Television

maybe this has already been posted but i hadn't seen it before...

sorry, i can’t help recommending this italian interview tonite – sorry if you already know ithttps://t.co/K3xnItSFd5

— ms2 (@marco_ms2) January 30, 2023

p.s. the second half of that clip is a live marquee moon and is an absolute treat for people who wanna watch what tom's hands are doing

also the wire are making alan licht's 2006 interview with him available for free for the next month...

Tom Verlaine (13 December 1949–28 January 2023)

Tom Verlaine died on 28 January aged 73. Read Alan Licht’s 2006 cover story on the Television guitarist and singer free in our online library:https://t.co/tZTGj33b4c

— The Wire Magazine (@thewiremagazine) January 30, 2023

Oh that patti piece
Tears are streaming rn

goddammit patti <3 ;_;

yeah, that Patti piece is a tearjerker. When she's good, she's good! wow.

really moving, wow

In his final hours, watching him sleep, I travelled backward in time. We were in the apartment, and he cut my hair, and some pieces stuck out this way and that, so he called me Winghead. In the years to follow, simply Wing. Even when we got older, always Wing. And he, the boy who never grew up, aloft the Omega, a golden filament in the vibrant violet light.

"Winghead" is in "Little Johnny Jewel", how about that?

That interview / performance .

nice piece by dean wareham:
https://www.counterpunch.org/2023/01/31/encounters-with-tom-verlaine/

I think that's a picture of Lloyd in Couterpunch article. It's a nice read though.

His friend Patti Smith said somewhere that Verlaine “plays lead guitar with angular inverted passion like a thousand bluebirds screaming” — but that says more about her than it does about him.

lol ouch

Yes and no

Time is a crashing thing
That’s what the old book said
One day you’ll be a saint
I’d better make my bed
I know the ink is dry
I know they do not lie
I’d better make my bid

Lol. Love Dean W.

Yeah, an educational essay (and his own memoir, written well before the trend began, remains a favorite).

fun memoir. good insight into Stan Demeski's humor, which prepared me for my oft-repeated anecdote where the night I met him he simply walked up to me, shook my hand and said "were are my royalties, motherfucker."

I also enjoy reading Damon Krakowski these days, but can't say Dean's book didn't color my view.

Dean's memoir is a blast. "We were dogs but we weren't pigs" (On Luna refusing to allow the lighting guy to scout for attractive women to invite backstage)

I remember one incident he writes about related to that about his "rock and roll slip" that was really well-described.

good insight into Stan Demeski's humor, which prepared me for my oft-repeated anecdote where the night I met him he simply walked up to me, shook my hand and said "were are my royalties, motherfucker."

I met Stan last year and he was very nice, but immediately turned to my friend and growled "Take that fuckin Mets hat off!"

Sometimes Verlaine's guitar did sound something like that, and even if it hadn't DW's music police comment says more about him than her.

hearing police, commentary police, something objective, no doubt.

well, she did use "angular"

True.

haha that's one of those words that makes me stop reading a review. unless patti smith says it or something.

― Thus Sang Freud, Monday, January 30, 2023 3:58 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

Depending on the angle of the dangle.

"angular" in 1974 tho: critical first-use klaxon bid?

That's what I was gonna say, is there an earlier documented use?

Gonna go add that to the Patti Smith wiki. "First known use of 'angular' to describe Tom Verlaine's guitar playing."

also first known use of "bluebirds" tbf

here's the whole thing, fwiw:
http://www.thewonder.co.uk/rckscene.htm

"languid" and "angular" within a couple sentences of each other.

Burn witch burn
xxxp No! Stephen Stills! "Bluebird" singular, because it's an absolute!---ly killer track, grunting aside on that other take.

hmm did not want to give the impression i was taking down patti, if that's how it read.

No prob with your observations, but I'm maybe gonna sic Tar on DW when she gets back.

i think i will see Tar after i am aloft the omega.

Don't see it 'til you can see it for free, seriously! Check thread for details (Spoiler: we of ILE were not too thrilled.)

did no one use angular on the velvets

I think of the Velvets as more of a square wave.

Regardless, I always thought there should be more geometry in music criticism.

there is room for both the pattis and deans in this thriving, very "now" lineage of guitar-based rock music

did no one use angular on the velvets

Beefheart maybe?

Lester Bangs, Creem, March 1971.

In Lick My Decals Off, Baby (Straight Rs-6420) this vision is extended, and even though the sonic textures are sometimes even more complex and angular than on Trout Mask, the lyrics have taken an added universality, many of them stepping back a stride from the kaleidoscopic image-clusters of last year’s songs.

Busted!
Did Verlaine ever play keyboards or anything else other than guitar in the studio or shows?

He plays the keys on the first two Television albums, various other solo records. Don't think he ever played live though.

here's my hot take — "angular" is a fine way to describe certain bands/artists.

I can imagine "angular" being used in jazz reviews before 1971 tbh.

tyler otm. I don't mind angular either, it's useful to describe a certain kind of playing that doesn't sound like other kinds of playing: melodic, bluesy, beboppy aka "that Chinese music" etc.

I've made a career using angular.

i don't think I'd call the VU "angular" though

No, nor I.

Wonder if anyone ever submitted a rejected jbr Christmas tune named "Angular Bells."