Pinthouse Pizza
Mysterious Residents Return
RECEIVED Mon., Jan. 18, 2010
Dear Editor,
The Residents can easily be described as a performance art band from San Francisco, but what is not easy to describe is what they have done with music, visual art, and the use of modern technologies manipulated over the last 38 years. They are one of music's most prolific and versatile bands in the industry without being tied into the industry. Since 1972, the band has released more than 65 albums, dozens of limited-edition CD projects, numerous music videos and short films, three CD-ROM projects, and 10 DVDs and have undertaken seven major world tours. Their albums are often complex conceptual pieces composed around a theme, theory, or plot and are noted for surrealistic lyrics and a disregard for standard Western pop-music composition. Soundtrack work for the Discovery Channel, and an installation at the Museum of Modern Art are only a few of their credits. Their live shows are works of performance art with symbolic stage props, mysterious costumes, and dramatic theatrics. To this day the band remains shrouded in mystery, best illustrated by their iconic eyeball-and-top-hat look. The reasons why the Residents have not been to Texas in more than 20 years are not clear. I personally have traveled more than 1,000 miles each time they have toured over the last 17 years, and I am excited to have the chance to see them here. Keeping true to form, this tour is also a bit mysterious, being called the Talking Light tour. I have no idea what is going to happen. There is no press release for it yet. This is the information from www.residents.com: "The story of the Talking Light piece is basically that of an older man who questions, not only decisions he made as a teenager, but also if the events he remembers from that time happened at all. 'A dead infant clutching a ring with an inscription the teenager cannot read' is the stuff of dreams. The following stories in the show may or may not shed light on the inscription. Questions remain unanswered. The Residents study death, not as a horrific end, but as the ultimate question that we all ask while wondering if any of it is even real." I can't wait. Feb. 2, Stubb's.
The Residents can easily be described as a performance art band from San Francisco, but what is not easy to describe is what they have done with music, visual art, and the use of modern technologies manipulated over the last 38 years. They are one of music's most prolific and versatile bands in the industry without being tied into the industry. Since 1972, the band has released more than 65 albums, dozens of limited-edition CD projects, numerous music videos and short films, three CD-ROM projects, and 10 DVDs and have undertaken seven major world tours. Their albums are often complex conceptual pieces composed around a theme, theory, or plot and are noted for surrealistic lyrics and a disregard for standard Western pop-music composition. Soundtrack work for the Discovery Channel, and an installation at the Museum of Modern Art are only a few of their credits. Their live shows are works of performance art with symbolic stage props, mysterious costumes, and dramatic theatrics. To this day the band remains shrouded in mystery, best illustrated by their iconic eyeball-and-top-hat look. The reasons why the Residents have not been to Texas in more than 20 years are not clear. I personally have traveled more than 1,000 miles each time they have toured over the last 17 years, and I am excited to have the chance to see them here. Keeping true to form, this tour is also a bit mysterious, being called the Talking Light tour. I have no idea what is going to happen. There is no press release for it yet. This is the information from www.residents.com: "The story of the Talking Light piece is basically that of an older man who questions, not only decisions he made as a teenager, but also if the events he remembers from that time happened at all. 'A dead infant clutching a ring with an inscription the teenager cannot read' is the stuff of dreams. The following stories in the show may or may not shed light on the inscription. Questions remain unanswered. The Residents study death, not as a horrific end, but as the ultimate question that we all ask while wondering if any of it is even real." I can't wait. Feb. 2, Stubb's.
Deanna Szuter