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#Post#: 481--------------------------------------------------
SHADOWLAND (Project of The Week for 9th of October)
By: moleshow Date: October 9, 2017, 10:17 pm
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i think it's a bit spooky, with all the rebirth, birth, NDEs and
reincarnation. you know.
#Post#: 484--------------------------------------------------
Re: SHADOWLAND (Project of The Week for 9th of October)
By: Meisekimiu Date: October 16, 2017, 2:32 pm
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SHEEEEE-ADOWLAAAAND
Shadowland is currently the closest I've come to seeing The
Residents live-- more on that later. I first experienced
Shadowland for the first time this year. I stayed away from
watching it until I watched Theory of Obscurity, and I delayed
that for a while since I wanted to wait until I was READY to
watch that. So, to be clear, I've only really experienced the
webcast version "Live @ Etrange Festival" and listened to the
live album put out later.
Anyway... Shadowland is... kind of weird. I mean, the whole RCB
Trilogy is weird, but Shadowland is weird as a conclusion to the
trilogy. Talking Light had completely original songs and video
content written for it. The Wonder of Weird had Randy's whole
crisis dominating the narrative with no videos. And Shadowland
returns to the video format but offers no original songs and a
good percentage of the videos are based on existing songs. This
is quite weird... the trilogy gets less interesting as it goes
on, with TL being the most groundbreaking. But of course there's
the whole "Life in Reverse" theme going on, which means that the
shows are getting more interesting over the course of the
narrative. Which is a much better way to look at it.
I really like the song selection for Shadowland. I'm happy to
see Is He Really Bringing Roses? performed live. And I think the
Shadowland performance of Constantinople is pretty great. And
Hard & Tenderly being performed live is just really special. One
of my favorite songs from what I've experienced of Shadowland is
the version of "My Second Wife". Is it being mashed up with
another song or did The Residents just add lyrics to the song?
I'm pretty curious, I really like this version.
Anywho... way back in 2016 was the US Shadowland tour and I was
hyped. But there was a problem. I was going to a much more
expensive concert in California the day The Residents were
playing in my city (Phoenix, AZ). I had VIP tickets to some
Japanese "idol" concert and was going to be spending the weekend
in California... but The Residents were going to be performing
their last show in California that same weekend! So, I bought
tickets for the Solana Beach show, excited to finally see The
Residents.
And so there I was. In some beachside town at around sunset,
outside a venue to see The Residents for the very first time.
And there were other Residents fans there too! It was surreal.
I've talked to a few Residents fans face-to-face before, but
I've never been in the company of that many fans before... heck,
I've never been in the presence of more than one at a time
before. I talked to one woman who mentioned something about
seeing the Talking Light shows or something. I remember she said
to me, "You're really going to enjoy this show, all their shows
are always so crazy". I was so excited.
But in the back of my mind, I knew there was a problem. Most Rz
shows are in venues which serve alcohol and I was just under the
age of 21 at that time. That fact was actually why my friends,
who I was staying with and who drove me all the way to Solana
Beach, were with me in line to get into the venue. There was
uncertainty as to if I'd actually get into the venue. If I
wasn't allowed in, we'd all go to this famous Korean Barbecue
place relatively nearby. But soon it was time to start letting
people in, even if The Residents and crew were apparently
running late. And they were doing ID checks. As they got to me
in line, I just asked for clarification that it was a 21+ show
(which I already knew it was) and just told them I didn't have
my ID on me and walked away.
My friends urged me to get back in line anyway and show them my
ID, just in case they did let me in and just wanted my ID to
clarify that I'm under 21. I told them that probably wasn't the
case but they told me it wouldn't hurt to try. I went back in
line and the ID check guy immediately confronted me. "You said
you didn't have your ID but I saw you talk to your friends over
there. I know you have a fake ID," he said to me. "What? No this
is my ID. I'm under 21 but they wanted me to show you my ID
anyway." "Well then why did you say you didn't have your ID
then? Huh?" "Well I knew I wasn't getting in anyway so I didn't
want to get out my ID!" "I saw you talking to your friends, man,
I know all the tricks people use to get into bars" "I'm not
trying to trick you, my friends just thought that I should show
my ID anyway!" And with that he said he'd get security if I
persisted any more. Which is weird because I thought he was
security but whatever.
Anyway, I turned back to my friends, feeling very much
disappointed. I think I might have had tears in my eyes. As I
walked back, I remember seeing a car pass by the venue. I'm not
a car person but it looked like a pretty nice car. There was
another car closely behind it, and I recall seeing some kind of
big marching band bass drum in the back seat. And there was this
person in the first car. Maybe I was just feeling really
emotional at that moment, or maybe the tears were blurring my
vision but that person looked so familiar somehow... but maybe
it was only in my mind.
We're taking you... to the Shadowland...
#Post#: 487--------------------------------------------------
Re: SHADOWLAND (Project of The Week for 9th of October)
By: moleshow Date: October 17, 2017, 8:14 pm
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aw, mewee. that's super sweet. your time will come. i can feel
it- the struggle of being JUST A LITTLE BABY and having that
sort of ruin everything all the time.
i'm a LAZY ADMIN and so i've decided to leave this one up
until.... ehh... friday of this week, then i'll let the final
one kick in for this month, which will last until halloween.
#Post#: 489--------------------------------------------------
Re: SHADOWLAND (Project of The Week for 9th of October)
By: moleshow Date: October 20, 2017, 3:16 pm
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instead of going about this in the manner that i usually would,
with deep, serious analysis of the show’s role in the
Residential world, what it means, what its presence indicates in
conjunction with the rest of their works, all that sort of
stuff, it feels more fitting to do something a little more
personal here.
see, in 2015 (while the south american run of Shadowland was
going on), i discovered The Residents. needless to say, nothing
was ever quite the same after. after i became acquainted with
the vague shape of their concept, i dared to delve into what
they were up to in the present. it was a strange time.
conveniently, the US tour had yet to rear its head, so over the
next few months, i swam around in the deep end for a while…
then, april arose and it was TIME FOR MOLESHOW TO SEE
SHADOWLAND.
and that i did! sitting outside of the 9:30 Club at 1 in the
afternoon, i sat there with my buddy. waiting. making awkward,
apologetic eye contact with Miles and Hein. making slightly less
awkward eye contact with employees.
when the time came, hoo boy. i had a dumb, smiling look on my
face the whole time. there is something so particularly magical
about the sounds of Shadowland. the guitar sighs, sparkles,
jumps, sometimes screeches… the keyboard creates a physical
space that surrounds you in a fluttering, floating world of
checker-print beauty. the vocals give texture and meaning to
that space. that’s a stupid, fancy way of saying that the music
is good.
making frequent eye-contact with Randy was accentuated by the
fact that he was, yknow, sort of putting his crotch in my face.
it seemed as if he came over to the side i was on more often
than the other one, but maybe i’m only imagining things.
ANYWAYS.
what i really love about the show besides all that (even the
Nike Clown Shoes- like, hey? what?) are the Shadow Stories.
there is something so particularly beautiful, short and sweet,
about them. they all seem to hold a mournful aggression, or an
aggressive sense of mourning. (also, that version of Mourning
Glories makes me weep- that guitar just sings.) they’re sort of
ethereal and beautiful. super cool stuff.
i would go into detail about making terrified eye contact with
Nolan and EDF after the show, or witnessing Homer, Jana and
Francis all walk past me, or even meeting Homer… but that’s,
perhaps, for another time.
SHADOWLAND GOOD SHOW. INCREDIBLY IMPORTANT TO ME.
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