photos by Ryan Muir

"We can't read most of the notes we scribbled during Pere Ubu's rendering of Alfred Jarry's 1896 Absurdist masterpiece "Ubu Roi" at (le) Poisson Rouge. But that turned out to be entirely within the spirit of the vintage experimental rockers' shambolically brilliant U.S. debut of the spectacle retitled "Long Live Pere Ubu!" As an onscreen title suggested during intermission, "The more you drink, the more sense it makes." Apart from a schematic story about Pere Ubu's conquest of Poland, lost war with Russia, and ignoble return to France, the six-act work's sense was far less important than bandleader David Thomas's daft yet deft sensibility.

"Basically, it's just a fucked-up Macbeth," said Thomas by way of introduction - adding that the Little Rascals' notion of "Hey, let's put on a show" was his main inspiration...." [Village Voice]

Pere Ubu performed Long Live Pére Ubu at Le Poisson Rouge on Sunday night (3/28). David Thomas was backed by a full band and animations by the Brothers Quay during the approximately 90 minute show (split in half by a 20 minute intermission).

"Thomas, the remaining original member of the seminal Akron, Ohio, group, proceeded to polish off a bottle of wine and a flask of something stronger during the next two hours, while sweating like a pig in a pervy raincoat. Pere Ubu's frontman has declared the show's accompanying recording "the only punk record that's been made in the last 30 years," and he's got a point. The show's chaotic march of writhing, stuttering, mincing, hectoring, slurring, farting, bunny-hopping belching, and tantrum throwing, led by a besotted 55-year-old working out his midlife crisis in public, makes younger punks seem like quaint nostalgia acts in comparison..." [Village Voice]

More pictures from the show, below...

Continue reading "Long Live Pere Ubu played @ Le Poisson Rouge (pics) "

David Thomas as Pere Ubu...

Pere Ubu, the long-running band fronted by singer David Thomas, will be making the US debut of their "Long Live Pére Ubu--The Spectacle" show at (Le) Poisson Rouge on Sunday, March 28th. Tickets are on sale

The adaptation of Alfred Jarry's 1896 play, which we mentioned when Thomas came to speak in NYC last December, has been performed around the UK and Europe over the past two years. It came out on CD last year and as a live radio show (part of which is up as a free downloadable podcast). Live, it's accompanied by animations from The Brothers Quay, which you can see below.

It's one of three unique shows the band has scheduled for March. On March 5th they'll be doing their landmark 1978 album The Modern Dance in its entirety at Cleveland's Beachland Ballroom, and on March 24th, they'll mix Modern Dance and Long Live Pére Ubu material for a show in Pittsburgh.

Thomas also writes that "Work has begun on the next Pere Ubu album. Working title: Lady From Shanghai. We are considering posting work-in-progress song demos at [Pere Ubu's online store] hearpen.com on a reasonable subscription basis. Final decision yet to be made."

The last time Pere Ubu played NYC was at the Knitting Factory in 2007.

Videos and all tour dates are below...

Continue reading "Pere Ubu performing Long Live Pére Ubu--The Spectacle"

by Andrew Frisicano

David Thomas & Sarah Jane Morris (as Père & Mère Ubu)...

On Wednesday, December 2nd (tonight), Pere Ubu's David Thomas will be appearing at at New School's Alvin Johnson/J. M. Kaplan Hall (66 West 12th St, room 510; 6:30-8pm). The event will be part performance of material from Thomas's spoken word Ghost Line Diaries, part Q&A moderated by Greil Marcus, who's teaching an "Old Weird America" course at the school. The event is open to the public, and to quote from Thomas's UbuProjex site: "Supposedly $5 for non-New Schoolers but no one has ever seen it collected, we are told."

Greil Marcus appeared an an event at Columbia University in November. According to that university's paper, "over 100 people from everywhere on the spectrum of age, music taste, and knowledge of rock gathered to hear Marcus perform the play that was the basis for his book 'Lipstick Traces: A Secret History of the 20th Century.'"

Last year, David Thomas finally got around to adapting Ubu Roi, the 1896 surrealist play that he named his long-running post-punk band, Pere Ubu, after. His stage-show version of the play Bring Me The Head Of Ubu Roi, debuted in London 2008, and a studio release of the songs, dubbed "Long Live Père Ubu!," arrived in CD form this September. There's also a "Radio Play" version, the first half of which is streaming for free. The show had a European run in fall 2009 (a clip from a Paris stop is below) but still hasn't visited the North America. The only currently scheduled date is in Reims, France, on December 16th.

The show is accompanied by stop-motion animation from Brothers Quay. Their video of the hilarious, catchy, scene-setting "Song of the Grocery Police" and dystopic "March of Greed" are posted below...

Continue reading "New School professor Greil Marcus speaks to David Thomas of Pere Ubu who released 'Long Live Père Ubu!' "