Dave's Clipping Archive (I)

Here's a review of a live radio performance that we did on a show called "Bound for Glory" at Cornell University, in Ithaca NY. It broadcast weekly, on Sunday evenings (for all I know, it's still going strong...). We played at least three of these while I was in the band; this was the second, I think. At that time the program was one of the longest-running folk shows in the country, hosted by a fellow named Phil Shapiro, who I suspect was one of those booing Dylan for using an electric guitar back in the sixties. The audience was largely hard-core folkies, who were nice enough folks, but could be a little too sincere at times. They also tended to impute their own political and social priorities on us whether it was appropriate or not. They loved us for our "authenticity" which meant that we were playing acoustically, mainly. The fact that in most other venues we could (and would) play as loud as the Ramones seemed to be of no account to them.

There was no payment for this gig. However, usually the artists would bring merchandise and sell to the audence between sets. The first time we did this show, we neglected to bring anything whatsoever to sell, and were taken aback by the demand for CbJE product. (This illustrates the general entreprenurial cluelessness that dogged us back then...) The next year though, we took lots of T-shirts, tapes, cds and such and did pretty well.

The writer here was certainly enthusiastic (he really overreaches things in a couple places...), although as with most members of the press, he seems to emphasize mostly the peculiarities of the group, not its firm grasp of American styles nor its innovative synthesis of these traditions. We lost track of the number of times that the adjective "quirky" was used to describe us or our music. To his credit, he does acknowldge the band's musicianship, which didn't always happen. (To his discredit, he joins the legion of other journalists who mispelled my name in their articles...)

A clarification: When we played as Colorblind James Experience, we were an electric, amplified, rock 'n roll outfit. A loud one. When we played as Colorblind James and the Death Valley boys, we were an acoustic group, audible within a radius of 20 or 30 feet. I usually only played clarinet on these occasions, and Joe would bring his bag of mutes to expand the coloristic possibilities of his trombone. We played basically the same repertoire, although some songs, such as "Solid! Behind the Times" or "Talk to Me" were not really adaptable to the acoustic format.