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Ahh... New York City. I hadn't been down here since last New Year's, and was greatly anticipating this trip. Friday morning I headed for Utica to pick up Mike and Kelly, and awoke to a winter wonderland. It took me from seven till almost ten to make it; normally, it should take a little less than two hours. :(

Mike was faithfully waiting for me at the thruway exit. We went to Mike's mom's in Utica, got Kelly, and the three of us headed to the Bronx, to meet up at Lisa Goldberg's. We pulled up around four and waited for Lisa to come home from work. Once she arrived, we chatted for a bit and headed to Manhattan.

After some minor setbacks, like heading to Queens, we made it to the Mercury Lounge by six or so. We immediately found Laurie and Craig, and stopped in to a restaurant across the street from the venue to grab a bite. Jason, Colleen, Rob, Jenn, Heather, and Chad joined us shortly thereafter. We traded photos and stories, signed the 'happy-face man' postcard, and waited for doors to open at 7:45.

It was raining. And it was very cold, I might add. The venue finally let us in after we were all thoroughly soaked. Tory Cassis went on around 8:30, played a short set, to a VERY mesmorized audience sitting on the floor. It was like having someone in your living room singing to you by a fireplace. Peter Sillet went on a little past nine and played for a half hour as well. He was decent; the crowd didn't seem as into him, though.

Fruvous come on around 10:30, and played for more than two hours. The set was a little mixed up from what we're used to with the new tour, which was nice. Chris and Zard arrived before they went on, and during/afterwards I said hellos to Ben Feingold, Bill Bowen, Susan Tanner & Kevin (from BLR), and some others, whose names I can't remember.

After the set, we didn't have much time to chat, and we were finally booted out (actually, very graciously) by two in the morning. Kelly, Mike, Lisa and I headed back to Lisa's, and stayed up chatting, and playing Jenga. Oy!

Till tomorrow...

From Colleen Campbell:

*Godawful Long Review And Therefore Not For The Faint Of Heart. Don't say you weren't warned.

I've already read a couple of reviews of individual shows this weekend (Gordon's & Vika's of Saturday), and I'm sure there are more being constructed by others as I type this, but I've always been one to love reading of others' impressions and points of view of the shows they attend--in much the same way that Fruvous is more than the sum of its parts, so is the Fruhead group. And this will be the last review I have the chance to do until the Fruhead show next February, so I'm drawing out the experience as long as I can make it last. . .

I had some really rotten luck this summer with getting to Fruvous shows (and getting home again)--NINE HOURS late once--so I was quite paranoid about my flight getting out on time, Friday afternoon: it was scheduled to leave at 4 and get in at 7, with Fruvous reportedly on at about 10, but I'd also be trying to find the venue on my own, in a very large, strange, not-hugely-safe city in the dark, in the cold, it's too late, it's too far, etc etc. . . So I finally decided I'd rather not spend the day worrying, blew off work (heh. I love my job, have I ever mentioned? ;) and went to the airport in the morning, hoping against hope for a standby flight. Got the first one out, easily, and got into NYC at about 3:30. (The flight was late, so everyone else was griping, while I was going, "Cha-ching!! I'm here hours early!") To skip ahead to the punchline of this meandering tidbit, the next day, Dan Jablonski found out for me that I had even more reason to be self-congratulatory: the original flight I was to take not only would have been late. . .it never left! Weather conditions got too bad, and I would have been stuck in Florida until the next morning.

So, I had plenty of time to chill with other Fruheads, which was lovely. Many of them were reminiscing about the Philly show the night before, which only served to get me all the more psyched for the upcoming trio. That was the first of the nights we kind of took over some eating establishment or other--Nice Guy Eddie's, across from the venue, where we exchanged pictures from previous Fruhead trips, caught up with each other, and spilled beer on each other. ;) I'm sure I'm going to forget *someone* who was there the first night, but dredging my memory brings up Heather Rolph (down from T'ron'o, as she pronunciates it, for her first-ever-night in NYC), Chris O, Chris T and Zard, Jason, Mike & Kelly, Bronx Fruhead Lisa, Chad from Indiana, Jenn Pike, Craig and Laurie, roB!, and Dan and Jered; I was also introduced to Jo, Bonnie, Joan, and Kimberly (Shilfell) later on..

Then came the fabled wait for the fabled opening of the doors. Ceecee gets her first taste of sleet in, um. .. well, I was never good with numbers. A long time. The venue wasn't hugely sympathetic to our plight, and opened the doors about half an hour after they said they would, but we finally whimpered our way inside. Okay, so *I* whimpered my way in. Two years of perpetual heat = wusshood. We all commingled and babbled and whatnot, and wended our way into the sanctum sanctorum, which was frigid frigidairean, to wait for Tory Cassis.

By the time he came on, a couple of people were sitting on the floor, and because there were to be two openers before Fruvous, I thought I'd be a follower and, at the risk of getting piles or something , flop my butt down on the concrete floor too. Everyone pretty much followed suit after that, setting the trend for the next two nights. It was, as Susan characterized it, a hushed, almost reverential atmosphere: everyone was very respectfully quiet, they clapped only after the last strains had faded away from each song, and basically, it felt like everyone was really *listening*.

It was gorgeous music: unpretentious, effacing the performer for the sake of the song, words that seemed like a carriage for the emotion they contained, and a very tender touch on the guitar. Tory really, really seemed to appreciate the audience's reaction, too, and was so humble as to attribute our presence there wholly to our devotion to Fruvous. We assured him, each night, that we were there that early to hear *his* work. Of especial note to me were the song he wrote with Dave, the song with the refrain, "Forgive me for committing such a crime" (sorry, I have no titles), and the one in which the audience enthusiastically snapped fingers in time. For whoever-it-was that asked, Tory says his album will be out next summer, including Stateside.

I can't remember the next performer's name, and that should give you an idea of my opinion of his music, too: he was a basic folk artist, maybe with slight punk overtones, and too loud and unengaging. Kind of like Hamill on Trial, on Valium. I thought the contrast interesting: Tory didn't put himself in anyone's face, just gave what he had and allowed the rapport to grow out of quietude, and everyone responded with respect and appreciation. I kind of wanted to walk up to the other performer and suggest he follow suit.

There was quite a long break until Fruvous came on, perhaps attributable to the amount of preparation a live recording setup takes. I did notice that nowhere in the three shows did any of the band have to ask for any modification in their monitors or mics, and I'd guess they did very thorough soundchecks beforehand. The sound, to my very-untrained ears, sounded really great: very vibrant, never too loud, a good fit for the small performance area of the Merc Lounge.

I didn't grab a set list, but it was a fairly long set, with all the new treats we've been getting: opened with a cappella Message to You and included the jazzy Boo Time and the slow WLUV-->Your New Boyfriend and Fell in Love, and the full Green Eggs and Ham. (Jian, as usual, went on too long for my tastes about his Papal animal-vegetable-mineral sex life during the GE&H intro. I've heard a lot of discussion about this, and it seems most people think it either in poor taste or simply not engaging, so I'm not sure what Jian's intending to get across.. . But I digress.) I don't remember Poor Mary Lane and On Her Doorstep, but I could be wrong. We did have Lazy Boy, with the standard "Who has a stereo that rocks?" line, as well as the standard tease with the opening of "Video Bargainville"--and, if I recall correctly, there were so many digressions and animal noises from the audience that Jian, perhaps for the sake of the live recording, started the song over. I'd never heard the Talking Heads' version of Psycho Killer, but two days before I'd happened on The Bobs' cover of it, so I could sing along fairly well, and I was glad for that--it was marvelous, the energy was great. I, for one, am really glad to be getting covers of what Fruvous has long named as their favorite performers--Elvis Costello, Talking Heads, Stevie Wonder. . .

The audience was appreciative but not extremely energetic (though it was a sell-out audience, 250 people), but the guys played to us as they always do: lots of joking, lots of silliness, lots of reminders that this was a live recording and we were encouraged to scream our fool heads off. Which I did, evidence of which showed up by the next night. There was plenty of clapping and singing along in the group around me, but then again, the group around me was Fruheads, so I probably don't have an accurate impression of the audience as a whole. The audience was quiet during quieter songs like Fell in Love and Alison (for which Chris and Laurie were happily swooning in my vicinity), so I know it wasn't that they didn't care. Well, that and the fact that they were rather enthusiastic about squishing forward: we all morphed into sardines for a while, there

A few other notes (I don't remember all that much, actually, it being 3 nights ago): Jian looked right into the Fruhead group and grinned when we said along with him, "We're Moxy Fruvous from Toronto, and my baby loves a bunch of authors!"--which has rattled him in the past, to see people doing that. They tried a skit before I Love My Boss, with Dave, Mike, and Murray caricaturing the three "boss types"; I thought it a little too drawn-out and unfocused, but it was a nice change from the dog-food-factory story. Everyone kept ragging on Dave about his hair, or lack thereof (he had fuzzies going by then)--and he made some quips himself, though I can't remember on which night this took place. He was compared to Susan Powter and Yul Brynner, I do remember; surprisingly, not Picard. . . Mike accidentally switched the verses in Boo Time, which threw them off, and afterwards they mocked themselves with scat about "switcheroonie" and half-rhymes. Jian wore his traditional "I dig your boyfriend" shirt (which some people hadn't seen yet--Doug Levy, I think, commented on it). There was a great fake-out before Jockey Full of Bourbon--playing the intro to Sahara on accordian (I was disappointed, at first, thinking we were going to get the acoustic, dumbek version of Sahara). During Darlington Darling, Jian and Murray played bumper-cars off each other. Oh, and one note from the setlist I saw: I think it was Jian's, and it had Boyfriend and Fell in Love written as "Shit-Fell" and Michigan Militia and Johnny Saucep'n written as "Michy-Sauce" (takeoff on "vichyssoise," I would presume) which made me grimace wryly once again at their brilliance.

Afterwards, much hobnobbing with everyone--Ella, Hayley, Bill Bowen (the first I'd met him, in all this Fruving, and I was so out of it by then that I blurted something like, "You look nothing like I thought you would!"), St. Caffeine Vika--my PFR (possible future roomie!)--who came bounding in at some-godawful-o'clock, Jessica and Carps, Ben(ji), Susan (she of little sleep, who brought me an XTC tape, as promised!--what other band in the world would inspire their record reps to give presents to their fans?!). . . A huge group of us arranged to meet at Jekyll & Hyde's (trendy theme-restaurant) for a late lunch the next day, and then those of us crashing at Jason's stumbled our way out at after 2, went out for pizza, listened to (what else?) the show we'd heard that night, and were finally in bed at about 5. Moxy Fruvous: Swahili for "Sleep deprivation."

• I've Gotta Get a Message to You (A Cappella)

• Chatter
  • Jian: Welcome to Moxy Fruvous in New York! We here at Moxy Fruvous are all Republicans. Not in the American sense, that would be insane. I mean, of course, in the Australian sense. We feel that it's time for Canadians to throw off the monarchy. We don't want that woman's face on our money. We hate the monarchy! Actually, there was this one monarch... Is it the Shah of Iran? No, the Shah died in 1980 of cancer. Is it Ferdiand Marcos? Wasn't a monarch. Eh, fuck you! Is it the queen of tapestry, Carole King? Not a monarch, despite her name.
  • Mike: Here comes the story about a guy whom on the next American birthday he's gonna get down and sing the theme to the 70's hit show 'Room 222', the King of Spain!
• King of Spain
  • Murray, during the intro: The pleasure is infinitely mine, King.
  • Jian, during the intro: Still hoping to date Jewel.
  • "King, how are you such a Chomsky-ite? There's a hat on your head... [Mike cackles]"
  • "give ALL of these people chocolate eclairs"
  • "now the Jets call me up to drive the zamboni"
  • "Ladies & Gentlemen, I introduce to you the Mark Messier ???..."
  • Jian, before the epilogue: The crowd looks like deer caught in headlights.
  • The audience, before the epilogue, coaxes the guys into doing a big "OH DEAR!"
  • "Should I tell them, jamokes? Tell us King!"
• It's Too Cold
• Chatter
  • Jian: Thank you, New York humans. We're actually taping tonight's show. Videotaping the show, and the audience, looking for people for Cops, the TV show. They're reliving the whole Keith Richards thing in Toronto. No, we're taping for a live album. Let the audience at home know what you think.
  • Audience member: Let's go, Rangers!
  • Jian makes note that Dave said "The Jets" in King of Spain.
  • Jian: You are aware that the Jets are not a hockey team?
  • Murray: At least he knew he was in New York City.
  • Mike: He did say Messier, a star NY Ranger!
  • The audience boos.
  • Mike: You suckers!
  • The guys talk about Messier a bit.
• Horseshoes
• Down From Above
• Chatter
  • Mike: Don't blame Dessenex! People go down the street, with their problems, always blaming it.
  • Jian: We don't often do this, but this is an educational exercise.
  • Jian & Murray discuss how Moxy Fruvous are purveyors of education.
  • Jian: Yes, we're patronizing. You will learn. As Alanis says, "You Learn".
  • Jian: Tonight we give you three examples. You may have, may have had, or may have [in the future] an employer. We give you three examples of an employer. Boss Type 1.
  • Dave takes the forefront of the stage and pretends to be a boss who's trying to get some drug-filled boxes moved discretely.
  • Jian: It's improv folks, come on. That's a very defined boss.
  • Jian: Boss Type B!
  • Mike acts as the go-get-em, patriotic, "we're workin' for Uncle Sam", manufacturing these fake shnozzes, American's working!, send a salami to your boy in the army, boss.
  • Jian: Boss Type 3!
  • Murray comes out very quietly and solemnly and approaches Jian slowly. He asks "Where is it?"
  • Jian: I don't know what you mean, sir.
  • Murray, looking frustrated: Ok, I'm gonna ask one more time. Where is it? Play all the games you want. Are you playing games with me?
  • Jian: I'm sure I can help you find it.
  • Jian: Where are you going with this, Boss Type 3?
  • Murray: *That's* what I'm looking for, and if you can help me, I'd appreciate it...
  • Jian: Then there was my boss in Thorn Hill, Ontario. Working at a pet food store between the ages of 13 and 16...maybe you can relate.
  • Murray gives the pitch cue from his bass.
• I Love My Boss
  • Jian says "You're done!" with a Scottish accent.
  • "Who knows what Shopsies (??) will be bringing?"
• Chatter
  • Jian: It's a real crap shoot with those improvs, huh?
  • Mike: When it comes to the revolution, we're really all you've got left. Moxy Fruvous is the last hope.
  • Murray: It's a pleasure to look at your country from a slight distance.
  • Dave sings a line from "From a Distance".
  • Dave makes note of the difference in the sound system at the Mercury Lounge since the last time they were there.
  • Mike: We're hearing none of the house, but we're hearing a lot of the trip hop. Let's talk about technical stuff.
  • The guys do a tease of Particle Man with the words "technical stuff".
  • Mike talks a bunch of tech-talk into his megaphone.
• Michigan Militia
• Chatter
  • Jian: We here at Moxy Fruvous are a protest group. We're saying yes to food! Against the anti-food people.
• Johnny Saucep'n
• Chatter
  • Murray: It's fun being down here in America.
  • Mike notices a person in the audience taking notes on the show.
  • Mike: Whaddya got there scribe? You know the foreman doesn't allow that.
  • Murray: It's the Rolling Stone guy again.
  • Mike, talking as the reporter: To say that the show was an embarassment would be an understatement. The songs were spotted with local references that the band seemed to wish to use to pander themselves into a bit of a gold chubby with the audience. The golden chubby was not forthcoming in the eyes of this reporter.
  • Jian takes over: At the same time the Chemical Brothers were playing, it was hard to tell if Moxy Fruvous was performing, or re-adapting Gilligan's Island.
  • Mike continues the reporter dialogue a bit more.
  • Jian: Who has a stereo that rocks? Who wants a stereo that rocks? Who will cheer for stereos that rock?
• Lazy Boy
• Boo Time (Jazz Version)
  • Mike, intro, audience call and response: Gun sounds. Bomb sounds. Hoot owl noises. Dog noises. Cat noises. High squeak. Hoot owl. Gun.
  • Mike: I hear a hoot owl. I hear a hoot owl. I hear a hoot owl, Lord Bayden Powell, Vanna White buy the boys another vowel, and please baby please make sure there's an umlaut, my dot (???)
  • Mike accidentally sings the second verse first, and to correct the mistake, sings the first verse second.
  • "the crown, the cleric, the recluse"
  • Mike & Dave call and response: Scat lines.
  • Mike & audience call and response: Soho boho. Track star Flojo. Juliani. Bite my fanny. US sprintswear (??). Murderous opare (??).
  • Final improv line (repeated 4x): Crankin' up the heat on Houston Street!
• Chatter
  • Murray: For the last week in the van, that's all we do is make up lyrics for that. Pass the cookies...
  • Jian: pretty good cookies...
  • Dave: a van full of rookies...
  • Jian: Now pass the shit ones... person in Cleveland made.
  • The audience moans.
  • Jian: Why is that a big deal?
  • Dave: Because of the Cleveland Indians.
  • Jian: Yeah, NYC is a big Indians town.
  • Dave goes into "Honky Tonk Blues" and the guys join in.
  • Dave: Here's a bit of a cautionary tale...
• Ash Hash
  • Murray waits a while, surprises the audience with his inhale, and giggles before the song kicks in.
• Chatter
  • Jian talks about their appearance on WFUV that day, and how great a station it is.
  • Jian claims to be 'Sporty Spice', and says he's looking forward to 'Spice World'.
  • Jian: I hope the first half of the movie is just them throwing their boomerangs yet.
  • Mike: And tying men to the roofs of their car.
  • Jian mentions that Ricky Lee Jones called the station while they were there.
  • Dave: WFUV is no WLUV, folks. It's all talk radio. Sometimes they play Evergreen.
• Your New Boyfriend
• Fell in Love
• Chatter
  • Mike does a quick impression of Lazlo, and Jian talks about him for a few moments.
  • Jian talks about Lazlo's fetish for meeting women at gigs, and asking them to go for a hike with him. He also mentions that Lazlo was a nudist.
  • The guys all do impressions of Lazlo, imitating him describing his evenings with the women he picked up.
  • Jian: Great guy. Totally innocent. He just happens to like being naked.
  • [This is the 'Naked Puppets' banter from Live Noise]
  • The guys talk about Grover being naked, and Oscar the Grouch swearing.
  • Jian talks about Ernie and Bert's clothing.
  • Big Bird feet/socks/leg warmers are discussed.
  • Jian: Big Bird is a woman dressed as a man. The original Sesame Street transvestite.
  • Mike does his Oscar the Grouch imitation.
• No No Raja
• Jockey Full of Bourbon
  • To lead into this song, Murray and Dave do an accordion/bass rendition of Sahara.
• Chatter
  • Jian: How are the people in the blackness? In the second half of the room?
  • An audience member brings up a joke from a previous part of the show.
  • Jian talks about how the crowd looks when the lights come on.
  • Mike sings some John Denver songs, after an audience member yells his name. Mike takes a lot of liberties with the lyrics. "Leavin' on a Jet Plane" is the main tune he parodies.
• The Incredible Medicine Show
• Video Bargainville
  • Jian says "yadda yadda yadda" instead of the last "Just ask for Roger".
• My Baby Loves a Bunch of Authors
  • Jian, during the drum intro: Well, we're Moxy Fruvous from Toronto, and my baby loves a bunch of authors!
  • "Pulp Fiction"
• Get in the Car

• Psycho Killer
  • Jian, during the bass intro, thanks the crowd, mentions that this was the first place they'd ever headlined, and plugs the mailing list and the next two nights in NYC.

• Chatter
  • Mike comes out on stage: I am the walking stick man. I'm here to make sure you've read your books. Have you all read the JD Salinger? Liars. Have you all read the Faulkner? Fucking liars. Have you all read the Dr. Suess?
• Green Eggs & Ham (full version)
  • Murray, after Cheese comes out: Not enough red meat in your diet. Mr. Cheese has a weird thing for orange scarves.
  • Dave asks Murray: Were you in Boogie Nights?
  • Murray, introducing Sam: Apparently he grew up in the Bronx.
  • Audience member talking about Sam: Hey, it's Waldo!
  • Jian: When I was 16, with my kiwi and duck...
  • Murray: A few skeletons in his closet.
  • Mike during the vocal intro: Opening theme! Leitmotive!
  • During 'Not the Beatles', Jian: This is where Paul McCartney and Linda released the Ram (??) album. This town, where John Lennon was shot. They shot him out of love. The Beatles were a very influential group.
  • Dave: Is this West Side Story?
  • Jian sings 'Wild Boys'.
  • Jian: They influenced groups like Duran Duran.
  • Mike makes some Beatles and Duran Duran references.
• Chatter
  • Jian: That was wacky seeing everyone's face all of a sudden.
  • Murray: I didn't like it.
  • Mike does a band imitation: "Have you seen her face?"
  • An audience member yells out the Birds.
  • Mike: Who said that? Scram!
  • Jian: What does he get?
  • Mike: He gets a chat with Murray.
  • Murray looks at the audience member: Hi... Oh well...
• Fly
• Chatter
  • Mike makes a bunch of weird clicking noises.
  • Jian does a drum beat with his mouth.
  • Mike speaks over the drum beat. The others join in.
  • A vocal percussive extravaganza ensues.
  • Mike: We all scream for ice cream.
  • The drum beat stops and starts unexpectedly.
  • Mike talks like an old farmer milking a cow: Can't seem to get another drop out of that one.
• Darlington Darling
  • Dave opens the song with 'Scotland the Brave' on the accordion.
  • Jian: Ladies and Gentlemen, on the accordion tonight, everyone's favorite Love Boat captain, Mr. Gavin McCloud.
  • Dave makes a comment in place of one of his accordion runs, something inaudible about Love Boat: "Julie is not my ???"

• Chatter
  • Mike, in a child's voice: Downstairs, there's a secret passageway, it's very dark.
  • Jian: We'll see you very soon...in about 20 hours.
  • Dave: You were all so quiet in between songs...maybe a little too quiet!
  • Dave: If we get out the pressure treated Valvoline hose, maybe we can get a little action out of the audience.
  • Mike sings "Sisters of Mercy". Any Leonard Kwan (??) fans? We're gonna do the whole fucking album.
  • Mike keeps singing. Dave sings a line too.
  • Jian: We're gonna do a song by an artist that was very influential to us.
  • Audience member: Stan Lee.
• Alison

Some other tidbits from the performance include:

• Feel free to help contribute to this section!