I'm going to see The Fall on Thursday!

What?????

The Official Fall site has confirmed that Ben, Spencer and Steve have quit the US tour and are returning to the UK. The Fall tour will continue with members of Chicago's Cairo Gang filling in

Southpaw's a long shot, Knitting Factory might be MES and yr granny on bongos.

The Continuing Adventures of Emmett Kelly
Local guitar wunderkind Emmett Kelly, profiled in the Meter in January, continues to keep exceptional company. He spent most of the past four months on the road backing Beth Orton, and this winter he was part of the studio band on Then the Letting Go, the forthcoming disc from Bonnie "Prince" Billy, aka Will Oldham. (Due from Drag City on September 19, it'll be preceded by the single "Cursed Sleep" on July 25.) The disc was recorded in Iceland by Bjork collaborator Valgeir Sigurdsson; the band also included Jim White of the Dirty Three on drums, Oldham's brother Paul on bass, and Dawn McCarthy from Faun Fables on vocals. It's still not clear if Kelly will accompany Oldham on tour this fall, but in the meantime his own project the Cairo Gang will be doing some road work in support of its self-titled debut -- originally scheduled for an April release, it comes out on Narnack in July. The Cairo Gang has also landed a plum gig opening for the Fall on May 30 at the Logan Square Auditorium.

Octogenarian slaves-ah do mah bidding
In this sweatshop-ah of alarming knitting!
Bongo fury never sounded this off the rails
and I swear! The barman's got a prehensile tail!

Let no one accuse MES of lacking a pair of great shiny brass balls.

I hope the new lot can make it until Brooklyn. I have tickets but, who knows what to expect now.

I think a lot of this is PR and mythmaking. The irony is so many people fall for this man of the people act and cite him as one of the "real" ones.

Wasn't there that evening with Terry Hooley (of Good Vibrations fame) where they were going to play Beach Boys cover versions? Which was a goer for about 15 seconds?

They managed to make it to Seattle then, and that was a good show!

And the band seemed the happiest of them all... outside MES and his keyboardist/girlfriend (or wife?)

At this point, anyone who agrees to tour with and play with the Fall must absolutely sign a I'm Doing This To Build Character clause... Hell, I'll be guitarist for the Fall if a tour falls (no pun intended) during a contract break. I don't mind a miserable mean guy fucking with my guitar amp every night.

Neither do I! Someone get word to MES that there is an ILX Fall-pickup band ready to go here

NO NEW BOARDS ALLOWED UNLESS YOU ARE AN UNFUNNY JERK THAT SUCKS ADMIN COCK

Mike Leigh. Not the film director, but his exact double (or thereabouts). 1977.

that's like the best description of the Fall ever.