byron conley’s story : backstage at gbv show w/j + thurston

[rambleon]

if someone posted this before, i am sorry !, but i’ve never seen it … byron conley is talking about when he + thurston moore + j went to see gbv play amherst + apparantly it was their best show ever …

you can read about it here

Guided By Voices

In the recent past, Ohio has been host to one helleuva great underground musical-drunk tradition. And then some. I mean, any state that could produce Ron House, Don Howland, Bob Pollard, those Deal broads, and so many tipple-happy others in such a brief span of years must have something very special in the water. And whatever that something special is, Mr. Pollard has quaffed it by the bucket. But what sets Bob apart from the pack is that, while those other Buckeyes can get meaner than Christians when they drink, Bob has always managed to be courtly (at least around me) no matter how plowed he might get.

The best I ever saw him was at some gig that GBV did at Amherst College in the early ’90s. Thurston Moore was in town visiting, so we went to see the show, and J Mascis (who also lives locally) met up with us there. Anyway, the three of us are in the dressing room, sorta looking around to see what there is to eat and/or drink and Pollard comes staggering through the door. We look up. He looks at us, immediately wheels around and staggers away. We look at each other. J says something like, ‘Wow’. Thurston and I start poking around in the freebies again. A few minutes later, Bob staggers back into the room and there are tears streaming down his face. He lunges across the room and grabs us all in this weird bear hug, doing it so suddenly that J can’t wiggle away. Then he starts going, ‘You can’t believe how great this is. I can’t believe you guys all came to see us play’. Bob’s almost fucking sobbing and J has the same stunned look he gets on his face when he misses a two foot putt. Anyway, this went on for a while and since Bob’s from Ohio, I kept thinking that it was some kinda trick and that he was gonna punch us all in the stomachs in a second or so. But that was not the case. He was actually glad that we had come to see him and was reacting in the only drunken fanboy way that he could.

Of course there’s been a lotta water under the dam since those days, but Bob still acts like he’s happy to see me when we meet up and that’s a rare trait these days. Especially amongst Ohioans. Bob has also never hit me in the head with a garbage bag, smashed a glass table at my house or pissed in my car. This puts him miles ahead of his statemates in terms of sheer manners, so even if his songs weren’t so goddamn good he’d still be okay. With me, anyway. So hey – viva him! Viva GBV! Viva Ohio!

Byron Coley, Deerfield MA 2002

[Robert]

This story is so funny, and what’s even funnier to me is that I read this in the liner notes to Hardcore Ufos this morning and thought to myself "hmm… I wonder if anyone’s posted this on fs.." Thanks for doing so Rambleon

[rambleon]

crazy ! :aliensmile:

[Author]

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