king kong, the lothars
indie rock, alt.folk
9:30 – Midnite
$9 donation
stacie slotnick presents
“the critique of pure reason”
with
-King Kong (drag city records)
-The Lothars
King Kong:
They play it funky, funny, repetitive, rythmic, melodic hypnotic, serious, mysterious, bluesy,
emotional and conceptual. Their shows should make you feel like you are one of the those natives who are performing an ancient ritual dancing under the torchlight to manifest the spirit of King Kong into a physical reality.
Why is King Kong called King Kong? Because in 1988 founding member Ethan
Buckler wrote an essay for his friends about how King Kong represents his
philosophy of life and he decided to call my new band King Kong. You know
the story. King Kong was a movie from the 1930’s about a giant ape that
lived on a primitive island where he was worshipped by the natives and then
the white people came and captured him and took him to New York where he
escaped and climbed the Empire State Building clutching a blond girl named
Fay Wray in his paw. The story isn’t so important as is the whole idea of
King Kong. He’s big, primitive, natural, supernatural, funky, freaky,
hairy, misunderstood, brutal, gentle, evolutionary, passionate, African,
and tragic. Just like the band’s music. They play it funky, funny,
repetitive, rythmic, melodic hypnotic, serious, mysterious, bluesy,
emotional and conceptual. Their shows should make you feel like you are one
of the those natives who are performing an ancient ritual dancing under the
torchlight to manifest the spirit of King Kong into a physical reality.
King Kong are on Chicago’s Drag City Records label.
http://www.dragcity.com
http://www.kingkongtheband.com
The Lothars:
In July of 1996, Kris Thompson showed up for a barbecue at Jon Bernhardt’s
new home in Somerville, Massachusetts. Kris had played in several Boston
area bands, including Nisi Period, Jasmine Love Bomb, and, most recently,
Abunai!. Jon had been hosting a morning indie-rock program on MIT’s
community radio station WMBR-FM since 1984. Between bites of his sausage
sandwich, Jon mentioned to Kris that he had recently built a Theremin.
“What a coincidence,” replied Kris, “for I have recently built one too.
Why, wouldn’t it be fun if we found some other Thereminists and assembled a
Theremin orchestra?” This idea was nearly forgotten until December of
1996, when Kris and Jon heard about a psychedelic music festival that was
to take place in Providence, Rhode Island, the following April. Entitled
Terrastock, it was a benefit for the British music magazine, Ptolemaic
Terrascope. Both Kris and Jon were longtime fans of the magazine, so they
figured that if they were ever going to attempt the Theremin project,
Terrastock would be a good place to perform. Jon contacted the organizers
who were so intrigued by the concept, that they immediately gave the guys a
slot. Thus, Kris and Jon had booked their first gig before they even had a
band!
It seemed like it would be a good idea to have some drums to hold
everything together, so mutual friend Ramona Herboldsheimer was asked if
she’d like to join up. Ramona has also played with many Boston area bands,
including The Wild Stares, New Parts From Old, Twig, and most recently
Orans (a.k.a. Balloon Chase Team). After practicing with the boys for ten
minutes she decided, and they agreed, that the combination of the sharp
sounds of the drums with the sharp squeals of the Theremins was just too
….. sharp! She picked up the guitar she had only begun to learn a few
months earlier, and everyone realized immediately that it was the right
thing to do. Ramona’s guitar playing serves the same function as a drummer
in more “normal” bands, providing a rhythmic foundation for the theremins
to play against. At this point, adding more Theremins would only make
things more chaotic, and things were plenty chaotic as it was. The Lothars
had their lineup settled…. for now. It changed a few more times, and
right now members include: Kris Thompson: Theremin; Dean “Deknow” Stiglitz:
Theremin, Wind Synth, Homemade Electronics; Jon Bernhardt: Theremin,
Sampler; Ramona Herboldsheimer: Guitar, Violin, Hammered Dulcimer, Log
Drum.
http://www.wobblymusic.com/lothars.
production: stacie slotnick for thecpr: thecprthecpr (at) yahoo dot com
www.thecritique.org
