgot about that until a couple years later Rolling Stone did a big feature on Jed and Cindy. Jed reminisced that one of the weirder places he ever preached was at a punk rock show in Lawrence Kansas. Jed even remembered that he was on stage after the Exploding Rodents (a local band). I'm sure that was the only time Rolling Stone ever mentioned the Exploding Rodents.

FJ: For the old cronies, give us the John Cheney update: Where you're
living, working, and who you're hanging with now.

JC: I am married (no kids) and live in Phoenix Arizona. I lived in Indiana for about 10 years, and have been here since ‘97. I'm a computer programmer now days. Finally, after 35 or so miscellaneous jobs I found a career I like a lot that actually pays well.

I hang out with a motley collection of artists and musicians here in Phoenix, DJ'ing from time to time. I did get to meet Lydia Lunch and Jim Goad a couple months back by DJ'ing at her art opening here in Phoenix. Lydia was very cool. The same gallery is bringing Mark Mothersbaugh to town next fall. I already volunteered to DJ that night!

I've had a big rambling website since about ‘97. It's HeathenWorld.com. The busiest part of the site is the "Origins of band names" page. I list about 700 bands and the etymology of their name. It's always growing because people are always sending emails telling me new ones, or how wrong I am about existing listings.

My new hobby is making music...mostly computer based. If you ever see a cd by "Heathen World" it's me. I'm also working on a soundtrack for a low budget movie a friend is making called Crimes Chapel. It's based in the Chicago goth scene circa late 80's. It's going to be an interesting summer trying to get that together 'cause I don't really know what I'm doing at all.