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Saw them in St. Louis, a couple of times, I think...at Washington University. Very good...I appreciated them more after seeing the live.

Champion Rabbit wrote:'Les Paul Worries' is very much a favourite track of mine.

The title has always confused me though; is Les Paul worrying, or are we worried about our Les Paul?

The idea was a bit of both. Les would worry that his invention is being used for these undesired means, and the other is that I (we) would worry about the bastardization that we were putting his fancy machine/instuments through.

heh.

-John

I remember in '92, '93 Tar playing in some shithole bar in Calgary, Alberta which was always filled with rednecks who were there to drink the other 6 days of the week. There were only about 5-6 people in the audience I bet that were there for Tar. One jackass kept screaming "Play some AC/DC! Play some AC/DC!"..so they'd go "Okay, here's...uhmm...Back in Black" and then play another Tar song. "Okay, here's Whole Lotta Rosie!" - another TAR song.

Same bar, same crowd, different band - the Melvins. This was Eggnog/Lysol era. Buzz to the crowd "The more you hate us, the slower we'll play".

Fucking Calgary!

Must have been earlier, or not in Calgary. We played at a place called Republik the 2 years you mentioned. It was kind of a slick industrial dance club-looking place. Lots of sheet metal and whatnot. We played some other place around 90 or 91, but I have absolutely no memory of it.

In 92 we played in Edmonton at a hotel bar that was normally a strip club. I remember lots of hostile local working dudes at that one. I mean, can you imagine going to a strip club after work and getting us and Skin Barn (hmm, aptly named as it turns out) between featured attractions? It's a miracle we walked out of there under our own power.

johnmohr wrote:

Champion Rabbit wrote:'Les Paul Worries' is very much a favourite track of mine.

The title has always confused me though; is Les Paul worrying, or are we worried about our Les Paul?

The idea was a bit of both. Les would worry that his invention is being used for these undesired means, and the other is that I (we) would worry about the bastardization that we were putting his fancy machine/instuments through.

heh.

-John

Good answer; I am satisfied!

Cheers.

Mike Greenlees wrote:Must have been earlier, or not in Calgary. We played at a place called Republik the 2 years you mentioned. It was kind of a slick industrial dance club-looking place. Lots of sheet metal and whatnot. We played some other place around 90 or 91, but I have absolutely no memory of it.

In 92 we played in Edmonton at a hotel bar that was normally a strip club. I remember lots of hostile local working dudes at that one. I mean, can you imagine going to a strip club after work and getting us and Skin Barn (hmm, aptly named as it turns out) between featured attractions? It's a miracle we walked out of there under our own power.

I may be thinking about the Edmonton show. I don't know; I lived halfway between Calgary and Edmonton at the time and both are interchangable in my fuzzy mind. I DO know I went home with a great Tar matchbook, though! Best promo ever.

It's back, Jay Ryan.

When I was a junior in high school (92/93) a friend that worked at the Dairy Twirl made my brother and me a tape. Already familiar with local punk music, it was our introduction to what he felt was relevant everywhere else in the world. The bands I remember were Wire, the Pixies, Ed Hall, Mission of Burma, Bastro, the Grifters, Naked Raygun, Arcwelder and Tar. The Tar song was "Viaduct Removal" and I used to listen to it constantly. I never had the opportunity to see Tar play here for various reasons but I have heard stories: both about the exceptional quality of the shows and about the band getting barked at by a well known local schizophrenic. One of my great regrets is never seeing Tar play live. If it were not for Mike Greenlees I would have thrown my ride cymbal away a long time ago. I am sure I will always regard them as one of the best bands ever.

Jon

Of all the times I saw Tar play, the best was when they opened for Fugazi at the Aragon with Slant 6. Man, was that a great set. For some reason the horrible sound in that place worked to their advantage and just made it HUGE. Was blown away.

My favorite Tar record is Over and out. Toast is second.

Marsupialized wrote:Of all the times I saw Tar play, the best was when they opened for Fugazi at the Aragon with Slant 6. Man, was that a great set. For some reason the horrible sound in that place worked to their advantage and just made it HUGE. Was blown away.

My favorite Tar record is Over and out. Toast is second.

Hey, I was at that show. Two friends and I drove up from Indy. I also videotaped some of it. I have it in a box at my mom's house.

I only got to se TAR three times. Muncie, IN w/ Jawbox. The above show. Muncie, IN w/ Shellac and DIS. All of them are shows that left a giant impression on me as a young musician.

Ben