Memorial Day - The Big Kid Next Door

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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.

The Problem With Timelines

I've got a big problem with timelines. They stink. This whole pre-occupation with the line is not good. I remember in grade school, timelines were used incessantly to show the various progressions of different aspects of history. I recall the timeline of invention and the timeline of civilization. Progress doesn't happen in a steady, continuous fashion. That's a fallacy.

Here's an analogy that illustrates why one line doesn't make sense: A class room of elementary students meets at the school house each day. From all over their town, they make their way to the building where they learn to read and write. In an abstract sense, their journey from home to school represents an intersection of lines as each student comes from a different location to meet at the same place. At the end of the day the students leave school and return home. The school day and the lessons the students learned that day become a finite point in time and space. They are an aggregate of an insection of lines. This routine goes on for the entire school year. At the end of the year, A timeline of this achievement might show a straight line connecting the hundreds of individual school days to show a false lineage of the school year and how the students arrived at their present state of literacy. It discounts the true synergy of the achievement. Just as no student stayed in the physical confines of the schoolhouse for the duration of the school year, neither did they in the intellectual sense. The process of learning, discovery, and all kinds of evolution is not a linear progression. So the timeline is restrictive by its very nature. It's one single line. It can't the show the true nature of intellectual intersection that often results in a breakthrough. (This was the premise of the BBC show Connections that chronicled the unlikely alliances, coincidences, and associations that produced advancements in the pre-industrial England).

This is the same notion that Stilgoe nurtures in his work, "Outside Lies Magic". Lines are everywhere in our lives. Lines may be roads, or power wires, or railroad tracks. It's okay to follow them to see where they go or where they came from, but don't be afraid to stray from the right of way.

One of the most profound extensions of this rejection of the timeline came from Steven Jay Gould. Picture this graphic timeline. We've all seen it. It's the march of man through time as he evolves from the monkey. We've seen it in text books, we've seen it in literature both for and against the theory of evolution, and if you've been to Venice beach, you've seen it as a clay model. Gould said the notion of evolution moving from primitive, unintelligent life forms to complex, intelligent life forms is misplaced. He said: "life shows no trend to complexity in the usual sense — only an asymmetrical expansion of diversity". Diversity trumps complexity. I love it.

Part of the reason I've created this blog is to look back. I'm a nostalgic guy and I enjoy remembering the good times. It may be myopic, it may be romantic, but if I can make one connection with another person who remembers the same thing, then it's worth it. The other part will chronicle my personal search for the pearl. The pearl: that elusive McGuffin. The promise of a fulfilling life.

If you give a camera to a child and develop the film they shoot, it resembles the roll Dustin Hoffman's character reveals at the end of "Rainman". There are pictures of manhole covers, bridge girders and unframed shots of landscapes and people. This is life: random snapshots of ephemera that add up to something in the end. Not knowing what it means at the moment it happens is no excuse to dismiss it. Savor the moment, then save it. Through the lens of reflection, someday you may realize what it's all about and don't connect the dots with a straight line.

Remembering the River City Reunion

William Burroughs' legacy lives on in many ways, perhaps least of all with the new "Burroughs Creek". The 17th anniversary of the great River City Reunion is this September. Back in 1987, it was a week-long celebration of beat artists with performances by Burroughs, Allen Ginsberg, and John Giorno. Marianne Faithful, Jim Carroll, Timothy Leary, and Husker Du also appeared. This drawing was penned by underground comic artist S. Clay Wilson. I've still got my program from the event and I'll be posting lineups and schedules as we draw closer to the actual anniversary. What do you remember about the River City Reunion?

The Battle of Burroughs Creek

It's official. The East Lawrence creek formerly known as the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe tributary is now "Burroughs Creek". Read Richard Gintowt's story at Lawrence.com.

Witness To The Pink Dots

Kansas City animator Jed Carter saw the Legendary Pink Dots last week at the Hurricane and said this:

The Pink Dots showed up with enough merchandise to cover the entire stage bar at the Hurricane, as usual. And as usual there were about adozen releases that I'd neither seen nor heard of before - bunches of Pink Dots stuff, Tear Garden live albums & vinyl, and solo recordings from each of the band members. The guitarist (Eric?) hadn't yet toured the US with the band, but did really well. Although Edward mentioned jetlag two or three times during the performance (this was the first show on the American tour), they played a fairly long set and came out for an encore. Hoornblower wore a slim-fitting spray painted (or sponge painted?) silver suit. For the encore, he broke out the weird midi/synth horn thing he uses - it sounds like a sax being played through a pitch shifter set to -3 octaves. He also roamed around the bar with a wireless sax for one song. Honestly, I think he did manage to freak a few people out with that. Not many people realize how much fun it could be to sneak up behind someone with an internally-lit saxophone & blast a high note at them. I love seeing these guys. There's really never been anyone else like them, nor will there be. It was a really solid show for the Dots & a nice break from being stuck working in studio all night.

Jed works at MK12, home of 4D softcore sweater porn and ultra love ninja.

No Jeopardy Joy

I'm officially 0-2 in Jeopardy auditions after failing to pass the ten question pre-test at Union Station in Kansas City, Missouri today. I felt pretty good about seven of the questions, but they threw in a British Royalty question, a Shakespeare question, and something about caviar and I was sunk. I don't know the actual score, unless you count "thank you for coming". That's what they said to me after they graded the test. Still, it was fun trying, and if I can make it again sometime, I'll stand in line with my kiddie almanac once more.

Recommending Twin Tone

My CDs arrived from Twin Tone and I'm really happy with them. They even put my name on the label with the order number. I hope more labels adopt this strategy as a way to generate revenue from "out of print" catalog items.

More on EMDR

Here's more information about EMDR, the technique we used to prepare for the TV appearance.

WTTBAM Part Three

I can't imagine why, but some people have better things to do than watch a game show rerun on Friday night. Here's a synopsis of the questions they asked me for those of you who missed the re-telecast on GSN.

Questions four and five were easy and I breezed through them to the first milestone at 1000 dollars. At least now I'm out of bonehead territory. In the months preceding this moment, I played the on-line version of the game at ABC.com. Originally, I tried to save my three lifelines for the harder questions. This strategy failed in practice. More than once I exited before the 32,000 dollar milestone with life lines unused. So my strategy was this: Use the lifelines early if necessary, stay in the game, and make 32K the goal.

Fast forward to question seven where I burned the ask the audience lifeline on a Mr. Rogers question at 4k going for 8k. They wanted to know the order in which he does his little ritual at the beginning of the show. I had a notion, but played it safe and the audience was right, Mr. Rogers does put on his shoes after he puts on his sweater. Commercial break. After the break, and some happy chat with Regis and Dad, we get back to the game. Suddenly, the whole thing goes to hell. The question is about boxers and which of the four recently released an album of Spanish and English ballads. I didn't know it. I had no inkling. Not a clue. I sat there and thought and thought about it. I was going to have to use another life line.

Damn it. This was not a David Mehnert question either (he told me later he didn't know it). No way my wife would know (she didn't). I could call my sociology professor from DeVry (he knew), I could call my ex-boss at Audio Reader (she knew), or I could call my ex-work bud (he didn't know). Guess who I picked? Rob A. didn't have a clue either. As my 30 seconds on the phone with him expired, he apologized and I told him "that's okay". At least I was building some good will with the home viewers as my millionaire gravy train went down the joint. It was agony. I blew the last lifeline. It was the 50/50 and they took away two wrong answers. It was either Oscar De La Hoya or Julio Cesear Chavez. I said the hell with it. It ain't no fun to walk at 8k like the dude from the previous show. I closed my eyes, made a wish and guessed "De La Hoya". I was right! The studio audience went wild.

At 16k going for 32 with no lifelines left, another difficult poser appeared on my display. This time it was about the polling place for the electoral college. Another guess, state capitals over Washington D.C. and I made the 32k milestone. Regis was ecstatic.

At the break, I was visited in situ by the show's creator himself, Mr. Michael Davies. He came down from the booth to tell me that the previous segment was one of the best they'd experienced in a long, long time. It was suspenseful, emotional, and real. I considered it a great honor to meet him and was most grateful for his kind words.

Next up: 32k going for 64. I finally got one in my wheel-house. American military history is a strong area for me. Plus I have a map of the US on my cube wall at work. So when they asked me what state Custer's last stand took place in, I said, "Montana, final answer" without hesitation. Suddenly, I'm sitting on 64 thousand dollars with a big smile on my face.

At 64k going for 125k, It's a British history question about the restoration. Namely, what the hell is it? I bought an almanac to study in the hotel the night before the show. I scanned a history of the British monarchy among one of my topics. At one point, the monarchy was destroyed and a puritan named Cromwell took over. But it didn't last. I said to Regis, "Maybe today is my lucky day," and guessed "British Monarchy". I was right and 125k was mine.

125k going for 250k. It's an Olympic history question about what event wasn't in the ancient version. I didn't have a clue, or a life-line, or 93 thousand dollars to blow. So I recused myself at 125k and walked away. The answer was marathon.

You need 15 correct answers in a row for a million. I could only muster 12 in a row. I have no regrets, except the obvious. I still want to be a millionaire.