Jukebox Jury with Mr. Show

[Conversation's been going on for a while before I roll tape. WCKR SPGT, (Car In Car Disco Product) has been on since they arrived.]

David: These Cheetos are like butter. Do you do that thing where you suck them down to nothing?

Bob: What do you think of WCKR SPGT? Do you like the Palace Brothers?

Franklin: Um, well I guess I think...

Bob: 'Cos I don't.

Franklin: ... they're not really as good as they're supposed to be.

Bob: Right. Do you have the Vic Chestnutt tribute album? A band I was gonna ask you about has a song on there. Oh, they're so fucking great. I don't have the album, my fianceé has it... I can't remember their name.

Franklin: Where are they from?

Bob: They're from America.

David: Can you be a little bit more vague?

Franklin: We played a show with Vic Chestnutt in Athens once. He just covered all the songs on this one Daniel Johnston tape and gave his guitarist shit.

Bob: These guys, this WCKR SPGT, they're friends of yours? What do you think of them?

Franklin: Actually, I think they're geniuses. They've done, like, thirty cassettes.

Bob: Have you heard of 10 Cents, from Silverlake?

Franklin: I've heard of them, I've never seen them.

David: This kinda reminds me of the Coolies' Doug now that I've read the liner notes.

[Bob tries to call his fianceé on his cell phone to figure out what band he's thinking of.]

Bob: She's not there. I think they're from North Carolina. I just wanted to ask you about them.

Bob: I like this WCKR SPGT.

David: I'd listen to that shit. But I wonder if I'm also being biased because of the Cheetos.

Bob: I usually get the crunchy ones but these are good, they're an alternative.

Franklin: So, there's a question: Is alternative comedy as idiotic a label as alternative rock?

David: Absolutely. It's only a way to distinguish what isn't traditional standup, and that's all it is. There's so many other things going on than that--that label doesn't do a real service.

Bob: Yeah, music is a good analogy. Fifteen years ago it wouldn't be alternative, but now it's alternative because there was this comedy boom in the mid-eighties where everyone performed in this homogenized standupy style, and that became comedy, which is so weird because before that, that wasn't necessarily what comedy was. And now, people are doing comedy normally, and it's called alternative.

David: But you're looking at it from an analytical point of view. I think the only reason people use alternative comedy is 'cos it's lazy writing.

[Momus, "Lucky Like St. Sebastian," Circus Maximus, 1983]

Bob: Who's this guy, Momus? I've never heard of him. This is great [laughs].

Franklin: He's this Scottish guy, he's been making records since, like '83, the first three or four are this acoustic, fey thing.

Bob: Like Nick Drake.

Franklin: Yeah, it's like Nick Drake mixed with Oscar Wilde and Jacques Brel. He recently started doing electronic, almost dancy stuff.

David: Who's Nick Drake?

Bob: This is so like--is it good? I mean it's hilarious, it kills me, but it's like a guy doing a character.

Franklin: Well, his real name is Nick Currie. I interviewed him recently, and we talked at length about what the Momus persona is.

Bob: Really? So, he's self-aware.

Franklin: Very.

Bob: And funny. I like this, but he's being real funny.

[David picks up a Pulp CD from my boom box.]

David: Pulp--I can't stand them. It's self-aware and cute and dramatic.

Franklin: What's wrong with a little drama?

David: All that shit takes away from the music for me.

Bob: So Momus isn't very well-known?

Franklin: No, but he recently wrote some songs for a Japanese pop singer that went Top 10 over there.

David: This is kind of Pulpish.

Franklin: Yeah, Jarvis Cocker's a big Momus fan, and so are the Pet Shop Boys.

Bob: This guy's amazing, and no one's ever heard of him.

Franklin: See, it's a learning experience.

Bob: Yeah, I'll come over here every week. "Oh, Odenkirk's here again."

Franklin: "Look, I don't have any more Cheetos."

[Lynnfield Pioneers, "Yo's to Go"]

Bob: These guys were just signed to Matador?

David: Ten bucks says I'd like this band live.

Bob: Yeah. Sounds like a good live band.

Franklin: It's not exactly a masterwork of songcraft.

Bob: Is there another song on this single before we ruin their careers?... "Well, I think the guy's fucking show sucks, so fuck him. Ha ha ha, real funny, it's on HBO, who watches HBO? No one. Comedy's dead, let's go write another song that sounds bad on record but good live."

[We flip the record]

Bob: This is... kind of a mess.

Franklin: This side is badly recorded.

David: But that's cool, man!

Bob: We didn't try! That's the point--too many people trying in this world and that's what wrecks everything. If people just wouldn't try, everything would be great.

Franklin: I haven't tried for years.

[Ashtray Boy, The Everyman's 4th Dimension (Ajax)]

Bob: So Ashtray Boy's from Chicago?

Franklin: Well, it's this Australian guy who records in Australia and then has a different band in Chicago.

Bob: Is he independently wealthy?

Franklin: No, he's an oceanographer.

David: Say no more.

[Discussion of Folk Implosion, Green Day, British accents.]

Franklin: With Green Day, it's like punk diction. I don't think they're trying to sound British, they're trying to sound like some other band that was trying to sound British fifteen years ago. It's like Elvis Costello usually sings in an American accent.

David: I don't know about that. His speaking voice...

Bob: Well, I think we can all agree that he's the best lyricist alive.

David: Uh, no, Billy Joel for lyrics and Daryl Hall for music.

Bob: I'm sorry, you're right, I was wrong. And how about Elton John for style?

David: Elvis Costello, you can get into if you're really smart and have feelings but Billy Joel, that stuff transcends anything. Everyone knows what it's like to say, "Man, you think you're such a big shot." So I can relate to it, as well as the eighty-year-old man working on the railroad in the Midwest.

[Fuck, Baby Loves a Funny Bunny (Walt)]

David: I like this.

Franklin: This is the attractively named Fuck.

Bob: Is this sign language for "fuck"?

[Bob now looking at Franklin's bookshelf.]

Bob: The Warhol diaries look pretty funny.

Franklin: It was good. I read it when I was sick.

Bob: You read it, huh?

David: Who's this again? Fuck? I like this, I liked the last song too. That band I'm trying to think of sounds like this. I wonder how these people talk to their parents.

Franklin: Maybe they all have really cool parents.

David: Or maybe they're orphans.

[Bob's looking through some records. We consider Mad Love, Linda Ronstadt's "new wave" record, and the Upper Crust's Let Them Eat Rock--David remembers the Titanics--and then Bob happens on Neil Hamburger, America's Funnyman (Drag City).]

Franklin: Do you know about this?

Bob: No, I want to hear this. Is it music?

Franklin: He's America's funnyman, just like it says.

[They listen to "The Diagnosis."]

Neil: I've been diagnosed with a terminal case of funnyguyitis.

David: Is this a joke? This has to be a joke. This is great, there's like six people in the audience.

[We listen for a while.]

Neil: That moment of silence for George Burns? It's over, folks.

BOB & David: [laughter]

Bob: This is amazing! Who has the money or the time to do this? Who is this guy? [Looking at the record] Gregg Turkington?

Franklin: Yeah. He runs Amarillo Records. He did two singles, and then Drag City wanted to do an album.

Bob: This is too good. "What a show!" He really caught himself on a hot night, in a bad small club, people aren't listening. [Laughter]

[Bob has to leave early so they all go outside and take pictures. Bob departs.]

Franklin: So what's the deal, are you guys in between taping shows?

David: Yeah, we just found out that we're going to get to do twelve more.

Franklin: Where did you do them before?

David: Down at Hollywood Center Studios. It's studio to the stars. Of infomercials. Goddam these Cheetos. What is this?

Franklin: This is Sleater-Kinney. [First 10", Chainsaw Records]

David: I kinda like that.

Franklin: It's good, it rocks. They're very good live... they're from Olympia. Their drummer was Australian, but she left after this record.

David: Yeah, I like this... Oh, man! I stepped in dogshit when we were outside. I thought something stunk. Man, it's on my pant leg. Can I use your bathroom? This is just so I can survive the ride home..

[Interview cut short. David exits, carrying shoes.]

Epilogue: I ran into Bob and David the next night at Sebadoh. David tells me he doesn't like the 10 Cents record Bob was recommending, and that he really liked the Fuck record. The band Bob was trying to think of all afternoon turned out to be Richmond, VA's Sparklehorse, who do sound a little like Fuck, if you squint.

I happened to be with Joel from WCKR SPGT, so I introduce them. Bob asks me about some band, and I say they have a good drummer, but not many people go see a band to watch the drummer. Joel says, "That was the problem with the Beatles," which Bob thinks is really funny.

Another friend of mine, Bill Magdziarz, comes over and asks Bob, "Hey, wasn't that guy you were just talking to on Mr. Show?" Bob gets the joke, but doesn't seem to think it's quite as funny as Joel's. I didn't find out what they thought of the (good but strangely paced) Sebadoh set, but I did notice them being led backstage after the show. Cable has its privileges.