12/14/2001
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Burly TV??-It was on yesterday I believe but it's being rerun tonight at 12:55.
all tv listings for this week
Date/Time Network Show Featured Artists Info
12/14/01
12:55 am ET TBS Burly TV Barenaked Ladies
12/15/01
09:00 pm ET COM Saturday Night Live on Comedy Central
12/28/01
12:00 pm ET WAM! Spill Your Guts Barenaked Ladies, I Mother Earth
12/29/01
12:30 am ET WAM! Spill Your Guts Barenaked Ladies, I Mother Earth
12/29/01
09:00 am ET WAM! Spill Your Guts Barenaked Ladies, I Mother Earth
12/29/01
04:30 pm ET WAM! Spill Your Guts Barenaked Ladies, I Mother Earth
01/11/02
08:00 pm ET STZ CIN Movie
Barenaked In America (2000) Barenaked Ladies
01/12/02
02:40 am ET STZ CIN Movie
Barenaked In America (2000) Barenaked Ladies
01/17/02
09:35 pm ET STZ CIN Movie
Barenaked In America (2000) Barenaked Ladies
01/21/02
11:40 pm ET STZ CIN Movie
Barenaked In America (2000) Barenaked Ladies
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Kurt Browning's Gotta Dance was held in Vancouver, British Columbia on October 26, 2001. The premise of the show was to integrate skating, music and dance, so many of the skaters performed either with a singer or a dancer.
All pics are from
http://www.scratchspin.com/2001/gottadance01/gottadance01.shtml
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The date for the Barenaked bash is officially June 21-23, 2002.
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Interview With Jim from:
http://www.bonanzaradio.com/featuredartists/barenaked_ladies/interview .html
It's dark in the back of the Barenaked bus when it sleeps.
Jim Creeggan and I are dimly lit by the trim of the interior, which is studded with the Vegas-gauche tiny white lights that seem to come standard in every luxury rock coach ever made. Luxury is a relative term with these things. We're chilling in the velveteen `lounge' just aft of the cramped stack of in-wall bunks, and it's not unlike being on a German World War II U-Boat upholstered by Elvis. All that's missing is a net hanging from the ceiling, full of potatoes and salted meats. We've stolen away to Das Boot to escape the photo-ops, the needy attention of star-struck radio contest winners, and the bustle of the pre-show Barenaked backstage. There is very little reprieve for this band, who endure being constantly drawn and quartered with a smile.
To know the Ladies, a group of humble, grounded, warm, and profoundly funny cats, it becomes easy to forget that they comprise one of the biggest bands on the planet. Even despite their viciously loyal, teeming legions of fans worldwide, they remain underrated. A BNL show must be seen to understand that through their catchy, almost anthemic songs, their razor-witted stage banter, and their propensity to make everything look so damn easy, lies a group of lethally badass musicians. So easily overlooked is the fact that Steve sings his ass off, Ed is an incredibly good guitar player, Tyler is one of the most rock-solid and choppy drummers swinging sticks, Kevin is a virtuoso keyboard player (with a secret ability to lay down a super-tasty guitar solo), and Jim has the kind of command of the low end that makes girls randy and boys jealous. Funny, campy, clever, yes, but BNL have balls.
The insistent hum of the generator and the distant rumble of the opening band penetrate the floor and vibrate the bus, but Steve has made it a point to tiptoe over the humming floor to use the MD80- sized washroom, his index finger over his smile to point out how silent and unobtrusive he's being. It is obvious that this is as quiet and peaceful as it gets in Barenaked world. Their world is constantly humming around them. Yes, these five guys have a great job, and you won't hear them complain about it, but make no mistake, it's a job, and they work their asses off. Jim has just come back to the bus after being called away for another photo shoot, and is relaxing on the couch again. Now about 30 minutes before jumping onto a stage in front of countless thousands at an outdoor arena in Chicago, a period of time when many would either be pacing or vomiting out of sheer terror, Jim leans back into the bolstered velvet of the couch in his perpetual Zen state, with the deportment of a child watching Saturday-morning cartoons in his pajamas. Jim is a deeply self-aware, spiritual redhead, and his ever-satisfied, dead- center energy is contagious. The din of the generator does not seem so urgent anymore. Jim is definitely chill.
It's time to put him back to work…
Maroon is a damn fine piece of work. If you could step back in time to when you began recording, is there anything you'd want to change about this record?
I think it was a pretty great experience for all of us. We worked with Don Was and Jim Scott. Those guys were both really great. Jim Scott was our engineer, and Don was our sort of producer/overseer, and it was just a really great collaboration. It was probably my favorite process of all the records we've done. So I don't know if I'd change anything. I'm not that smart to know if anything was "missing."
The production on the record is amazing, it sounds great.
Yeah. Yeah, Jim's a great engineer. The idea throughout the whole thing was to catch us live off the floor, just playing live, and so we just sort of carried that ethic throughout the whole session, and it was great. We just all felt we were playing well as a band, and Don was really tuned in. And he also brought it to our attention when we were playing like a band… leaving space for each other, and keeping that balance that a band only gets if they've spent time with each other.
So it was a good cross-section of Barenaked Ladies captured on tape.
Oh yeah. A lot of good stuff.
On a scale from 1 to 10, how happy are you in this band?
[Laughing] Well, y'know what, I was just reading some Patanjali Yoga Sutras, and it was saying, this is like a higher objective, or this is something that might be holding you back in life, and I was reading this thinking, geez y'know, I have every opportunity in the world, right around me all the time to work out my stuff… to, y'know …
Hammer out your ghosts.
Yeah, hammer out my ghosts, work on myself as a human being, `cause I have these people I've been around for twelve years, and they're sort of reflecting who I am back at myself. That's a real gift. As far as being happy, I'm happy for the work, I'm happy for the experience, and the opportunity to work and live and share these things with these guys. It's been pretty great, it's definitely worth it. So as far as how happy I am, I'm happy, but also my happiness is a day-by- day piece of work…
A work in progress…
A work in progress, and it's like a sculpture that I'm constantly trying to get to the core of. And some days it's easier than others.
Why is bass such a goddamn sexy instrument?
Ooh that's a good question. Bass is a sexy instrument for a number of reasons. Number 1, its shaped very voluptuously. It's got those wide sort of shoulders and this wide … bottom. It does fit a human being well because it actually compliments the human body. It's like a human body, y'know it's like a voluptuous woman. It's also planted in the ground, so you have this connection to, like, a good dance partner who's planted down on the ground. You feel like you know where they are. The bass has this end pin that sticks in the ground, you can dance with it, it's like a good dance partner. So you can do the tango. Also the swirls. You have that scroll on top, which is so ornamental and sexy. And the bass tone… it moves your … sorry to be so Yogic, but it moves your lower Chakra. It really touches those things. It moves your hips, it moves your ass. I think that's one of the great things, like in Salsa bands, the bass has such a predominant role in showing where the beginning and end of the beat is. It has a big part in that rolling effect. So, yeah, the bass can be very sexy obviously.
It is your lover.
Yes, it's your lover, what's it like.
Every now and then, do you ever just stop yourself while in the middle of say, shopping at the supermarket or while doing your laundry, and say to yourself, "Woah, I'm a huge fucking rock star."
Y'know, I have amnesia about that whole thing, about being a huge fucking rock star. It's funny, we've sold many records, like Maroon's sold like a million and a half [so far], and Stunt, five million or something worldwide, but it seems to me that it's something I do, and I always forget when I go home and deal with my life. And even on the road, my life consists of simple things, like did I play piano today, or did I say hi to my friends or whatever. So its something that seems attached to me, and it's something I forget, because it's what I do, but it's not what I concentrate on.
You certainly don't wear it on your sleeve.
No it's way too heavy. It's too heavy for any one individual.
Which word better describes you, fly or chill?
Well, I'd like to think I have a little bit of both in me. I probably think I'm more chill, but I'm actually more fly.
Do you guys have any plans to release a Wang Chung tribute album?
Y'know, that is such a great idea.
You can actually have that if you want. I will let you have that.
Really? You're not gonna slap on some royalties or something for yourself? Your own cut?
I'm not like that. No, if I offer it up, it's on a platter for you to enjoy.
God, that's awful generous… it's so off the cuff, just like that… Thank you.
Consider that my gift to you. I'm looking forward to hearing the album.
Speaking of which, I have a stellar idea for your next tour.
Mmhm?
Once again, if I give this to you, you of course will have to use it.
Oh, of course! You are our master.
Imagine go-go dancers… in cages, lowered from the ceiling. And monkeys. Lots of monkeys, just running freely around the stage for the entire show… Oh, and elephants. There would be monkeys riding elephants. From beginning to end.
Okay, keep talkin'… or wait, is that the finale?
Well that pretty much goes on throughout the entire show.
So it's like a constant finale. Yeah, I don't know how we'd be able to like… sort of…
Kick it up a notch?
Yeah, kick it up a notch.
Well, clearly, with showgirls… and penguins.
That is excellent.
So I'm looking forward to seeing the next tour.
Thank you, once again. I think we have to run it by production… our production manager. Just to see if we could pull that off.
Do you have apprehensions about the monkeys running about freely, what with their propensity to masturbate and fling poop and whatnot?
Well, I don't have a problem with the masturbating or the poop, it's just that they are probably better musicians than us, and I don't want them to show us up on stage. It would hurt my sort of rock star pride… Cause we can masturbate and poop as well as the next guy. Or the next monkey.
It's even better than my original idea, which was bees.
Bees?
Thousands of agitated bees on stage. Throughout the entire show.
Fuck, that would be so… There would be quite buzz on stage, wouldn't you say?
I see what you've done there, sir.
To conclude our interview… I know you don't want it to be over, do you…
Please let it not end.
I will now administer a short but extremely accurate psychological test battery, which I call the BonanzaRadio Comprehensive Personality Inventory.
Mmmm.
Your answers will reveal much of your true self. I need one-word answers, but feel free to elaborate. Ready?
Please.
Cats or dogs?
Well… I'm just thinking about monkeys now, really…
I'm allergic to cats, but, I'm drawn to things that I'm repelled from or repulsed by, I'm both shited and repulsed, so I will choose cats.
That is a psychological gem that you have just given me.
Really?
Ocean or mountains?
Well, you can't have one without the other, but…
Actually, geographically speaking… you can.
Really? Well, yeah I guess. You could say a plateau is something that rises above the ocean, so… okay, yeah, these are tough questions… I would have to say a mountain. I like the high peaks. I like to get the aerial view of a place.
Beatles or stones?
Y'know, I can definitely say Stones, actually. I just like them because they're just dirtier or something.
Red or blue?
Umm, red hair. I'll go with red.
Soup or salad?
I like Supersalad. I actually ordered that at a restaurant once.
Baked potato or fries?
I like… umm, could I have gnocchi? I'd like some gnocchi instead. I'm gonna say I'm a baked potato kinda guy.
Anything to drink?
Just something like a hibiscus lemonade or something.
Is this going to be on separate checks or all together?
All together man. Let's not fuck around. Let's just all have a good time and not think about the check. Somebody take it this time, and somebody else take it next time.
Let's expense it.
You can, but nothing's for free.
It is if you expense it.
Yeah? Stick around my friend.
I still don't understand how that works.
Baths or showers for Jim?
That's a simple one. I'm a total shower guy. As if you couldn't tell. Like I said about the chill and fly thing, I'd like to think I'm a bath guy, but I'm a shower guy.
Go-Go's or Blondie?
I'd have to say Blondie, cause she's … cooler. She touches people in a real deep way. I mainly like Blondie because I know her through people who love her, and I love the way they love her. I don't know her music that well, but I know people that are just soo passionate about it and that it meant something in a period in their life. She was definitely holding a torch, and… leading a … leading a …
Leading a generation!? C'mon, be trite! Don't be afraid to be trite.
I'm not that smart to be trite.
Beer, cocktail, or pot?
What kind of cocktail?
That covers well AND top-shelf tonight sir.
Hmmm. Then I would have to say … I'm drinking like, a Guinness. Something mealy.
Guinness is really kind of a combination of beer, cocktail, and pot.
Yeah, God! I think a meal beer, something dark and crunchy, something I could chew on, like a Guinness.
Big crystal meth fan?
Y'know I don't know their music so well really … [laughing]
Baking or Barbecueing?
[Long pause, he's deep in thought]
A man that drinks Guinness doesn't bake.
Yeah, obviously. But I've been baking some pretty nice mushroom and thyme and stuff. Though I like an open flame, man. I'll go with BBQ, but if I can be even more Stones and more Blondie… an open fucking fire.
Goddamn right.
Farrah Fawcett or Bo Derek?
I like Farrah Fawcett. She's got those swirls in her hair.
Paper or plastic?
I like to think that whatever one is recyclable in your town, that's what I'll use.
Final question.
Who's in the house?
Barenaked Ladies in the house! I think they are, in fact, home.
Indeed, Barenaked Ladies were dans la maison on this night, rocking the shed with much aplomb. As the throngs filed out through the gates, smiling, laughing, still vibrating from the spectacle, the Ladies went quietly back into their home-on-wheels and set off for another city, where they'll do this all again. Eventually they'll get a short break, but then they'll be right back on tour again, only next time around, there will be go-go dancers, and elephants, and monkeys, and showgirls and penguins and bees to contend with, making their job that much harder.
The next time you have chance to see BNL live, they are not to be missed, and I would do it soon before there is some kind of catastrophic elephant stampede incident. Those things get really weird when they're being attacked by bees.
-Dan DeMichele
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