if it ain’t hoboken, don’t fix it (ylt, night 4)

(Thanks to Ariella for the posting title…)

It’s just a wonder to me that I can see Tortoise and the Sun Ra Arkestra on consecutive nights, on a tiny-ass stage, playing both by themselves and with Yo La Tengo. The Arkestra was in fine form, digging deep and weird, and coming up with “I am Gonna Unmask The Batman,” a cut from the cosmos-spanning Singles anthology that YLT has drawn from repeatedly.

Like the Arkestra, YLT’s set was, by turns, sloppy, inspired, and joyous. Highlights included a gorgeous “Beach Party Tonight” opener, a half-dozen impromptu Stax-on-Saturn horn arrangements, an overdriven “Big Day Coming” (with trombone blowing a mutated Dixieland counterpoint to the two-note riff), and a full-charge segue into an even-more-overdriven “Little Honda.”

I’m, er, skipping tomorrow. So, if anybody goes and wants to pass a aetlist along, I’d be happy to post it.

Yo La Tengo at Maxwell’s
28 December 2005
*(Hanukah, night 4)*
The Sun Ra Arkestra and Jon Glaser and Jon Benjamin opened.

Mix disc by WFMU‘s Small Change.

(“Beach Party” through “Double Dare,” and “Clumsy Grandmother” through “Nuclear War” with members of the Arkestra.)

Beach Party Tonight
Georgia vs. Yo La Tengo
Don’t Have To Be So Sad
Out the Window
Double Dare
Tears Are In Your Eyes
Stockholm Syndrome
Walking Away From You
Can’t Forget
Clumsy Grandmother Serves Delicious Dessert by Mistake
Deeper Into Movies
Big Day Coming (fast) >
Little Honda (Beach Boys)
Nuclear War (Sun Ra)

*(encore)*
I Dream of Jeannie (Hypnolovewheel, with Stephen Hunking on guitar and vocals)
(I Live For) Cars and Girls (The Dictators, with Todd Abramson of Maxwell’s on vocals)
Dreaming (Sun Ra)