i think the only thing missing was Psycho Killer, really.
― akm, Monday, 17 September 2018 20:05 (six years ago) link
xp hehe yeah I was imagining DB in the rehearsal room after finally nailing all the songs with his killer band and then he's like: all right, that's it! Now let's do it again but this time running around with your instruments doing complex dance routines!
― niels, Tuesday, 18 September 2018 06:12 (six years ago) link
Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis to thread!
― Harper Valley CTA-102 (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 20 September 2018 11:47 (six years ago) link
would really love to see him on this tour but tickets here are extremely expensive unfortunately
― ufo, Thursday, 20 September 2018 11:51 (six years ago) link
http://prince.org/msg/7/194019?&pg=2See post from AQUABOOGIE about 777-9311
― Harper Valley CTA-102 (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 20 September 2018 11:59 (six years ago) link
haha, good one
― niels, Thursday, 20 September 2018 12:28 (six years ago) link
I am very glad I listened to you lot and went to the show in London last night - I have never seen anything like it and I don't expect to anytime soon.
― Tim, Tuesday, 30 October 2018 14:16 (six years ago) link
Thumbs up!
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 30 October 2018 15:11 (six years ago) link
"I'll show you how to do it, and y'all can do it later"https://youtu.be/gsunqofq27I?t=185
― willem, Friday, 26 April 2019 09:36 (five years ago) link
I love how Byrne always looks like he's struggling to recall the most rudimentary choreography moves he's been taught, and then that look becomes *his* look and it somehow works.
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 26 April 2019 13:15 (five years ago) link
Apologies if this veers too close to self-promotion, but anyone in/around London might want to know that I'm promoting a screening of True Stories at the Prince Charles Cinema in Leicester Square next week (Weds March 8th).
Full details and tickets here: https://princecharlescinema.com/PrinceCharlesCinema.dll/Seasons?e=81 We've got a fanzine for every ticket-holder, plus an actual cassette mixtape for the first 50 people through the door and vinyl giveaways etc. Format junkies might be happy to hear that we're showing the film on 35mm!
Spam ends.
― bamboohouses, Saturday, 27 April 2019 08:32 (five years ago) link
Byrne announces Broadway residency from October through January.
I think this is great. I thought the Springsteen show was OK, but I couldn't imagine seeing it more than once (not even on Netflix). But the Byrne show, as soon as I saw it my first thought was, man, I wish I could see this again.
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 17 May 2019 15:04 (five years ago) link
<3 <3 <3
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ga97sIZlr1c
― Party With A Jagger Ban (dog latin), Tuesday, 9 February 2021 16:30 (three years ago) link
I assume that's the one he references in the show?
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 9 February 2021 16:32 (three years ago) link
yeah i think so. plays at the end of the DVD as well
― Party With A Jagger Ban (dog latin), Tuesday, 9 February 2021 16:34 (three years ago) link
it was great to rewatch this on DVD. I loved the live show but it was marred slightly by the man in front slowly walking backwards into me for the WHOLE SHOW despite me doing subtle elbow nudges into the small of his back.
― Party With A Jagger Ban (dog latin), Tuesday, 9 February 2021 16:36 (three years ago) link
(and before anyone asks, I'm referring to an audience member, not DB doing his Psycho Killer dance)
― Party With A Jagger Ban (dog latin), Tuesday, 9 February 2021 16:37 (three years ago) link
― Lavator Shemmelpennick, Tuesday, 9 February 2021 16:49 (three years ago) link
Saw him in a doc recently; it was kind of startling how he's aged (not that he looks bad, just as a general "we're all heading there" reminder).
― babe for the weekend (morrisp), Tuesday, 9 February 2021 19:12 (three years ago) link
Yeah, we watched SMS not long before AU and it was a bit of a shock. That said, I hope I'm at least half that sprightly when I'm whatever years old
― Party With A Jagger Ban (dog latin), Tuesday, 9 February 2021 19:24 (three years ago) link
https://www.washingtonpost.com/arts-entertainment/2022/09/13/david-byrne-profile-interview/
DENVER — They have gathered for David Byrne’s funeral, sitting in a bright room facing a coffin that’s been customized to also serve as a piano. A childhood photo of the deceased rests on a stand nearby. A guest book, too. But before anyone can tear up, the coffin lid opens and up pops David Byrne. Except it’s not the wiry singer of “Psycho Killer” but a 6-foot-2 Black actor named donnie l. betts who peppers the assembled with questions: “Am I still dead? Am I still me? Am I alive again? Am I still David?”
A few rows back the real David Byrne, the white-haired singer who did indeed once front a rock band called Talking Heads, rolls into a chortle. He has seen this coffin thing many times. It still gets him.
“It’s just funny to have the actor come out of a coffin that looks like a piano,” he says. “I don’t think of it as being myself.”
Byrne is here in Denver putting the finishing touches on “Theater of the Mind,” a sprawling project that’s part installation, part performance piece.
hmmmm
― curmudgeon, Monday, 19 September 2022 04:39 (two years ago) link
More from that article--
He talks of making 1984’s “Stop Making Sense,” the Jonathan Demme concert film of the band’s carefully choreographed road show. The Byrne who oversaw the production, with its detailed lighting cues and the appearance of his iconic, oversize suit, was not the soft-spoken “DB” found in the “Theater of the Mind” rehearsals. He says he changed, in part, after working on 1986’s “True Stories” film. That production taught him to learn to trust others and delegate authority. That could also help relieve the intense pressure he felt to make everything perfect.
“Before that I thought, ‘Nobody understands what I want to do,’ ” he says today. “I have to be the boss guy. ‘No, don’t do it that way. You’ve got to do it this way. No, you f---ing idiot.’ And I might have been right but you don’t have to deal with people that way. You can sort of include people and make them part of your vision or idea.”
Does he long to make peace with Frantz and Weymouth and try one final farewell tour? No. Byrne talks of feeling physically ill from the tension while the band was recording their final album, 1988’s “Naked.” ...
Of the anger directed at him by Frantz, he remains perplexed.
“Like I said, I know that I wasn’t the easiest person to work with,” he says. “But I guess a part of me just says, that was a long time ago. Can you just move on? Surely you’ve got better things to do.”
― curmudgeon, Monday, 19 September 2022 04:42 (two years ago) link
I haven’t read Chris Frantz’ book where he criticized Byrne .
― curmudgeon, Monday, 19 September 2022 19:25 (two years ago) link
Surely you’ve got better things to do.
If ever there was a person with nothing better to do, it's Chris Franz.
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 19 September 2022 19:42 (two years ago) link
According to Franz, Byrne said he wasn't going to read the book so that he wouldn't have to respond when asked about it.
― eatandoph (Neue Jesse Schule), Tuesday, 20 September 2022 02:22 (two years ago) link
Smart.
― Malevolent Arugula (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 20 September 2022 02:28 (two years ago) link
They really don't let it go. You'd think having a major hand in creating one of the most sampled songs -- a dance and hip-hop touchstone -- would make them reconsider giving such a damn about what Byrne did in the Heads.
― Malevolent Arugula (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 20 September 2022 02:29 (two years ago) link
Byrne acknowledges his flaws but I guess Frantz wants a direct apology and a Talking Heads reunion tour
― curmudgeon, Tuesday, 20 September 2022 02:58 (two years ago) link
Franz is so weird bc he never misses a chance to absolutely torch Byrne (the book is OTT brutal), and then in the next breath he'll be like "I don't know what David's problem is that he doesn't want to get back together with us and do a TH greatest hits world tour, he's such a weird alien."
― nobody like my rap (One Eye Open), Tuesday, 20 September 2022 16:28 (two years ago) link
It is weird — would Weymouth even want to do a reunion? I got the impression she hates Byrne even more!
― tylerw, Tuesday, 20 September 2022 16:31 (two years ago) link
― nobody like my rap (One Eye Open),
Byrne said something similar a few years ago, something like, "Why would I want to hang out in a studio with people who were ripping me to shreds yesterday?"
― Malevolent Arugula (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 20 September 2022 16:42 (two years ago) link
Didn't Byrne ostensibly "fire" the rest of the band at some point? That doesn't exactly engender feelings of "band" at all.
― immodesty blaise (jimbeaux), Tuesday, 20 September 2022 16:45 (two years ago) link
Byrne talks of feeling physically ill from the tension while the band was recording their final album, 1988’s “Naked.” ...
This is funny bc I even remember a bit from the book where Frantz goes on abt what a romantic time he & Weymouth had recording & partying in Paris, and in an aside says something like "David said recording the album was a terrible experience for him, but who knows why, he's just a weird contrarian." Like if you a) can do a whole record with someone and not pick up on that and b) when they come to you and tell you, you roll your eyes and dismiss them bc you and your wife had fun, like yeah, maybe you all were not meant to be in a band together anymore?
― nobody like my rap (One Eye Open), Tuesday, 20 September 2022 17:01 (two years ago) link
Franz's view of Byrne in Remain in Love is less what Byrne may take it to be — about being a dictator — than that he took more credit than was his due and was/is profoundly avoidant. Byrne's claim of having been a dictator ca. Stop Making Sense and subsequently not reading Franz's book seem consistent with this view.
― eatandoph (Neue Jesse Schule), Tuesday, 20 September 2022 17:05 (two years ago) link
The relationships are so messed up, I imagine it's too complicated at this point to explain why some actions are illogically at odds with others. Obviously Byrne no longer has any issues revisiting the band's work - the Broadway show is based mostly on that music - but I'm sure any reunion would only lead to more uncomfortable conflicts and he doesn't want to go through that anymore. At the same time, I can see why Chris and Tina want to reunite the band - they're proud of that work, it continues to find many new fans, and they want to enjoy that in the best way possible while they're still physically able. Imagine wanting that and seeing everyone flock to Byrne's show with others playing the music that you helped create - you'd probably think "I should be up there!" But there's been too much bad blood and too many angry words exchanged. I can't imagine any history of that just evaporating at this point - they may reunite for another one-off if they get something like a Kennedy Center honor, but that's about it.
― birdistheword, Tuesday, 20 September 2022 17:20 (two years ago) link
I saw a story somewhere--maybe on ILX?--about how when Rhino was prepping the Once In A Lifetime box, the label got everybody together in a conference room for a meeting (Byrne might have been on speakerphone), and one of the label people tells the band how hard a sell the box will be with no tie-in press or performances from the band. Weymouth responds that they understand the problem, and "...if we need to tour, we'll tour." Byrne then flatly responds, "There will be no tour."
End of discussion.
― an icon of a worried-looking, long-haired, bespectacled man (C. Grisso/McCain), Tuesday, 20 September 2022 21:10 (two years ago) link
That might've been me, I've posted that story. Going as far back as 1999, Weymouth and Frantz have wanted to tour, but I think Byrne's constant and growing refusal may have just led to more resentment in response.
FWIW, try digging around their promotional appearances for the 15th anniversary restoration/reissue of Stop Making Sense. All four appeared together to promote it, and it left an impression because it was the first time I read anything about the band, they were completely new to me. During a joint press conference (I think in San Francisco?), someone asked if they would like to reunite, and both Weymouth and Frantz enthusiastically said YES while Byrne and Harrison awkwardly remained silent. Then there was a weird thing, I think on the same day, where Byrne did his own interview with some major publication (maybe EW or one of the trades?) and the same interviewer had to interview Weymouth, Frantz and Harrison as a group separately. It was during this interview that I remember Weymouth saying Byrne didn't understand or appreciate the value of friendship, and that kind of explains a lot.
― birdistheword, Tuesday, 20 September 2022 21:20 (two years ago) link
Oh wow, the whole thing is on YouTube - I've only read reports from this, I've never actually seen it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UFdvd62hSGI
― birdistheword, Tuesday, 20 September 2022 21:22 (two years ago) link
Lmk if you find a specific timecode for the reunion question...!
― Obviously Five Beliebers (morrisp), Tuesday, 20 September 2022 21:28 (two years ago) link
Re: the interviews, it wasn't just one publication, it was apparently set up that way for everybody the following day:
From the San Francisco Examiner:
"...it was no surprise when interviews granted to herald the wide release of the film starting this Friday were given in two halves: Byrne in one hotel conference room, Tina Weymouth, Chris Frantz and Jerry Harrison in another. It was an interesting succession of chats - one that left no doubt that this is one band that will never play together again."
I still don't know which publication got the quote I remember from Weymouth unfortunately.
― birdistheword, Tuesday, 20 September 2022 21:32 (two years ago) link
As the description of the YouTube vid points out, this is *after* the whole lawsuit / "No Talking, Just Head" thing... which is kinda remarkable (and, like, no wonder!)
― Obviously Five Beliebers (morrisp), Tuesday, 20 September 2022 21:42 (two years ago) link
Oh man, long before they broke up, Weymouth was fulminating in the press about Eno and Byrne only having eyes and ears for each other, not caring what anybody else thought about the music, also something about Eno and royalties, and how Byrne was like "a janitor" in personal style, and I always heard that she was the one who ripped into him in band meetings---Rhino must have known about some of this, in Rolling Stone and so on, but hey why not try to squeeze more bucks out of this box set craze, and yeah Weymouth and Franz had Tom Tom Club and The Heads album with guest singers, not bad, but why try to do anything more like that when you see more TALKING HEADS REUNION TOUR bucks somewhere to be squeezed, and business is business but they never have wanted to understand that he doesn't need them the way they need him, or somebody else with more impetus than they have, past a few done deals. Whut fules.
― dow, Tuesday, 20 September 2022 21:43 (two years ago) link
morrisp, it doesn't appear to happen in this press conference - at 29:36 they're asked whether they thought about reuniting after seeing the film and Weymouth wryly says "When we saw it in the studio ... we said, 'Wow! What a great band...'" Harrison jokes he hasn't seen the film yet and Byrne avoids the question altogether. Wish I could remember the publications where I read about what I posted but it's impossible to say, I could've been jumping through dozens of articles linked on Yahoo! or AOL that particular day.
― birdistheword, Tuesday, 20 September 2022 22:18 (two years ago) link
The Heads album is one of the worst things I've ever heard -- it's air pollution.
― Malevolent Arugula (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 20 September 2022 23:26 (two years ago) link
Either way, same point, about facing their own limitations, hitching their old wagon to somebody besides Byrne.
― dow, Tuesday, 20 September 2022 23:30 (two years ago) link
other than him.
I view Weymouth and Franz not unlike Stu Cook and Doug Clifford, and Byrne as Fogerty. They were important to the band, while in the band, but really haven't done much of anything outside the band, despite complaining loudly about not getting enough credit for their creative input. And their constant complaints about Eno are just silly; compare his track record as producer to theirs, let alone that of Jerry "ugh" Harrison.
Most Surprising Album in Jerry Harrison's Production Discography
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 20 September 2022 23:36 (two years ago) link
Ugh. I thought he had produced The Raw & the Cooked for Fine Young Cannibals, but I guess he only did the Buzzcocks cover.
― birdistheword, Tuesday, 20 September 2022 23:44 (two years ago) link
Don't drag Harrison into this!! lol
― Obviously Five Beliebers (morrisp), Tuesday, 20 September 2022 23:46 (two years ago) link
Tim Lawrence's great Arthur Russell bio indicates that Harrison's fellow ex-Modern Lover Ernie Brooks brought Arthur into work on JH albs which I gather weren't so hot, but I'd still like to hear them.
― dow, Wednesday, 21 September 2022 00:12 (two years ago) link