1990 Tour (de France)

A big "Bonjour!" and a posting for the Francophone readers of this blog: here is an article that appeared in a publication called 'Libération,' about which I know nothing. I only have this photocopy, not an original. The photo features another outdated image with me and John Ebert's trombone, so much more visually exciting than a clarinet. You can tell by this that we were pretty lax about keeping current publicity materials available for the press. This article came out on our third tour, where we played three shows in France—a big gig at the Bourges Festival (appearing on a bill with with The Oyster Band), and then two club shows in Toulouse and Paris. In Toulouse we were on a bill with an Australian group called The Johnnies. (As in Johnny Cash, Rotten, et al.) The last two shows followed a loop through Germany and Switzerland. We were supposed to do four shows in Spain, but that fell through. (More on that later.) My French is almost non-existent, but the article seems pretty good, as far as it goes. I am pleased to be noted as a "compositeur de musique electronique sérieuse," a description that still applies. Blind Willie McTell's name is misspelled and some of the material looks like translations from other articles and interviews, but it gets the job done.

At the Bourges Festival Chuck tried to ingratiate himself with the audience by announcing that he was related to Jerry Lewis, relying on Phil to translate for him. This was greeted with blank regard, as I remember. For our last number at that show we played "Kojak Chair," and Chuck said to Phil, "See if they get Kojak on TV over here." Phil politely inquired this of the audience, and someone from the back shouted "Kojak ees sheet!" There was a short silence and then Phil replied in a deadpan voice, "Oui." This brought the house down.