OPO: Mekons

re chicago : yup.

used to be a constant presence of excellence in leeds during my time there.

you f*ckers got lucky.

(dont think we had the pleasure of a FAP when i was there a few years back josh ? shame .. was a great night !)

that said, if you were there, that just proves the night was even better than i thought !

met several of the chicago ile crew that night ..

some very nice clips of the mini-Mekons & Fulks expedition to Orkney, Jura, etc are on the Youtubes. Implied in this one is that they are making a recording there. "One of the best 100 records ever made on Jura...until they make more than 100": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMQZUahnahU

Hadn't seen this thread, or I would've already mentioned how Jon Langford & Skull Orchard's Here Be Monsters hooked me right away. An ever-timely track, not nec. the best, but 'twill serve:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJO6KR5A9wg

"Drone Operator" (above), one of the best of his recent songs, definitely

That latest Skull Orchard effort is very impressive

His extracurricular activity has been uniformly excellent: love Three Johns, his stuff with Sally, his collaboration with Richard Buckner is a hidden gem, and his solo albums. Oddly, the one he did with The Sadies fell completely flat for me.

The debut Mekons albums deserves a deluxe reissue with all associated singles - a singular vision for sure.

yeah I'm sure that Virgin CD with the 6 extra singles tracks is oop, might be tough to get licensing for the two Fast singles though

I don't know about that, EMI have put that stuff out on more than one occasion (most recently I think all 5 songs came out on that "Rigour, Discipline and Disgust" CD) and since EMI = Virgin these days it wouldn't seem impossible. Of course I've no idea about the actual licensing arrangements, so for all I know it has got more difficult since the last time.

The October 30th Mekons Symposium in NYC, listed below on the press email, looks interesting

REVENGE OF THE MEKONS will play for one week, October 29 – November 4, at Film Forum, 209 W. Houston St (W. of 6th Avenue), with screenings daily at 12:30, 2:45, 5:00, 7:15, and 9:30.

Mekons-related events in NYC on opening week:
After-party concert by Mekon Jon Langford at Bell House
in Brooklyn on Wed, Oct 29 at 9pm.
Go to www.thebellhouseny.com for tickets/more info.

Mekons Symposium at Columbia University
Thurs, Oct 30 at 7:30 pm.
Panelists include: Langford, Vito Acconci, Mary Harron, Jonathan Franzen, Greil Marcus, & Luc Sante. Free and open to the public. At Buell Hall, Maison Francaise (via main entrance, 2960 Broadway).

Ha, basically the "cast" of the film minus all the Mekons save Langford.

I guess none of the rest of them can make it to NYC

I imagine not. Tom can barely make it to Mekons gigs these days!

Wait doesn't Steve Goulding live in NYC? Think sometimes he plays drums for my neighbor. Maybe he's not considered a Mekon anymore.

Steve is a Mekon for life at this point. Maybe in the studio? Touring? Working his real job?

Must be doing something else those days as the press release says re folks involved with the movie:

Jon Langford will be in NYC for interviews October 29-30; Joe Angio and Steve Goulding are based in NYC; Sally Timms and the other Mekons are available for phone interviews

https://fbcdn-sphotos-d-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xpf1/v/t1.0-9/10678669_10205021437838721_3332215468360547687_n.jpg?oh=7a5d6065e9333e829daace7443bf996a&oe=54B930AB&__gda__=1421025748_2d94d0f056147bf263f2559e6dfebad0

Just Jon Langford, hangin' with Robert Plant, as he is wont to do.

sort of Mekons week in NY, tho i'm not sure i'll have time for anything

Ed Roche, the manager of Quarterstick, an independent label that has released more than a dozen of the band’s albums, says that a “good-selling” Mekons record amounts to about 8,000 copies.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/26/movies/a-documentary-celebrates-the-mekons.html?smid=tw-share&_r=0

So Sally Timms is a paralegal by day

Nice article in the Voice by Stephanie Zacharek:

The Mekons are Still Here, Still Great -- and In a New Doc

I wonder how that panel with Marcus, Harron, Sante et. al. was last night?

chickened out, too far upown. :/

Zacharek Voice doc review:

http://www.villagevoice.com/2014-10-29/film/the-mekons/

Guessing James Redd didn't make it up to Columbia U either

Nope, but thanks for thinking of me.

http://www.vulture.com/2014/11/franzen-marcus-and-harron-on-the-mekons.html

Here's some of what they talked about

"Revenge of the Mekons" doc will be showing at the Bloor Cinema in Toronto, Saturday, Jan 24. With beer, appropriately enough. And a "post-screening Skype Q&A with band members from the Mekons"

http://boxoffice.hotdocs.ca/WebSales/pages/info.aspx?evtinfo=33548~fff311b7-cdad-4e14-9ae4-a9905e1b9cb0&

Jon's mom just passed. :(

Oh, hadn't seen that. Sad.

Gonna see Jon do a solo gig out in DC exurb Gaithersburg tonight. Have never been out there or even knew they had gigs in the 99 seat theatre.

Oh, and Josh in Chicago posted this nice interview Sally did of Kim Gordan on the thread for Kim's book, but it is also of interest for Sally and Mekons fans I'd say http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/kim-gordon-girl-band-memoir-interview-sally-timms-cuddy/Content?oid=16661865

Gonna miss the workshop Jon is doing out there today--

The afternoon workshop offers an extraordinary opportunity to get to know the artist and his process as well as the performer and his completed works. It is a memorable chance for music students to exercise creative muscle and hear Langford’s valuable professional perspective.

Can't believe no one (including me) mentioned "Beaten & Broken."

x-post--Turns out the solo gig was actually Jon with violinist Jean Cook from the Skull Orchard band. A great show. They did a bunch of songs from the 2014 Langford & Skull Orchard album; a Waco Brothers tune; "Millionaire" from the Mekons; The Go-Betweens song "Streets of Your Town," a Roger Know song (he's an Aboriginal singer who did a record with the Pine Valley Cosmonauts) and lots of great and funny stories

Roger Knox

Got tickets to the Chicago show before it sold out, I believe NYC tickets are available now. Sad to miss Mekonception, but $75 plus a flight to NYC is a little steep.

hey, I'm here, but the Mekons don't need my help in making an album. I'll go to the 'normal' show at Bowery Ballroom if I can.

hmmmmm, so this is what you folks are talking about

July 23, 2015 at Red Hook, NY, United States in Red Hook, NEW YORK.

mekonception is a once in a lifetime event for the mekons…we will record our new album in the presence of 75 audience members at a cost of $75 per person. the audience will form a mekon feral choir and participate and be featured on the final release. all attendees will also be named and thanked on the record when it is released…songs will be performed and played in real time into a solitary microphone, there will be experimentation, there will be brand new songs never before heard in public, there will be communal singing, there will be strangeness, there will be libations to keep us going at the bar…there will be no overdubs and the album will be done and finished by the time we all go home. the event will last about two hours…

Mekons - 2015 Tour Dates
05/21/2015 - Jersey City NJ - Monty Hall (Revenge of the Mekons screening)
06/02/2015 - Denver CO - Sie FilmCenter (Revenge of the Mekons screening)
07/11/2015 - Chicago IL - The Hideout
07/13/2015 - Chicago IL - The Poetry Foundation
07/14/2015 - Mineral Point WI - Mineral Point Opera House
07/16/2015 - Cleveland OH - Music Box Supper Club
07/17/2015 - Harrisburg PA - Herr Street Stage
07/18/2015 - Rehoboth Beach DE - Dogfish Head Brewing and Eats
07/20/2015 - Philadelphia PA - Boot & Saddle
07/21/2015 - New York NY - Bowery Ballroom
07/23/2015 - Brooklyn NY - Jalopy
07/24/2015 - Portsmouth NH - 3S Artspace
07/25/2015 - Cambridge MA - Middle East

Now I understand the Dogfish Brew connection

http://firstwefeast.com/drink/dogfish-beer-labels-jon-langford/

His first label for Dogfish Head was for their Olde School Barley Wine, which depicted a Woodie Guthrie-type of character brandishing some hops.

I was at one of the Dogfish restaurants in Virginia last year and almost fell out of my chair when I saw a huge Langford portrait of Johnny Cash on the wall.

That Dogfish exec loves Langford.

This looks like fun

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSfWTHm7Sdc

Yeah, I was there with my daughter. Great show, great setlist. Seeing them tonight and Wednesday night, too.

Very very envious!

It was great, I'll be there tonight!

Tons of fun tonight. Played some songs I haven't heard them do for a while ("Prince of Darkness"), plus a song from "ME," which I forgot existed. Sang a belated happy birthday to Rico, then Jon's son Jimmy passed out cake to the crowd.

https://scontent-atl1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xap1/v/t1.0-9/11539761_10153451968539935_841966120589811668_n.jpg?oh=60d5a0a6bc65a01155ca2b1c203305a1&oe=565C5557

closest shows to me are Friday night in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania and Saturday night in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. Not sure I will make the 2 plus hour drive for either.

Tonight in Mekons deep cuts: the male Mekons singing "Powers and Horror." Also, Lu Edmonds leading the ribald Billy Cotton novelty song "I Lost My Little Yoyo:"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGwEzgiIzDg

at the Poetry Foundation he sang "The Hole in the Elephant's Bottom"

going Tuesday

Very very envious!

― Jaq

seconded