Mp3s: An Unfortunate Gothic Archies Event
Posted on November 21, 2006 at 1:09 pm | No Comments
It is plainly obvious that Mr. Lemony Snicket simply does not like children. The proof is not only in the terrible trials he puts the Baudelaire children through in his now-finished, 13-part “A Series of Unfortunate Events” books, but in the fact that he left hundreds of them in the lurch last month at the high school in Natick, Massachusetts. Mr. Snicket was scheduled to appear on-stage alongside Mr. Daniel Handler and Mr. Stephin Merritt (aka The Gothic Archies) to not only read selections from his writings, but to make the musical duo a trio by adding much-needed percussion to songs inspired by those same unfortunate events (which appear on the recently released “Tragic Treasury“). But the scribe never arrived.
Fortunately for the 800 or so in the crowd (which appeared to be comprised almost entirely of kids, their parents, and, uh, me), after phoning Mr. Snicket to discover his whereabouts, misters Handler and Merritt carried on without him, apologetically entertaining us with a few of the afforementioned songs and words. A potential disaster was averted thanks to these two supremely talented gents, with no thanks to the absent author.
Here, then, is the aural evidence of that evening, along with a few photos and some links below. Notice the conspicuously empty chair between our hosts…
Daniel Handler & Stephin Merritt
aka
The Gothic Archies
Live at Natick High School
in Natick, Massachusetts
October 16th, 2006
01. Allison Morris – “An Introduction” (spoken)
02. Daniel Handler – “I Wouldn’t Applaud If I Were You” (spoken)
03. The Gothic Archies – “Smile, No One Cares How You Feel“ (song)
04. Daniel Handler – “The Ridiculous Lie” (spoken)
05. The Gothic Archies – “This Abyss“ (song)
06. Daniel Handler – “Something Of A Disaster” (spoken)
07. The Gothic Archies – “Shipwrecked“ (song)
08. Daniel Handler – “Two Volunteers” (a reading)
09. Daniel Handler – “Scream And Run Away“ (song)
10. Daniel Handler – “Warm Feelings” (a spoken farewell)
Some related Handler & Merrit links…
The main Lemony Snicket site, his Wikepedia entry, and the official site for The Gothic Archies – “The Tragic Treasury: Songs from a Series of Unfortunate Events“, where you can stream tracks from the album. Hit up the Gothic Archies MySpace page to stream some songs as well, and use the links on this page to purchase the album from a variety of retailers. The unfortunate event above was sponsored by The Wellesley Booksmith, and the introduction was from their children’s book buyer, Allison Morris. For all things Stephin Merritt, the only place you need visit is The House of Tomorrow. Sub-sites can be found there for his Magnetic Fields, The Future Bible Heroes, The 6ths, and of course, The Gothic Archies. I may very well have missed this fine performance were it not for this timely post at the Phoenix’s music blog, On The Download. Their books blog, Word Up, wrote up their own review of the evening right here. Talk about worlds colliding: Stephin appeared on Fox’s “Good Day Atlanta” as part of the promo tour for “The Tragic Treasury”. He chats a bit and performs “Smile, No One Cares How You Feel“. Many more performances of songs from “The Tragic Treasury” can be found over on (where else) YouTube.
again with the fine print… If anyone has an issue with this live set being made available, just say the word (contact info in the ‘nac faq). Recorded with a Sony ECM-719 mic and a Sony MZ-RH10 minidisc, converted to .wav and then edited to 192kbps mp3s. Mp3s are made available for a limited time, and are not reposted once removed.
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