Friday, September 24th, 2004

Time To Quit

The theme for today: Reunions and break-ups.

I guess there is such a thing as karma. Wednesday I was aglow with the news of Son Volt’s revival. Then yesterday comes this horrid, horrid news from camp Luna:

“On October 26, we will release our seventh studio album, Rendezvous, on Jetset Records. This will be Luna’s final record. We will tour the United States and Europe over the next six months, playing our last shows in 2005.”

FINAL RECORD. What the hell what the hell. One of my very favourite bands in the world is calling it quits. Folks on the mailing list are understandably all a-panic and the only response from from bassist Britta Phillips, who acts as band ambassador on the list, is a cryptic yet clear, “I really don’t have anything to say about it right now. There will be interviews, of course”. Sadly, this isn’t a nasty rumour can be debunked – it’s a pretty clear announcement on the band’s official website. Luna is done. Sigh.

In one sense, I’m not that surprised at the news. People have been expecting it for years now – folks were writing band eulogies when they got dropped by Elektra after Pup Tent, when drummer Stanley Demeski left, when bassist Justin Harwood left… But the most recent lineup seemed to have energized the band and they’d undergone something of a creative renaissance with the last few releases – both Romantica and Close Cover Before Striking were some of the best records they’ve put out in ages. I imagine that Dean and Britta from Luna will continue making music as Dean & Britta, but it’s just not the same. Sniff. Alls I can say is those November tour dates damn well better not conflict with anything else on my calendar or my trip to Chicago. I would be inconsolable if I missed their last Toronto show. In-con-freaking-solable. Or really peeved, at the least. I will, however, save the eulogies for later. For now, I will listen to Bewitched on my headphones and weep bitterly.

Does anyone else find it ironic that as all the indie acts of the 80s are reuniting, the big names of the 90s are all splitting up? And somewhere in between, you have the bands that aren’t reuniting but are putting out all sorts of archival material – like Pavement. Billboard talks to SM about the Crooked Rain Crooked Rain: L.A.’s Desert Origins fancy-pants double-disc set coming out October 26 (and yes, that is the formal title). And as for a Pavement reunion? Malkmus says, “It doesn’t feel exactly right yet for me to do it. I mean, it could. I guess you just know when it’s right, just like so many other things in your life. Or, you force it due to financial reasons or someone telling you how much you could make. No one has told us that, so that’s not an issue at all. But we all get along; no one is like a lawyer with a huge caseload or has lost an arm.”

Meanwhile, Paul Westerberg considered reuniting The Replacements for a special concert to benefit cancer-stricken Soul Asylum bassist Karl Meuller, but it didn’t end up happening and now he says, “There’s probably no chance we’ll get back together again… It did bother me for that long because I was secretly excited and some of them weren’t.” But he’s made up for it with a shit-hot lineup for the October 23 show featuring almost every noteworthy Minneapolis native short of Prince. In addition to Westerberg, Bob Mould and some incarnation of Golden Smog will play the benefit. Hmm, Wilco is in town October 25. What do you think the odds are that Jeff is going to be hooking up with the Smog boys? Pretty damn good, I’d say. Pretty damn good.

Still reunion-related (albeit only tangentially), the opening acts for the Toronto Pixies shows have been announced, and neither of them really interest me. At least that means I don’t have to kill myself getting up to the airport after work that day… Oh, it’s New Zealand’s Datsuns and Hamilton’s Marble Index. Whoo.

The Omaha Reader looks at the why Rilo Kiley ditched the rustic charms of Saddle Creek for the bright lights and big city of a major label, or more specifically, their own label with distribution courtesy of Warner Bros. From LHB.

Sondre Lerche, cover boy for the October 2004 issue of Non-Threatening Boys, is at Lee’s Palace October 30 with The Golden Republic as support. Tickets $15 on sale now. Fellow cutie-pie (but opposite gendered) acoustic/chamber/indie/jazzy/Euro-esque/insert-meaningless-adjective-here songstress Keren Ann is at the Drake December 2, tickets $10.

And finally, Jeff Tweedy is really really really sick of George Bush (mp3 link).

np – Luna / Bewitched

By : Frank Yang at 9:28 am
Category: Uncategorized
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  1. Brian says:

    aw, i gotta see keren ann!

  2. Paul says:

    Man, I don’t even need to read that Rilo article to know why: Saddle Creek carries a stigma… a nasty stigma!

  3. bozairzere says:

    i’ve read there will be more from dean and britta w/ sonic boom(spacemen 3/spectrum). check sonic souviners. its pretty damn good! weak i was just gettin on a luna kick too!

  4. Brandon says:

    I was at that Wilco show on Wednesday (in Nashville). There were a sizable number of Vanderbilt University’s campus Republicans in the audience and Jeff asked "Are you gonna vote? Are you gonna vote for Bush?" at which point the Republicans cheered yes, prompting Jeff to scream "FUCK NO!" and go off on that rant, and you can’t really hear the competing boos and cheers in that clip. I was standing about two feet from a very heated discussion between a posse of Frat Boy Republicans a gaggle of dirty hippies who nearly got into a fistfight by the time Tweedy launched into "Christ for President" following the rant.

  5. Frank says:

    yeesh. I hope someone asked the Frat Boy Republicans who were going to vote for Bush if they’d be front of the line to go fight in Iraq when they reinstate the draft.

  6. Uncle Grambo says:

    Worst news I’ve ever heard … Luna will totally be missed. Looks like I’ll be hitting the road for a multiple show trip, maybe even making the trek to Toronto. More details to follow. Shmears.

  7. Tsuji says:

    It is very sad. I want to enjoy final japan tour.Galaxie500 has been dispersed just before visit-to-Japan realization.I do not want to already experience that tragedy.

    sorry,I do not understand English. The translation service on web was used.

  8. churchill says:

    If you’re not a liberal in your twenties, then you have no heart. If you’re not a conservative in you’re forties, than you have no brain

  9. Cameron says:

    Quit being so damn gullible there won’t be a draft! It’s sad that the only information people rely on is this false liberal dowsed media such as CBS. Read other sources before you believe anything. Of course non of you probably even know who your congressman is. Do us all a favor and don’t vote. I hope this makes people mad because I’m sick of people jumping on this I hate George Bush bandwagon and then they don’t even have the knowledge to understand why. And no I’m not a Republican I’m a Liberatarian. And I hate Frats too.

  10. Frank says:

    You’re right Cameron, I don’t know who my congressman is, though I suspect it’s less out of the ignorance you’re implying and more because I don’t have a congressman. I’m not an American, you see, so don’t worry about me voting – I won’t be. And for the record, I don’t watch any of the American media, Liberal or otherwise, and get my information almost exclusively from your ‘other sources’.

  11. Frank says:

    and for the record, my comment about the draft was rhetorical – I don’t necessarily expect it to be reinstated, though it wouldn’t shock me. My point was simply that the people most in favour of the war tend to be the ones who don’t have to go and fight it.

  12. cameron says:

    Dear Frank,

    The explosions outside my room no more than 300 yards are a great reminder to me at why we are here. I chose as did alot of my unit to enlist because we either had family or knew someone killed on September 11. It frustrates me when people bash Bush saying he betrayed us by sending us to war. Almost every politician saw the same intelligence as he did and all voted to go to war. Now during an election year they all turn their backs on him just to get elected. I know why I’m here I see it in the local civilian’s faces everyday and how they practically kiss our feet because they are free. no more mass graves, murdered mothers, raped daughters and so on. AnyHoo Luna Rocks!!! LOL