The World Looks Red
The Burning Spear
Confusion is Next
Shaking Hell
I Wanna Be Yr Dog
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This show is an endless source of confusion. What we know: Tom Recchion is on drums, and Jeffrey Lee Pierce from the Gun Club sings on "I Wanna Be Yr Dog". The show was always listed as 07/12/82 CBGB, but expert traders became convinced it was 12/07/82 @ Mudd Club. The band's copy is listed as 12/07/82 but date format is unclear.
Both "Goodbye 20th Century" and "Psychic Confusion" imply that Tom's show with the band was AFTER the first leg of the Swans tour, and he left the band because he did not want to go to the midwest for the second leg. Bob Bert is even quoted as saying that when they returned from the midwest (which would be inaccurate given that this date falls between the two legs, but perhaps he meant the east coast dates, aka first leg) he couldn't understand why he wasn't being called to rehearse for an upcoming Mudd Club show, and then was told Tom Recchion was replacing him. He also explicitly mentions that Jeffrey Lee Pierce sang "Dog" at this show. So, all of that points to December being correct.
However, in an interview conducted in October 1984 for Forced Exposure magazine, Thurston gives a detailed history of the band and definitely suggests that Tom Recchion's stint with the band was BEFORE Bob ever joined, so between Richard Edson and Bob Bert, when they were known to have tried out one or two other drummers (David Linton, Dave Keay). He mentions that they played one great gig with him but he wasn't keen on the idea of the upcoming Swans tour. The band timeline in the Sensational Fix book also states that Tom Recchion played one gig before Bob joined.
Despite Bert's recollection, I'm more inclined to believe Thurston's account as stated in 1984, when the details were still fresh. I still find it confusing though, as Bob's memory is so specific. I'm pretty sure Bob did both legs of the Swans tour, and then Jim Sclavunos' first show was on 12/27/82, so perhaps that's what Bob was thinking of? If anyone has any way of clarifying this, it would be much appreciated...
As it stands, I'm returning this to the original July 1982 date, assuming that Tom played his one show with the band after Edson left (which does make me wonder if the June 18th Danceteria gig could indeed be Edson's last show rather than February as commonly stated in SY bios), and before Bert joined. The Savage Blunder tour may have been planned in July and Tom was sure he did not want to do it, hence their need to seek out a replacement, which they found in Bob. Bob would do both legs with them and be replaced by Jim Sclavunos in late December. If anyone has evidence that contradicts this outside of the SY bios, please let me know!
Felice writes: "Hi. I was in the band that played before Sonic Youth at the Mudd Club. I'm not sure if this was the right date. I seem to remember it being cold outside but I could be wrong. The band that played before Sonic was called V. (after the Thomas Pynchon novel). It featured CB's door person and John Cale/Tom Verlaine background vocalist deerfrance on guitar and vocals, Felice Rosser on bass and vocals, Craig Gilles on guitar, Dee Pop (Bush Tetras, Gun Club) on drums, and Dougie Bowne (John Cale/Lounge Lizards/Iggy/Chris Whitley and more) on percussion. Jeffrey Lee was there because he was friends with Dee and Dee was going to do a European tour with the Gun Club. Then Thurston asked him to come up and do a song. I know Richard Edson from Konk and can't say I remember him being at this gig. later deerfrance and Dee got married and started a band called Floor Kiss, which got a nice review in the Times along with Sonic Youth."
OTHER PERFORMERS
V
QUOTES
T: "Alright, we're..." [laughs]
[someone in crowd asks who's the new drummer]
L: "Tom! Tom Recchion!"
T: "Yeah, this is.. this is a new drummer, Tom! Tom...Tom Tom. [laughs] Anyway...we're Sonic Youth..Youth..you..."
L: "Hey let's go!"
T: "This song is called "World Looks Red"."
L: "Dedicated to [??]"
- The World Looks Red
L: "This is "The Burning Spear". Can we have a little less vocal in the monitor, just a bit? Don't worry about it!"
- The Burning Spear
T: "Thanks. Welcome to the benefit."
L: [laughs] What's next?
- Confusion is Next
T: "Thanks. That was called "Confusion is Next". We're here trying to make money to bring back the New York Rocker. [crowd boos] No, I mean uh..it's like.. [gtr starts] Hey! No, we need a paper for, you know, like, about New York bands...you know, like, pumping energy into New York, you know, like...blatant localism, covering all New York bands, just New York bands...I mean, there's a...that's what we want, right? I mean we wanna pay for the cover that's...New York, not...not, uh...you dropped your cord."
L?: "That's what we want!"
T: "But then again, maybe we want a poor man's Rolling Stone. I don't know...We'll wait to see. You can only hope..can only..you can only hope for the best."
[lee starts playing "dog" chords]
L: "Are we not doing that now?"
T: "No."
L: "What are we doing?"
T: "One more, and then.."
Tom: "Shaking Hell."
K: "Check."
T: "1 2 3 4"
- Shaking Hell
T: "We're gonna do one more song. Jeffrey "Gun Club" Pierce is gonna help sing it."
Jeffrey: "Hey, do this really slower...Slower slower slower...special meditation version."
- I Wanna Be Your Dog [looong sloooooow version]
JLP: [over intro] "Special made for you all cuz...I know you're [??] tonight."
K: [over intro] "This song is dedicated to Thomas Jefferson."
JLP: [over intro] "Ssshh take it down, take it down...shhhh...quiet, quiet."
K: "Thank you!"
JLP: "You asked for it so you got it."
MEMORABILIA
  
Have any information on this show? E-mail me!
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