Say something longing about Miracle Legion/Polaris/Pete&Pete

“Ivy Boy” in particular is just … wow. I wish somebody could tell me what it’s about, though.

I felt the same way about all of the Polaris songs I'd never heard before the past couple of years.
There is something so transportive about it, and it isn't just 90s nickelodeon nostalgia.

Seriously, this song has been stuck in my head all week. Help.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_BA6x2jFAc

Wired article on Polaris tour: http://www.wired.com/2014/10/polaris-pete-and-pete-band/
Thought Mulcahy lived in Springfield, Mass. these days, but this says New Haven, Conn.

Saturday's kickoff to the Polaris reunion tour was fantastic. They opened with "Baby Tae Kwon Do" from their new cassingle (available here: https://thebandpolaris.bandcamp.com/releases). Also played a Magnetic Fields cover ("Why I Cry") and a Sesame Street song ("I Don't Want to Live on the Moon," also covered by the Queers). And, of course, Little Pete's favorite song.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gmPmIARgMhk

Ahhhh the Philly show is sold out! Seriously considering driving to Baltimore to see them.

The most recent Mark Mulcahy solo record is quite excellent and it appears most of the Miracle Legion stuff is a available once again via the Mezzotint website.

Can't believe I haven't heard this until now. Mulcahy released this as a single/download in 2006. About a soldier wounded in war, it takes on new meaning in this performance from 2009, a year after his wife died. Just devastating.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BEVYnGHt39k

Caught the first show of the reunion tour last night in a sweaty little theater in Providence and it was great. Nice to see Mark and Mr. Ray back on stage together. Mulcahy had a strange getup — Member's Only jacket zipped all the way up — and he came across as a crazed homeless guy with his new Civil War-era beard, but he sang like an angel.
Here's a snippet (not my video).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6cAdCqMEXdk

Seems like some reissued stuff just showed up on Spotify.

(-the Cave-) meant the Grotto.

Feel like once I saw Mark + Ray did a song called "Valentine's Day," but I can't find mention of it anywhere except some weird stub on BBC music. Did they end up recording this song under another title?

Oh wait BBC page has sound, so I didn't dream it after all: https://www.bbc.co.uk/music/tracks/n24bwf

Weird/frustrating when you remember something pretty strongly but can't seem to find confirmation on the intranetz

Maybe it became the song "Velvetine"?

I've only dabbled in Miracle Legion, but thanks to this thread I finally gave Fathering a listen. Christ, it's magnificent.

Cool.

Maybe it became the song "Velvetine"?

Listening now and realizing Mark Mulcahy can sound amazing like Bob Dorough. Perhaps they should have done a kid's show collabo

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

Mark played a great but too-brief set in support of j. Mascis last night in Rhode Island. They'll be in Northampton, Mass. tonight.
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bt6OdBRhD9V/?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K0sWAOHgsyQ

He’s playing in Rhode Island April 3rd

Back to school - Autumn is the perfect time/weather for listening to Mark Mulcahy.
Why is that?

There's something very meta about latter day Polaris/P&P fandom: Nostalgia for a show about nostalgia. Wistful memories of childhood are both the subject of the Polaris album and its associaiton to most listeners. For a certian age group, it was probably also your very first introduction to indiepop.

When I was about 17, I became briefly obsessed with this show and its soundtrack and endeavored to collect all the music from it, which I wasn't able to do. The best story I have about this was that when I went into the Virgin Megastore to look for Starfish by the Fat Tulips and they didn't have it, for whatever reason I was so intent on buying an album called Starfish that day that I got the one by the Church instead.

But I found the Polaris album held up a lot better alongside the rest of the music from the show: various Stephin Merritt songs, the Shackwacky cassette, a couple of tracks off the first Drop Nineteens album, Luscious Jackson, etc. Taken on its own, it tended to hammer you over the head with a particular sound and mood and became cloying long before its runtime finished.

Mark Mulcahy's voice is a thing of wonder at times and suits the more intimate material a lot better IMO than something like 'Snacks and Candy' above.

There were also a few songs like 'Everywhere' (or whatever it was called) that worked a lot better as 30-60 second instrumental cues on the show than as standalone songs.

I went to the Pete & Pete reunion tour 8ish years ago at Bowery Ballroom. It was nice. I think think there are videos online.