i can't say i've always been the biggest Fall guy (Lee Majors rimshot): had some lp's innaday: Hex Enduction, Witch Trials, i liked em but a little went a long ways....but dl'd the complete peel sessions the other day and it's great.
i'm looking forward to it. from things i've read over the years, that Mark E. Smith is EVEN in the US these days is pretty amazing. and some for good reason, imo.
Going to see the Fall on May 26
Moderator: scritti
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King Crimson
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Going to see the Fall on May 26
""On a lonely planet spinning its way toward damnation amid the fear and despair of a broken human race, who is left to fight for all that is good and pure and gets you smashed for under a fiver? Yes, it's the surprising adventures of me, Sir Digby Chicken-Caesar!"
"
"
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King Crimson
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- Location: La Choza, Tacos al Pastor
yeah, those Peel sessions are rocking. some really really great stuff.
""On a lonely planet spinning its way toward damnation amid the fear and despair of a broken human race, who is left to fight for all that is good and pure and gets you smashed for under a fiver? Yes, it's the surprising adventures of me, Sir Digby Chicken-Caesar!"
"
"
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- Location: La Choza, Tacos al Pastor
stop the presses!
http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/news/06-05/08.shtml
The Fall Tour Descends Into Chaos
Amy Phillips reports:
"The Fall Tour Descends Into Chaos"...well, duh. Is Mark E. Smith capable of doing anything that doesn't descend into chaos? I feel like he goes to brush his teeth in the morning, and the next thing you know, the sink is shattered, wild dogs are tearing up the bathtub, and there's toothpaste and blood all over the place.
The Fall's current American tour, which kicked off on May 2, has been no different, although there doesn't seem to have been any toothpaste involved. Last night's show at the Brick House in Phoenix was cut short when Justin Williams, frontman for the tour's opening act, the Talk, threw a banana peel at Smith's head. A banana peel! That's gotta hurt.
According to Williams, the peel-throwing was the culmination of days of frustration with Smith. In a MySpace bulletin entitled "FUCK MARK E. SMITH HE SUCKS," Williams wrote: "MARK E. SMITH a.k.a MR. BURNS has managed to piss off his band so bad they quit and left him in america with his crazy wife slash one fingered keyboard player... MARK pulled a corkscrew on his bass player poured beer and ashed on the head of his tour manager while driving (who has also quit the tour) and played only one full set without slithering off stage to his R.V. to dive into a bottle of scotch."
(The Fall's booking agent confirmed that the tour manager had quit, but countered that Smith had indeed played full sets at all of the trek's three previous shows.)
Williams continued, "the man is in his late 40's and looks older than my dead grandfather i'm sorry to those out there who are fall fans but you do not know this guy he is an idiot the three other members of the fall are great guys nice as can be and i wish the best for them..."
As far as the incident in Phoenix, Williams wrote, "i was told by the falls tour manager he and the rest of the band were going home without mark knowing and this would be the last show this really pissed me off BAD!!! if this had happened a few years ago i would have beat the shit out of him but i'm older now so i picked up a dirty banana peel ran onto the stage and threw it in his face as hard as i could and walked away he ran after me with some 1800's English boxing hands and wanted to fight i laughed and walked away knowing in my head this man has only a few years left..."
Pitchfork reader Jeff Moore, who attended the show, wrote in to say that Smith returned to the stage a few minutes later. "Mr. Smith distractedly continued the set while removing bits of flung matter from his hair, several times smirking. After several half-hearted attempts to reassert his trademark amp-twiddling, mic-disdaining stage persona, he approached [wife Elena] Poulou at the keyboard. After a brief discussion, the two left the stage, once again leaving bass, guitar, and drums to finish the song in a vocal vacuum. At the close of the song, they too stoically filed offstage."
"Several minutes later Ms. Poulou returned to the stage to announce that the Fall would be unable to continue the show. Her brief announcement was cut from the 'we were not shown the respect that we deserve' mold, which was not well received by audience members since the assault came not from members of the crowd, but from the opening band. She also referenced technical difficulties early in the set before telling the crowd "'I'm sorry' and vacating the empty stage to a chorus of booing and chants of 'USA, USA'."
"USA, USA"??!! WTF? Is this a punk show or a NASCAR rally? Reader Bill Smith added that the crowd also yelled "Down with the British!" Come on, people, what's wrong with you?!
Williams offered an apology: "p.s. sorry to everyone in phoenix i threw a banana at mark during the show i know you payed good money to see that shit but if it was not for us talking the rest of the band to come to phoenix they would not have even showed up so be lucky you even got that much do not be mad at us be mad at MARK E. SMITH he does not care if you were there or not he does not care about his fans trust me i know first hand"
The Fall's official website said only, "Apologies to all for the curtailed set, caused by technical problems." I guess bananas do technically count as technology...if you're a monkey.
As of right now, the fate of the rest of the tour is obviously in doubt. But we'll keep you posted about what's going on-- whether it's another fight, more fruit projectiles, or just plain old drunken craziness.
Dates:
05-09 San Diego, CA - House of Blues *
05-11 Pomona, CA - Glass House *
05-13 Los Angeles, CA - Knitting Factory *
05-14 San Francisco, CA - The Independent *
05-15 San Francisco, CA - The Independent *
05-23 Los Angeles, CA - Knitting Factory *
05-25 Salt Lake City, UT - The Depot *
05-26 Boulder, CO - Boulder Theater *
05-27 Kansas City, MO - Record Bar *
05-29 Minneapolis, MN - Varsity Theatre *
05-30 Chicago, IL - Logan Square Auditorium *#
06-01 New York City, NY - Knitting Factory *$
06-02 Brooklyn, NY - Southpaw *$
* with the Talk
# with the Cairo Gang
$ with Vaz
The Fall have a few shows scheduled after the American tour. We don't know what's going on with those either. Sorry.
06-10 Manchester, England - New Century Hall
08-12 Oslo, Norway - Oya Festival
08-26 Reading, England - Reading Festival
08-27 Leeds, England - Leeds Festival
* Pitchfork Review: The Fall: Fall Heads Roll
* Pitchfork Review: The Fall: The Complete Peel Sessions, 1978-2004
* Pitchfork News: The Fall to Tour America This Summer
* Pitchfork Feature: The Fall Pick Up the Thread
* The Fall: http://www.thefall.info/fallsite/index.php
* Narnack Records: http://209.200.80.36/
http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/news/06-05/08.shtml
The Fall Tour Descends Into Chaos
Amy Phillips reports:
"The Fall Tour Descends Into Chaos"...well, duh. Is Mark E. Smith capable of doing anything that doesn't descend into chaos? I feel like he goes to brush his teeth in the morning, and the next thing you know, the sink is shattered, wild dogs are tearing up the bathtub, and there's toothpaste and blood all over the place.
The Fall's current American tour, which kicked off on May 2, has been no different, although there doesn't seem to have been any toothpaste involved. Last night's show at the Brick House in Phoenix was cut short when Justin Williams, frontman for the tour's opening act, the Talk, threw a banana peel at Smith's head. A banana peel! That's gotta hurt.
According to Williams, the peel-throwing was the culmination of days of frustration with Smith. In a MySpace bulletin entitled "FUCK MARK E. SMITH HE SUCKS," Williams wrote: "MARK E. SMITH a.k.a MR. BURNS has managed to piss off his band so bad they quit and left him in america with his crazy wife slash one fingered keyboard player... MARK pulled a corkscrew on his bass player poured beer and ashed on the head of his tour manager while driving (who has also quit the tour) and played only one full set without slithering off stage to his R.V. to dive into a bottle of scotch."
(The Fall's booking agent confirmed that the tour manager had quit, but countered that Smith had indeed played full sets at all of the trek's three previous shows.)
Williams continued, "the man is in his late 40's and looks older than my dead grandfather i'm sorry to those out there who are fall fans but you do not know this guy he is an idiot the three other members of the fall are great guys nice as can be and i wish the best for them..."
As far as the incident in Phoenix, Williams wrote, "i was told by the falls tour manager he and the rest of the band were going home without mark knowing and this would be the last show this really pissed me off BAD!!! if this had happened a few years ago i would have beat the shit out of him but i'm older now so i picked up a dirty banana peel ran onto the stage and threw it in his face as hard as i could and walked away he ran after me with some 1800's English boxing hands and wanted to fight i laughed and walked away knowing in my head this man has only a few years left..."
Pitchfork reader Jeff Moore, who attended the show, wrote in to say that Smith returned to the stage a few minutes later. "Mr. Smith distractedly continued the set while removing bits of flung matter from his hair, several times smirking. After several half-hearted attempts to reassert his trademark amp-twiddling, mic-disdaining stage persona, he approached [wife Elena] Poulou at the keyboard. After a brief discussion, the two left the stage, once again leaving bass, guitar, and drums to finish the song in a vocal vacuum. At the close of the song, they too stoically filed offstage."
"Several minutes later Ms. Poulou returned to the stage to announce that the Fall would be unable to continue the show. Her brief announcement was cut from the 'we were not shown the respect that we deserve' mold, which was not well received by audience members since the assault came not from members of the crowd, but from the opening band. She also referenced technical difficulties early in the set before telling the crowd "'I'm sorry' and vacating the empty stage to a chorus of booing and chants of 'USA, USA'."
"USA, USA"??!! WTF? Is this a punk show or a NASCAR rally? Reader Bill Smith added that the crowd also yelled "Down with the British!" Come on, people, what's wrong with you?!
Williams offered an apology: "p.s. sorry to everyone in phoenix i threw a banana at mark during the show i know you payed good money to see that shit but if it was not for us talking the rest of the band to come to phoenix they would not have even showed up so be lucky you even got that much do not be mad at us be mad at MARK E. SMITH he does not care if you were there or not he does not care about his fans trust me i know first hand"
The Fall's official website said only, "Apologies to all for the curtailed set, caused by technical problems." I guess bananas do technically count as technology...if you're a monkey.
As of right now, the fate of the rest of the tour is obviously in doubt. But we'll keep you posted about what's going on-- whether it's another fight, more fruit projectiles, or just plain old drunken craziness.
Dates:
05-09 San Diego, CA - House of Blues *
05-11 Pomona, CA - Glass House *
05-13 Los Angeles, CA - Knitting Factory *
05-14 San Francisco, CA - The Independent *
05-15 San Francisco, CA - The Independent *
05-23 Los Angeles, CA - Knitting Factory *
05-25 Salt Lake City, UT - The Depot *
05-26 Boulder, CO - Boulder Theater *
05-27 Kansas City, MO - Record Bar *
05-29 Minneapolis, MN - Varsity Theatre *
05-30 Chicago, IL - Logan Square Auditorium *#
06-01 New York City, NY - Knitting Factory *$
06-02 Brooklyn, NY - Southpaw *$
* with the Talk
# with the Cairo Gang
$ with Vaz
The Fall have a few shows scheduled after the American tour. We don't know what's going on with those either. Sorry.
06-10 Manchester, England - New Century Hall
08-12 Oslo, Norway - Oya Festival
08-26 Reading, England - Reading Festival
08-27 Leeds, England - Leeds Festival
* Pitchfork Review: The Fall: Fall Heads Roll
* Pitchfork Review: The Fall: The Complete Peel Sessions, 1978-2004
* Pitchfork News: The Fall to Tour America This Summer
* Pitchfork Feature: The Fall Pick Up the Thread
* The Fall: http://www.thefall.info/fallsite/index.php
* Narnack Records: http://209.200.80.36/
""On a lonely planet spinning its way toward damnation amid the fear and despair of a broken human race, who is left to fight for all that is good and pure and gets you smashed for under a fiver? Yes, it's the surprising adventures of me, Sir Digby Chicken-Caesar!"
"
"
-
King Crimson
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- Posts: 8978
- Joined: Sat Jan 15, 2005 5:44 pm
- Location: La Choza, Tacos al Pastor
there was this update, and the Fall official site is listing the new musicians who i assume are still "the Cairo Gang". i won't miss seeing the Talk, but i'm kinda disappointed to see the current band leave the tour.....but they (the Fall--Smith) are famous for cancelling tours and shows....and this kind of drama. but the offical site say all shows are on.
http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/news/06-05/09.shtml
Update: The Fall Tour Becomes Slightly Less Chaotic
Amy Phillips reports:
First things first: The Fall's current American tour is NOT canceled. I repeat: NOT canceled. Mark E. Smith and his keyboardist/wife Elena Poulou are scheduled to perform each and every show as promised, including tonight's gig at San Diego's House of Blues. However, since the rest of the band has high-tailed it back to England after much on- and off-stage drama, the Smiths will be joined by the Chicago band the Cairo Gang, who share the Fall's American record label, Narnack. (The Cairo Gang will also perform an opening set at the tour's Chicago stop.)
Of course, this being the Fall, who knows what will actually happen. Perhaps by the time the tour reaches your town, the band will be Mark E. Smith and a few drunks picked up at a bar down the street.
Dates:
05-09 San Diego, CA - House of Blues *
05-11 Pomona, CA - Glass House *
05-13 Los Angeles, CA - Knitting Factory *
05-14 San Francisco, CA - The Independent *
05-15 San Francisco, CA - The Independent *
05-23 Los Angeles, CA - Knitting Factory *
05-25 Salt Lake City, UT - The Depot *
05-26 Boulder, CO - Boulder Theater *
05-27 Kansas City, MO - Record Bar *
05-29 Minneapolis, MN - Varsity Theatre *
05-30 Chicago, IL - Logan Square Auditorium *#
06-01 New York City, NY - Knitting Factory *$
06-02 Brooklyn, NY - Southpaw *$
* with the Talk
# with the Cairo Gang
$ with Vaz
Now, let's get back to the drama. Remember how Justin Williams, frontman for the Talk, threw a banana peel at Mark E. Smith's head in Phoenix Sunday night, resulting in the show being cut short? And see how the Talk are still on the tour? OK.
Well, according to the Talk's label, MoRisen Records, after the frustrated Fall members left the tour, Mark E. Smith actually asked the Talk to become his new backing band! (A rep from the Fall's label, Narnack, denies this.) Guess that banana peel didn't hurt too much.
MoRisen claims that the Talk turned down Smith's offer, since they wouldn't have had enough time to learn the new songs and make the San Diego show tonight and the Pomona show tomorrow. Apparently this wasn't a problem for the Cairo Gang, though.
MoRisen also say that in the wake of the banana incident, the Talk have received death threats from rabid Fall fans around the world...and just as many supportive messages (from people chanting "USA! USA!", perhaps?).
According to Narnack, the Fall's plans to record in Los Angeles next week will proceed as scheduled, with Smith adding vocals to tracks recorded in the UK months ago, and the Cairo Gang possibly filling in on some new songs.
* Pitchfork Review: The Fall: Fall Heads Roll
* Pitchfork Review: The Fall: The Complete Peel Sessions, 1978-2004
* Pitchfork News: The Fall Tour Descends Into Chaos
* Pitchfork Feature: The Fall Pick Up the Thread
* The Fall: http://www.thefall.info/fallsite/index.php
* Narnack Records: http://209.200.80.36/
http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/news/06-05/09.shtml
Update: The Fall Tour Becomes Slightly Less Chaotic
Amy Phillips reports:
First things first: The Fall's current American tour is NOT canceled. I repeat: NOT canceled. Mark E. Smith and his keyboardist/wife Elena Poulou are scheduled to perform each and every show as promised, including tonight's gig at San Diego's House of Blues. However, since the rest of the band has high-tailed it back to England after much on- and off-stage drama, the Smiths will be joined by the Chicago band the Cairo Gang, who share the Fall's American record label, Narnack. (The Cairo Gang will also perform an opening set at the tour's Chicago stop.)
Of course, this being the Fall, who knows what will actually happen. Perhaps by the time the tour reaches your town, the band will be Mark E. Smith and a few drunks picked up at a bar down the street.
Dates:
05-09 San Diego, CA - House of Blues *
05-11 Pomona, CA - Glass House *
05-13 Los Angeles, CA - Knitting Factory *
05-14 San Francisco, CA - The Independent *
05-15 San Francisco, CA - The Independent *
05-23 Los Angeles, CA - Knitting Factory *
05-25 Salt Lake City, UT - The Depot *
05-26 Boulder, CO - Boulder Theater *
05-27 Kansas City, MO - Record Bar *
05-29 Minneapolis, MN - Varsity Theatre *
05-30 Chicago, IL - Logan Square Auditorium *#
06-01 New York City, NY - Knitting Factory *$
06-02 Brooklyn, NY - Southpaw *$
* with the Talk
# with the Cairo Gang
$ with Vaz
Now, let's get back to the drama. Remember how Justin Williams, frontman for the Talk, threw a banana peel at Mark E. Smith's head in Phoenix Sunday night, resulting in the show being cut short? And see how the Talk are still on the tour? OK.
Well, according to the Talk's label, MoRisen Records, after the frustrated Fall members left the tour, Mark E. Smith actually asked the Talk to become his new backing band! (A rep from the Fall's label, Narnack, denies this.) Guess that banana peel didn't hurt too much.
MoRisen claims that the Talk turned down Smith's offer, since they wouldn't have had enough time to learn the new songs and make the San Diego show tonight and the Pomona show tomorrow. Apparently this wasn't a problem for the Cairo Gang, though.
MoRisen also say that in the wake of the banana incident, the Talk have received death threats from rabid Fall fans around the world...and just as many supportive messages (from people chanting "USA! USA!", perhaps?).
According to Narnack, the Fall's plans to record in Los Angeles next week will proceed as scheduled, with Smith adding vocals to tracks recorded in the UK months ago, and the Cairo Gang possibly filling in on some new songs.
* Pitchfork Review: The Fall: Fall Heads Roll
* Pitchfork Review: The Fall: The Complete Peel Sessions, 1978-2004
* Pitchfork News: The Fall Tour Descends Into Chaos
* Pitchfork Feature: The Fall Pick Up the Thread
* The Fall: http://www.thefall.info/fallsite/index.php
* Narnack Records: http://209.200.80.36/
""On a lonely planet spinning its way toward damnation amid the fear and despair of a broken human race, who is left to fight for all that is good and pure and gets you smashed for under a fiver? Yes, it's the surprising adventures of me, Sir Digby Chicken-Caesar!"
"
"