Sonic Youth Gossip - Saw Jim O'rourke at the Stone last night.

So, Jim O'rourke played at the stone last night. I caught the 10 o'clock set which was him on acoustic guitar and Tim Barnes on percussion. It was really really good, extremely weird in a way, but really sweet and pretty.

Jim came out and his posture was completely hunched over. No one clapped. He said "hello," and everyone clapped, to which he replied "It's okay... you don't..." So yes, another akward clapping incedent at The Stone... I tell you the set-up of that place makes clapping when the person comes on weird... Like the audience needs a cue other than just the performer coming out.

Jim then explained his posture by saying "Sorry, I have a broken neck... So I'm gonna be stuck in this position." He was really really obviously fucked up on pain killers and spoke in that dreamy, I'm fucked up on pain-killers kind of way. Let me preface that with a clear statement that I'm not talking shit or being judgmental, and I really am just speculating that he was on perscription drugs, but the man looked like he was on medication and his neck really did look it was hurting. Don't want to start like gossip or something

That must suck to have a hurt neck (wonder if it was really "broken" he didn't have a neck brace on or anything, maybe he took it off before playing) and try to play guitar, especially the kind of acoustic guitar he improvised, with crazy intervals and fucked up timing and weird chords. He was looking at the fretboard the whole time and kind of bobbing his neck with out bending it, and looked like he was in pain, rubbing it during sections while he wasn't playing.

Well anyway he seemed really out of it when he talked to the audience. A before he played he just kind of stared at this one girl at the audience and smiled and kind of nodded his chin at her awkwardly. She apologized, and he said "No, I'm interested... Whatcha writing?" She explained, she was text-messaging a friend who was going through a rough time and who had tried to call her just then, saying that she couldn't talk because she was at the show. Jim than said "Oh, tell her I apologize..." It was really really sweet... and got a huge laugh from the audience. To which Jim kind of slurred out "No, I'm serious..." Someone then turned off their cell-phone and it had a real etheral turn off sound, to which Jim got a startled look and said "What was that? Sounded like angel arrived..." It was real cute... I hope he gets better soon.

Anyway the set itself was very dreamy, and pretty. It was a Derek Bailey tribute show and you could tell Jim brought out a bunch of his influence in his playing, but mixed with his own personal style. Lots of harmonics, lots of jumping around to weird intervals, interspersed with harmonics, and odd chords, vaguely jazz like, vaguely folk like... Tim Barnes played excellent percussion... a lot of stuff with his hands and rubbing some little bell-like hand balls on the snares... Jim wasn't plugged into anything so it was just his straight acoustic guitar and very quiet, and the audience was extremely quiet and attentive. Ambulances passing outside were louder than his playing so everyone was straining to listen. My girlfriend almost nodded out during it because it was so pillowy and relaxing. It sounded kind of like the more coherent/normal sounding parts of like Xylophonen Virtuosin, as well as other records Jim has put out... not as Folky or thick as like Bad Timing. He did use reoccuring themes and phrases though changing the rhythm and timing as he came back to them. He stopped playing for several oddly timed moments, and thoughtfully came back in. It was actually really hard to figure out when they were done playing... like it seemed at moments that they would stop playing and maybe waiting for the audience to clap, but then continued playing. They played awhile at least 30, maybe 40 minutes. It was hard to keep track of how long it went on because I had my eyes closed during a lot of it... I got lost in it. They stopped and Jim kind of put his guitar off his knee and got a nice round of applause.

Jim thanked us and said some words about how great it was people were coming out to support the kind of music Derek Bailey played and liked. He sounded really really sad when he talked about Derek.

Anyway, it was a nice show, and I hope Jim's neck feels better soon.