Mitski Thrills Town Hall with Acoustic Take on New Album
Mitski – Town Hall – September 26, 2023
After some speculation that last year’s Laurel Hell might be Mitski’s final studio album, she delighted fans with the release of The Land Is Hospitable and So Are We earlier this month. She clarified to NPR, “I never intended to leave music … I decided to leave the industry for however long it would take for me to get my heart and soul back. But eventually, I kind of looked around and realized just how lucky I was to get to create the music I want to make and have my music reach other people.” To stamp her renewed outlook, the singer-songwriter embarked on the Amateur Mistake Intimate Shows, a four-city North American tour. The shift from the raucous production of Laurel Hell to the considerably quieter and meditative The Land Is lends to the more personal presentation of her work compared to her previous visit to Radio City Music Hall. As with the first show in Mexico City, Mitski played an acoustic set of her latest songs at a sold-out Town Hall on Tuesday night.
Running down the recent record in track order, Mitski began with its opening single, “Bug Like an Angel,” standing front and center at the mic bookended by a guitarist and a cellist. She provided a hearty hello to crowd and shared her history in the city with a story about writing “Class of 2013.” It was the year she graduated college, as well as the turning point when she decided to continue the dream of being a musician. A decade later she thanked New Yorkers for dreaming with her. The audience was rapt in the reverie of every quiver of her vocal delivery, while Mitski slowly incorporated gestures to emphasize her lyrics, from outstretched arms for “I Don’t Like My Mind” to a raised arm cue upon the lyrics “clap for me in the dark” on “When Memories Snow.”
Performing “My Love Mine All Mine” to the rafters felt like an opera singer unraveling. However, delivering the final track, “I Love Me After You,” bent over and then culminating in a lounging position brought the hall to a standing ovation. As a reward of appreciation, Mitski continued with a couple more songs from her back catalog welcoming folks to sing along. One ardent fan scream from the balcony upon the first few chords of “Francis Forever” and everyone else in the room commenced singing. After the trio of older favorites “I Bet on Losing Dogs,” the infectious “Love Me More” and the melancholic “A Pearl,” Mitski returned solo with an acoustic guitar to encore with “A Burning Hill” and a cover of Peter La Farge’s “Coyote, My Little Brother.” —Sharlene Chiu | @Shar0ck
Photos courtesy of Sachyn Mital | www.sachynmital.com
Johnny Cash performing “The Ballad of Ira Hayes” followed by the recording of “As Long As The Grass Shall Grow“, both songs written by Peter La Farge and included on Cash’s 1964 album Bitter Tears: Ballads of the American Indian.
______________________
The Ballad of Ira Hayes
Songwriter: Peter La Farge
[CHORUS:]
Call him drunken Ira Hayes
He won't answer anymore
Not the whiskey drinkin' Indian
Nor the Marine that went to war
Gather round me people there's a story I would tell
About a brave young Indian you should remember well
From the land of the Pima Indian
A proud and noble band
Who farmed the Phoenix valley in Arizona land
Down the ditches for a thousand years
The water grew Ira's peoples' crops
'Till the white man stole the water rights
And the sparklin' water stopped
Now Ira's folks were hungry
And their land grew crops of weeds
When war came, Ira volunteered
And forgot the white man's greed
[CHORUS:]
Call him drunken Ira Hayes
He won't answer anymore
Not the whiskey drinkin' Indian
Nor the Marine that went to war
There they battled up Iwo Jima's hill,
Two hundred and fifty men
But only twenty-seven lived to walk back down again
And when the fight was over
And when Old Glory raised
Among the men who held it high
Was the Indian, Ira Hayes
[CHORUS:]
Call him drunken Ira Hayes
He won't answer anymore
Not the whiskey drinkin' Indian
Nor the Marine that went to war
Ira returned a hero
Celebrated through the land
He was wined and speeched and honored; Everybody shook his hand
But he was just a Pima Indian
No water, no crops, no chance
At home nobody cared what Ira'd done
And when did the Indians dance
[CHORUS:]
Call him drunken Ira Hayes
He won't answer anymore
Not the whiskey drinkin' Indian
Nor the Marine that went to war
Then Ira started drinkin' hard;
Jail was often his home
They'd let him raise the flag and lower it
like you'd throw a dog a bone!
He died drunk one mornin'
Alone in the land he fought to save
Two inches of water in a lonely ditch
Was a grave for Ira Hayes
[CHORUS:]
Call him drunken Ira Hayes
He won't answer anymore
Not the whiskey drinkin' Indian
Nor the Marine that went to war
Yeah, call him drunken Ira Hayes
But his land is just as dry
And his ghost is lyin' thirsty
In the ditch where Ira died
_________________________________
As Long As The Grass Shall Grow
Songwriter: Peter La Farge
As long as the moon shall rise as long as the rivers flow
As long as the sun will shine as long as the grass shall grow
The Senecas are an Indian tribe of the Iroquios nation
Down on the New York Pennsylvania Line you'll find their reservation
After the US revolution cornplanter was a chief
He told the tribe these men they could trust that was his true belief
He went down to Independence Hall and there was a treaty signed
That promised peace with the USA and Indian rights combined
George Washington gave his signature the Government gave its hand
They said that now and forever more that this was Indian land
As long as the moon shall rise...
On the Seneca reservation there is much sadness now
Washington's treaty has been broken and there is no hope no how
Across the Allegheny River they're throwing up a dam
It will flood the Indian country a proud day for Uncle Sam
It has broke the ancient treaty with a politician's grin
It will drown the Indians graveyards cornplanter can you swim
The earth is mother to the the Senecas they're trampling sacred ground
Change the mint green earth to black mud flats as honor hobbles down
As long as the moon shall rise...
The Iroquios Indians used to rule from Canada way south
But no one fears the Indians now and smiles the liar's mouth
The Senecas hired an expert to figure another site
But the great good army engineers said that he had no right
Although he showed them another plan and showed them another way
They laughed in his face and said no deal Kinuza dam is here to stay
Congress turned the Indians down brushed off the Indians plea
So the Senecas have renamed the dam they call it Lake Perfidy
As long as the moon shall rise...
Washington Adams and Kennedy now hear their pledges ring
The treaties are safe we'll keep our word but what is that gurgling
It's the back water from Perfidy Lake it's rising all the time
Over the homes and over the fields and over the promises fine
No boats will sail on Lake Perfidy in winter it will fill
In summer it will be a swamp and all the fish will kill
But the Government of the USA has corrected George's vow
The father of our country must be wrong what's an Indian anyhow
As long as the moon shall rise (look up) as long as the rivers flow (are you thirsty)
As long as the sun will shine (my brother are you warm) as long as the grass shall grow
i know that a lot of peter la farge's stuff is pretty outdated in some respects but 'custer' is one of the only accurate and reasonable things ever said about custer ever. i quote it so much
One of the subsets of my Lovecraft obsession is finding and exploring fiction about Lovecraft, and I finally wrote up my short impressions of most fiction works about Lovecraft that I read/watched. Some of these definitely need larger reviews, and maybe will get them in the future, but one has to start from somewhere and these writings can at least make a foundation for them.
So, let's start. Some mild spoilers may appear.
Shadows Bend by David Barbour and Richard Raleigh: Lovecraft and Robert Howard travel the West of the USA during the Dust Bowl, persued by monsters. I'm surprised that these two meet so rarely in fiction - I mean, they never did in real life, but it still sounds like an obvious idea. Clark Ashton Smith also makes an appearence. I enjoyed the "road movie" feel of the book, and it seemed like the author tried to weave in some lore from the Bishop collaborations, which is the thing I'd love to see more often; however, the book was too plotless and the characterizations too exaggerated, too reliant on the out of date scholarship.
Gilgamesh at the Outback by Robert Silverberg: Another one about HPL and REH meeting, this time in hell. I skimmed this one, reading only the parts about them. Lovecraft is rather bland here, while REH is just bizarre. He has an over-the-top crush on Gilgamesh. WTF was going on in the Robert Howard scholarship in the eighties???
The Planet of Tastless Pleasure by Harry Harrison: One scene parodies Gilgamesh at the Outback. I enjoyed this one more than the Silverberg's book. I like Harrison's humor, what else to say?
Marblehead by Richard Lupoff: I already wrote a large review of this one. Well-researched and I guess well-characterized, but so dry that I'm afraid it doesn't live to the fullest potential. Everything just ends up feeling strangely muted, which is especially jarring in combination with the sensationalist plot and very pulp culmination.
Pages Torn from a Travel Journal by Edward Lee: Ooooof. Lee is not a bad writer, and unlike many others writing about Lovecraft, he clearly knows a lot about him and likes him very much. The other things he likes are (1) rednecks, (2) gore, (3) rape porn. The book is full of all these things and you can make a guess about how well they mix with Lovecraft. In spite of how gleefully campy the book is, the treatment of redneck characters is more sympathetic than I usually see in redneck horror, which is a plus, I guess? On the other hand, Lovecraft getting into an adventure during one of his bus travels seems such an obvious idea for a story, I'm surprised it doesn't get used often.
Trolley 1852 by Edward Lee: I liked this one less than the previous one. It's more creative though, and closer to Lovecraft's kind of horror - which is not surprising, considering that the major part of the book is supposed to be "written" by him as a book within a book (while Pages was rather, ehhh, "historical fiction".)
Pulptime by Peter Cannon: New York period Lovecraft meets aged Sharlock Holmes. Hijinks predictably ensue. A cute calm story which is probably good for removing unpleasant aftertaste of Lee's books (that's how it worked for me, anyway.) What bugged me was that the plot felt too thin for a mystery, and the author seemingly treated the anti-immigrant sentiment of The Horror at Red Hook too uncritically. Lovecraft's characterization was okay, Cannon is better at it than most, but in this book it relied on quoting too much.
The Lovecraft Chronicles by Peter Cannon: Definitely a better book than Pulptime, and the best exploration of the question "What if Lovecraft lived longer?" so far. May get too farcical at places, but I think Cannon finds a good balance between crackfic and seriousness.
The Night Ocean by Paul La Farge: A Very Intellectual postmodernist book which is also a kinda shitposty Lovecraft/Barlow slashfic. Absolutely not worth the hype it had been met with in some mainstream big journals. As far as Lovecraft's characterization goes, I'd say the author tried, however, it's still weirdly superficial and subtly mean-spirited. The treatment of Barlow is even more dissappointing - he was meant to be the center of the book, but the author seems strangely dismissive of his literary and scholarly work and desinterested in his personality. Besides, the majority of the book is not even about them, but about the dull original characters and endless cameos of other historical characters.
Night Gaunts by Brett Rutherford: The play is written by a fan from the zine fandom, and it shows: both in solid characterizations and in bad poetry. I liked this one.
The Lamp of Alhazred by August Derleth: A sentimental story about Lovecraft's legacy. One of the better Lovecraftian works by Derleth, and certainly the one with most feeling.
Balsamo's Mirror by L. Sprague de Camp: Good old "but you probably wouldn't be priviledged in your favorite historical period, gotcha". I've seen better works that poked fun at Lovecraft.
When Death Wakes Me Up to Myself by John Shirley: I was so impressed with this one that I've already reviewed it. What I like the most about it is that it's catches the cosmic wonder aspect of Lovecraft's personality, which was just as important for his life and work as cosmic horror, yet gets written about so less often.
HPL by Gahan Wilson: A story by Gahan Wilson about Lovecraft being a brain in a jar could have been more entertaining.
The Lurker in the Shadows by Nathan Carson: It starts as a very indulgent story about correspondence between the elderly Lovecraft and Stephen King in the 1970s, and then takes an unexpected turn into dark comedy about body switching. Simultaneously one of the least racist portrayals of Lovecraft and one of the most villainous ones, though I'm afraid the author didn't think it through. On the other hand, it's not often that you read about Lovecraft marrying Beyonce.
Lovecraft in Heaven by Grant Morrison: Bad trip.
Night-Gaunts by Joyce Carol Oates: An examination of Lovecraft's life, or, rather, an alternative Lovecraft. Unfortunately, it's one of these tiring takes that talk about how Unhappy, Troubled and Neurotic Lovecraft was, and how Gothic and Gloomy his life was. As far as Oates stories go, this one is far from her best, very slow-going and hard to follow at times. More could have been done with the possibility of Lovecraft's father living longer than he did, though I agree he would probably leave less favorable impression on Lovecraft in such case.
The Premature Death of H.P. Lovecraft, Oldest Man in New England by Thomas Ligotti: Seems to be an another take on body hopping, but subtly so? Very short. Well-written, but I'd expect more from a Ligotti story about Lovecraft.
The Exiles by Ray Bradbury: Lovecraft appears in one version of the story, sitting near the fireplace and eating ice cream. Everyone in this story is benevolently caricatured, so I'm fine with it.
Letters from an Old Gent by W.H. Pugmire: The style reads nothing like Lovecraft (but I think it wasn't really the intention, anyway) yet it still works, somehow. Pugmire's case is similar to Lee's, that is, their fondness for Lovecraft is such that it actually improves the quality of their writing. His emotional intellect also appears to be more developed than in most other Lovecraftian writers.
Lovecraft by Hans Rodionoff and Enrique Breccia: A mix of Lovecraft's biography (in the out of date interpretation) and the usual "but what if what he wrote was real???" I heard there were plans to make a Hollywood adaptation of it, and it certainly felt like one at times. The art was great, but the story was way too visceral and hysterical for either Lovecraft's biography or Lovecraftian horror.
Providence by Alan Moore and Jacen Burrows: Well-researched and well-thought out. Moore definitely cleaned out his Lovecraft game after the dissappointing Neonomicon. The comic is more about Lovecraft's characters, Lovecraft himself appears only in one issue, but plays an important role in the entire story (well, duh). His characterization is satisfying both as realism and as metafiction, though the usual Moore bullshit is still present in small amounts. Not a huge fan of art, and Lovecraft gets black hair yet another time (and looks like in his forties at 1919).
The Strange Adventures of H.P. Lovecraft by Mac Carter: I don't remember this one well, but I remember that Lovecraft here doesn't have much in common with the real one neither in personality, nor in biography, nor in looks. Some things are done with the "underappreciated artist" part of his life, but without the context of his life, they don't amount to much.
H.P. Lovecraft: He who Wrote in the Darkness by Alex Nikolavitch and Gervasio-Aon-Lee: Well, this one is a straightforward biography of Lovecraft, or, rather, his life from 1925 on. As such, it was alright. I liked the way the artist used colors, and that some people from Lovecraft's life like Loveman got more attention than they usually do.
One Night with Lovecraft (Une nuit avec Lovecraft) by Philippe Marcele and Rodolphe: A fan from the future gets a chance to hang out with Lovecraft in the 1930s. Not bad, but had too much padding at times - do we really need shortened adaptations of some Lovecraft's (and one Poe's!) stories within such kind of comic? The artist was great at drawing urban landscapes, but much worse at drawing people.
R.H.B. by Andreas and Riviere: An old French comic about Barlow, his time with Lovecraft and later life. This one would have been better if the artist knew what Barlow looked like. His real appearence would go well with the artist's style.
Rough Riders: Ride or Die by Adam Glass: Lovecraft briefly joins the main team as someone who can see ghosts. I liked the main characters, who were also historical personalities, but Lovecraft himself was super bland. At least the art was decent (and he didn't look grotesque like he often does in the comics.)
Out of Mind: The Stories of HPL: This one is memorable, but mostly because of the actor's performance. The plot is a mess.
Here's the playlist for this week's edition of Mondo Radio, which you can download or stream here. This episode: "When the Stars Begin to Fall", featuring the sounds of the atomic age and more. If you enjoy it, don't forget to also follow the show on Facebook and Twitter!
Artist - Song - Album
Bertrand Russell - The Achievement Of Harmony - Living In An Atomic Age
The National Broadcasting Company Feat. Bob Hope & William L. Laurence - The Biography Of The Atom - The Quick And The Dead, Vol. 1: The Story Of The Atom Bomb
Edward R. Murrow And Fred W. Friendly - Chaplain's Prayer Before First Atom Bomb Mission; Hiroshima Attack; Japan Surrender; MacArthur - I Can Hear It Now ..., Vol. 1: 1933-1945
Major Records - Geiger Counter - Sound Effects, Vol. 14
Brave Combo - Crazy Serbian Butcher's Dance - Polkatharsis
Buchanan Brothers And The Georgia Catamounts - There Is A Power Greater Than Atomic - There Is A Power Greater Than Atomic (Single)
Hawkshaw Hawkins - When They Found The Atomic Power - When They Found The Atomic Power (Single)