Thinking Fellers Union Local 282 - May 6, 1995 - Barristers
photo by Chris Walker
My old radio show co-host and best friend, John Thomas is responsible for turning me onto one of my very favorite bands in existence, Thinking Fellers Union Local 282. I was still in my hardcore punk and thrash phase but starting to expand my tastes when I met John in 1991. He had a voracious appetite for new music like myself and exposed me to space rock, prog rock, kraut rock, experimental noise and spoken word. John turned me on to many bands but I’m most grateful for TFUL 282.
Lovelyville was my first TFUL 282 listening experience in 1992 and I couldn’t figure it out at first (not sure I have it figured out now) but it took root and grew on me. I was chomping at the bit to bring them to my hometown. I put in a standing order with their booking agent: Route TFUL 282 to Memphis when they’re in the area and I’ll send in a competitive offer. A year went by after that order was placed. No word.
I maintained a healthy relationship with TFUL 282’s booking agent when I opened Barristers. Coincidentally enough, right after the Sonic Youth show happened, I got the call. Turns out the lead singer of the band Live loves TFUL 282 and invited them to open for his band on a spring tour and the Fellers just happened to have an off night from the tour in our area. Good things were happening.
In my experience of booking events, some neat shows occur when great bands have off nights/fill-in dates when opening for big venue headliners. This was the first of those experiences (another big one is on this list). They didn’t have any support and didn’t want any. They had enough material to do two full sets with an intermission, which was when they wanted to show a short film, “Meet The Thinking Fellers”, by their travelling sound man Gibbs Chapman.
Allow me to bullet point:
Sherman Wilmott and Shangri-La Records were instrumental in building the popularity of TFUL 282 in Memphis. Because of them, the show was very successful and led to more TFUL 282 shows like the one later that year with Mr. Quintron & Miss Pussycat:
It was two full 50 minute sets with the aforementioned intermission and if you’re a fan, it was glorious! Gibbs Chapman took a piece of crap sound system with no subwoofers and the cheapest acceptable microphones I could afford and made TFUL 282 sound immaculate. The band are masters at stage volume, too.
photo by Chris Walker
John Thomas was excited. I rewarded/punished his friendship with me by making him my bar manager when I opened the place. He asked for the night off so he could enjoy the show. John attended the evening’s festivities under the influence of psychedelics and got more than he bargained for when, in mid psychedelic journey, he went to the bathroom and saw a member of TFUL 282 sitting on the toilet engaged in one of the most dreaded occurrences: The Rock Club Bowel Movement (punk rock club + punk rockers = no bathroom stall doors). Never meet your heroes…pooping.
One thing I cherish about this show and a big part of why it’s is on this list, is that I made friends with TFUL 282. I really enjoyed their company. They’re sweet, friendly people constantly making hilarious, bizarro, disgusting jokes amongst each other. We ended up doing 3 shows at Barristers that year. They stayed with me at my parents house one of those times.
Since I’m bringing up those 1995 shows, I have most of Wed. August 9, 1995 (Babe The Blue Ox) on cruddy camcorder video. Although this show was great, it’s not part of this list, but when else am I going to have a reason to post it?
Here’s a couple of songs from Wed. August 9, 1995:
I guess they like me. They thanked me on their album “I Hope It Lands”
…and who is that right above my name? Someone I didn't personally know at the time of the record’s release, but now, I’m pretty good friends with. He was nice enough to star in my short film. He’s done alright for himself. That’s us below after a Neil Hambuger performance.
I ended up seeing Mark Davies in Portland, OR in 2005 at something called Rock N’ Roll Pizza when he was nice enough to attend a show I invited him to (he lives/ lived there at the time) when I filled in on bass for an Epoch Of Unlight tour:
(l-r) Mark Davies, Chris Walker, Jeff Grunau - Portland, OR
It was pretty darn cool to get to show a musical hero of mine that I also know my way around an instrument and playing in that band gives you the opportunity to show it since their songs are technically challenging.
Jesus Lizard/Six Finger Satellite - Aug. 26, 1996 - Barristers
Flyer and photos by Chris Walker
The Jesus Lizard are another band that John introduced me to. I liked it right away. They opened for Sonic Youth at the New Daisy Theater on Beale St. on Nov. 11, 1990 and, although I wasn’t there, they made an impression because they were the band everyone was talking about.
After some in-depth listening to the first 2 records at John’s behest, I was hooked. I had been dealing with their booking agent for over a year at this point and it was not a secret that I wanted to do a Jesus Lizard show but they weren’t touring small venues. They were opening for big bands and playing large festivals.
At this point in the story of Barristers, we’re close to the end of my stewardship. A good deal of drama had occurred in the short amount of time from the Sonic Youth show at Barristers in April 1995 to August 1996 and none of it led to an increase in revenue. I was tired. That made me question whether I was cut out for running live events. 2 people ran The Antenna for 15 years. I’m in my mid 20s, I hadn’t been doing it steady for two years and I’m already worn out? Also, I was about to be a father.
I don’t recall much about the booking of this show. Jesus Lizard were coming off of a Rage Against The Machine tour and starting a headlining tour for a month with Six Finger Satellite opening. I had never heard 6FS, so when I got the promo for their new record “Paranormalized” which had come out literally weeks before their Memphis show, I was knocked out by it and acquired the remainder of their catalog. The Jesus Lizard were touring in support of their new album “Shot”, their major label debut on Capitol Records, which came out a few months earlier.
A very early (1996) reference to the “internet” above.
This show is on this list for the following reasons:
Goat, Liar, and Down are a hat trick of flawless records to me.
It was in the proper venue. It was crowded but not sold out. I made the guarantee and expenses back.
The bands sounded great. The room sounded great. David Yow was dynamic and hilarious as usual. Yow is one of my favorite front men, which led to this below…
Just for funsies, I will list my top 5 all-time favorite front men by position if they were a basketball team:
PG: David Yow
SG: Jello Biafra
SF: H.R.
PF: Iggy Pop
C: Lux Interior
Their tour manager (pic below) was a very nice young lady whose name escapes me. She made the whole affair a breeze. They say that over time, people don’t remember what you said but how you made them feel. I can vouch for that. All I remember was wanting to take her picture so I could remember her for being so pleasant in a situation that can be really stressful for all parties (but wasn’t!).
I remember David Yow being very affable from the moment they walked in the door. The rest were cordial and pleasant but not exactly friendly. They were definitely taking a step or two down in comfort level. They just got done touring large venues which have nice, clean, private dressing rooms with bathrooms. Welcome to your dressing room, boys! Barristers kitchen and back hallway! Hope y’all aren’t shy poopers!
David Yow and I did shots of Maker’s and toasted the upcoming birth of my son, Benjamin. He was born 3 days later.
I booked The Jesus Lizard one more time about a year later at Barristers after Mike Glenn and the New Daisy took it over. That show is noteworthy since I took this photo below:
The band thought enough of this picture to immortalize it in their coffee table book with their standard, titular, one four letter word brand: