Second Story- Bloomington, Indiana

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Permalink Reply by Bill Zink on June 30, 2008 at 11:51pm

I was at that TFUL 282 show. Good stuff. What year was that? It may have been just before I left the area, and definitely after I had pretty much stopped hanging out in Bloomington.

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Permalink Reply by Jeb Banner on June 30, 2008 at 11:53pm

November 1995 was the first one and April of 96 the second. I think the new version of Arson Garden opened the second show, was it Snack Time or another name at the time? I don't recall if there was a third act that time around.

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Permalink Reply by Bill Zink on June 30, 2008 at 11:55pm

I was at the show with Red Red Meat, so that must have been 95. Also, was there something about them missing a guitarist that show? I remember speaking briefly with one of the band members.

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Permalink Reply by Jeb Banner on July 1, 2008 at 12:00am

yeah, I think there was something about that, but they didn't sound like they were missing a guitarist. The second TFUL282 show, they were missing a guitarist so maybe that was the one you were at, maybe that was Red Red Meat? I'm confused.

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Permalink Reply by mike whybark on July 1, 2008 at 12:58am

JPS, Jan Henshaw, yes. Jan and Bob Lucas and others were part of a quite heavy-duty local trad scene that was entirely invisible to us as kids. It's a complete tragedy that Jan literally worked ALONGSIDE Herb and Joey at the Spoon and as far as I can tell there was no actual cross pollination.

Love the idea that Gillian and David played second story in secret. You know they have Berklee ties, I think?

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Permalink Reply by mike whybark on July 1, 2008 at 1:02am

Oh, and I saw Thinking Fellers up here a BUNCH, but gave up! Seems like maybe they knew Malice or something, but the reason I was a die hard was the "union" silliness. My job at the time was designing logos for local labor unions. I still see these on bumbers and hardhats around the region and it nearly compensates for the terrible pay and micromanagement that was involved in producing them.

Anyway, I've just never adjusted my ears to post-noise free pop, and so after a few shows, it was clear: thinking freely was not to be my bag, bummer.

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Permalink Reply by Andrew Nord on July 1, 2008 at 1:18am

Brad Wilhelm's production of "Tommy" in 1989 was amazing. I remember them also doing a version of "Baba O'Riley" in which Jake Smith performed the keyboard intro on bass. Needless to say I was blown away. I still have a t-shirt from the show, although by this point it is more hole than shirt.

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Permalink Reply by Loralie on July 1, 2008 at 4:13am

John, was the very talented curly haired man Jeff White? Those Gillian Welsh / David Rawlings shows were great. Especially the after hours jam session Chili parties at Bruce's. Mike, some Spoonies supported Janne Henshaw and I remember seeing Herb at some Bluegrass shows so I believe there actually was some cross pollination. Those Bluegrass shows in the mid to late 90's were so different than my other experiences as Second Story. Very refreshing.

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Permalink Reply by John P. Strohm on July 1, 2008 at 10:01am

Re: Red Red Meat: I shared management with them in the mid-1990s, so I played with them quite a bit. Tim Rutilli actually directed a really sick Velo Deluxe video, and I wish I could find it on you tube because I'd put it up with my next blog post. He's a terriffic guy, and I'm a big fan of Califone, his current band. Thinking Fellers sort of went over my head. I almost missed Teenage Fanclub's 1989 U.S. debut at the Middle East because I was so annoyed with Thinking Fellers. Just didn't resonate w/ me. I guess I'm just square...

Loralie: Yes, Jeff White is the guy. He's a genius. I didn't learn about the Welsh/Rawlings Berklee connection because I was too intimidated to speak with them. Sounds like I should've dug a little deeper, because it sounds like the older set of Bloomington roots musicians were having more fun than us anyway. Eating chili and after-hours acoustic jams would be just my speed these days.

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Permalink Reply by Mike Beam on July 1, 2008 at 10:24am

Of the Velo-Deluxe / GBV combo - Velo won the night hands down. If I could relive just one night at Second Story - I would choose Warren Zevon every time.

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Permalink Reply by Jeb Banner on July 1, 2008 at 10:55am

TFUL 282- they were a difficult band to love for sure. I really only got into the Strangers From The Universe album (which I recently re-discovered having found it on vinyl at Missing Link). Their earlier stuff was pretty noisy and didn't have the same focus on melody which is what always draws me in, melody over a great rhythm bed. But something about the Strangers album really resonated, and still does. It seemed to be proclaiming the end of humanity on this planet which now seems prescient.

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Permalink Reply by John P. Strohm on July 1, 2008 at 4:36pm

Thanks for that, Mike. We were definitely stepping up our game to warm the stage for our heroes du jour. The vibe that night was really electric. Second Story at its most alive.

Final factual note - the show was 1/27/95, and Alien Lanes came out 4/4/95.

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