The character in “The Apologist” is a monster. This isn’t apparent in the first verse — he seems contrite, and genuinely remorseful. As the song progresses, the truth gradually slips out: He’s a delusional narcissist who cannot comprehend why he can’t just be forgiven for his past misdeeds simply because he’s come around to apologizing as part of some 12-step ritual. He’s only concerned with his own emotional well-being, and can’t help but to transform prayer and rehabilitation into a grotesque mockery of atonement. It’s always tempting to go a bit overboard when writing songs from the point of view of toxic hypocrites, but Michael Stipe’s lyrics are nuanced and understated, and are written in such a way that I can imagine that some listeners may even relate to, or at least feel pity for, the character. The tone of the song is rather grim, but there’s a sense of half-formed sadness in its drones and minor key chords that hints at conscience muffled by self-serving insincerity.

A title note: I briefly considered calling this site The Apologist, but decided against it, mainly because I felt it was far too self-deprecating and defensive.

I think I got this off Zomb at some point. I'm not a big REM fan, but I really like this show. This is from the original text file: Posted to Dime by Toolshirt (http://www.dimeadozen.org/torrents-details.php?id=195507) R.E.M. 23 October 2001 Crocodile Cafe Seattle, Washington, USA Source: Audience recording > DAT > CD-R Disc 1: 01 Intro (music) # 02 Imitation of Life 03 All The Way To Reno (You're Gonna Be A Star) 04 The Great Beyond 05 So Fast So Numb 06 Dead from the Waist Down ^ 07 Long Road * 08 Cuyahoga 09 Let Me In 10 The Lifting 11 She Just Wants To Be 12 At My Most Beautiful 13 Country Feedback 14 Losing My Religion 15 Walk Unafraid Disc 2: 01 Break - Drum Encore + 02 All The Right Friends 03 Better Man 04 I've Been High 05 Man On The Moon 06 Begin the Begin * 07 Michael Talks to Audience 08 ITEOTWAWKI (AIFF) - Part 1 * 09 People Have the Power * 10 ITEOTWAWKI (AIFF) - Part 2 * notes: Gig was billed as 'The Minus Five and Friends'. # Michael Stipe sings a snippet of Madonna's song "Music" ^ "Dead From The Waist Down" is a cover of a Catatonia song, sung by Scott McCaughey. * Eddie Vedder guests on "Long Road", "Begin The Begin", "It's The End Of the World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)", and "People Have the Power" (Patti Smith cover). + During drum encore intro the band formed a Conga line. "All The Right Friends" makes its first appearance in a set for over 18 years! The last known time it was played was 3 October 1983 in Athens.

This is probably my favorite "Quality Wise" of all the David O. Thomas recordings of this era. A Must! Posted to Dime by Ademotte (http://www.dimeadozen.org/torrents-details.php?id=195882) R.E.M. Radio City Music Hall New York, NY August 31, 1985 Lineage: Sony TCD-6M/Nacamichi CM-300 > Audience cassette master > Cassette > Cassette > CDR > dBpowerAMP > WAV > FLAC Frontend > Flac files "20th anniversary series, Volume 6: The Grand Finale." Disc 1 (62:00): (1) Audience noise (0:14) (2) Feeling Gravity's Pull (4:32) (3) Harborcoat (3:03) (4) Green Grow The Rushes (3:59) (5) Skip A Rope (1:43) (6) Hyena (3:08) (7) Maps and Legends (3:30) (8) Fall On Me (2:59) (9) Driver 8 (3:19) (10) So. Central Rain (4:55) (11) Have You Ever Seen the Rain? (2:49) (12) Pills (2:18) (13) Can't Get There From Here (3:38) (14) 7 Chinese Bros. (4:01) (15) Auctioneer (Another Engine) (2:01) (16) Old Man Kensey (4:59) (17) Little America (2:46) (18) Pretty Persuasion (3:40) (19) Life and How To Live It (4:19) Disc 2 (32:45): (1) Second Guessing (3:02) (2) (Don't Go Back To) Rockville (4:49) (3) Behind Closed Doors (0:45) (4) See No Evil (3:02) (5) Theme From Two Steps Onward (5:54) (6) Sitting Still (3:05) (7) Time After Time (3:24) (8) Carnival Of Sorts (Boxcars) (4:35) (9) Moon River (2:00) (10) Windout (2:05) MD5 signature file and artwork are included. Comments from the original seeder: OK, this is the one. I obviously like all of the August ’85 R.E.M. shows, but Radio City is my favorite. I attended this, and the night before in NJ as well, so maybe I’m demonstrating a little bias. But the combination of a great show and the superior recording makes this one the best of the bunch. David O. Thomas taped this from 10th row center, as indicated by hatnham, who was with him that night. The recording has a different quality to it, which might be due to the acoustics of Radio City. The mix is just right, with all of the instruments coming through very clearly. If I did not know the source, I would think this was a soundboard. I have to give this an A. One minor note – the last few songs are from a different source. There is actually one less analog generation, but the recording as not as good. A glance at the setlist does not indicate any real surprises. They mostly avoid the odd covers that highlighted the encores from some of the previous shows. The band was a bit overwhelmed by the size of the venue, and there are many funny comments acknowledging this throughout the night. Somehow I think this inspired them, because it is a very high energy performance. Further comments (May 2008): This is an audience tape recorded close to the monitors with a good balance of vocals and all band members. For 1985, this is a very good recording and as the original seeder mentioned, documents a triumphant R.E.M. show. My only complaint would be that the recording sounds a bit oversaturated to me during the louder parts of the show; this is a small complaint given the era in which this was taped. The quality is probably not sufficient for a casual fan, but anyone who collects their 1980s material and doesn't have this show may wish to give this one a try. Many thanks to the original seeder (I think hatnham, though I couldn't find this show on the bot to give proper credit) and David O. Thomas for making this recording available. Aside from the addition of an MD5 file, this torrent is identical to the original 2005 posting.

Posted to Pando (http://cache.pando.com/soapservices/Package/package.pando?id=2A97AEDD9ACEFDDD534D82FF112AC7A9B75DA12E key=F6411471680EE7D2567215C3A3A03FB0C7BEC8E64DE1564BE426A5A61732C82A tt=S2W embedId=7D7E337CAEE7379554A9CFDA066BBE07) The following was written by Eric Robinson. I pretty much made him a deal that I would post this show if he could write a review for it. Of course this is not just any review as Eric was blessed with being part of this recording itself as you will soon find out.By Eric RobinsonI was enjoying the pre-game anticipation at an R.E.M. show -- this time just off Lake Michigan at the Auditorium Theatre in Chicago. It was October 25, 2004. And I was about to enjoy an R.E.M. moment of a lifetime. Like a lot of us, when I see an R.E.M. shows I want to see and hear some of the songs before they were international superstars. I want to hear how they're interpreting the new songs - that's energy and interesting in itself - but I also want to have them knock my socks off with some of the classics.In the 90's, I would frequently travel to the last show on the tour. I thought it might allow me to see something really cool. And it did. The guys would play "Radio Free Europe" on the last day of those tours in Atlanta (1995) and in Boston (1999). It both cases it was the only time they played it on that tour. I loved seeing them rip through it all these years later. Despite this obsession, I had never seen them play "(Don't Go Back to) Rockville." I understood that Bill Berry refused to play it after a while(who knows if that's true?), and with newer material coming out every few years, the competition for the "classics" in the show was intense. That's probably the only song I really wanted to see them play to close my list of favorites I saw live.During the "Best of" Tour in 2003, the band broke out "Shaking Through" at the United Center. Set list websites say it's the first time they had played it since 1989. But on this night I was prepared to enjoy whatever came our way. On this tour and when I saw them in St. Louis a few nights earlier, the band had pulled out "Life and How to Live it." That was memorable. They played it like they were on fire. Now on this night in Chicago, a friend and I had second row tickets through the fan club sale. We were jacked up to see a great show. Michael came out to introduce "Now Its Overhead" and the night was off. I had only been this close to the stage once before. In 1999 at the "Word" in Tinley Park, Illinois, where, at the end of that show during "It's the End of the Word," Michael handed the microphone to the crowd and people in the first couple of rows were passing it around singing "And I Feel Fine." The guy next to me grabbed it and I joined in. It was a great R.E.M. moment. Here some five years later I was stunned at how close we really were when R.E.M. hit the stage. Maybe it was the smaller venue, I don't know. But it just felt like the entire crowd was tight with the band. In the first ten songs, the band played 'Begin the Begin," "Exhuming McCarthy," "So. Central Rain," and "The One I Love." Incredible stuff. What a great, great feeling to be seeing R.E.M. in a smaller venue, singing along with these older songs. After "Imitation of Life" the band launched into "(Don't Go Back to) Rockville." I was jacked! Singing along to that song I remember just smiling at how great this band's music means to me. And really, concertslike this are a celebration of those great feelings that you've experienced in your car, or at a bar or a party or just running down the road with R.E.M. fueling your energy. It was then I noticed Mike Mills looking across the stage at me. To this day I think he was seeing if I knew the words to Rockville (which he wrote, of course. In fact, Michael was standing in between us, and he just waved hand in front of Mike as if to wake him from a trance. For a minute I was thinking, "Can they really tell I know the words to these songs from the early days?" I once read where Michael said, "We know what's going on in the crowd because we can see you too!" Maybe that's what was going on here.With the proximity to the stage, the smaller audience, the great song selection, I turned to me friend (a casual R.E.M. fan seeing them for the first time) and said "This is absolutely my favorite R.E.M. show." After "Walk Unafraid "and the newly-energized "Life and How to Live It," the set ended. I remember thinking how this was absolutely my favorite show. For long-time fans like a lot of us, we can never see Tyrone's or the Greek Theatre in the early 80's. All we have it what's happening today. When the band came out for the encore, Peter rocked the riff to kick start 'What's the Frequency (Kenneth)?" and we were charging to the finish line. At this point next I was expecting "Leaving New York," but we got a jolt from the past. Out of nowhere, R.E.M. broke into "Sitting Still" off of Murmur. The crowd went nuts ! My favorite show ever, and now they're going to play "Sitting Still?" Amazing.I'm singing along to the "sounds" of "Sitting Still" loving this song, this show, this life. Then, halfway through the song, Michael stands right in front of us, motions to me and hands me the microphone just before th chorus. It was at this time I left my body.First of all, here is Michael Stipe and R.E.M. My all-time favorite band. Guys who I don't really know but I think I do because I've listened, watched and read everything about them for 20 years. He's handing me the microphone and I am supposed to do something at the chorus of "Sitting Still." Wow. Like a lot of fans, "Sitting Still" is one of my all-time favorite R.E.M. songs and the words that make up its chorus are at the core of one of those all-time, old-time R.E.M. debates. What is Michael actually singing? I have no idea, but I hear words that I key to. "Up" "Katie" 'Kitchen" "Not me In" "Big" "Wasting time" and then "Sitting Still." I've sung this sounds 5,000 times in my life, but I only had once chance to get this right. And I must admit the "freak out" of the moment was trying to have enough breath to sing all the way through. So I just took the microphone and went with the song lyrics I've sung forever. "Up to par as Katie bars the Kitchen sides, but not me in. Sit on top of the big hill, wasting time, SITTING STILL !"When I got to "Sitting Still" I guess I just punctuated those two words. I was in the moment and it felt like the right thing to do. But, honestly, I think the reason I did that was I was thinking to myself: "I'm so out ofbreath and you didn't screw that up too badly, let's just end this right now! "As I handed the microphone back, I know there were a lot of people around me patting me on the back. Telling me I did a good job. That was certainly nice of them. It just all happened so fast. It was kind of instinctive. I think it's what we all would have done. On one night, I just had the pleasure of carrying the banner for a lot of true R.E.M. fans belting out a classic we'd enjoyed for more than 20 years. It was an incredibly cool moment. And now, just a memory.The guys closed out the show, ended with "I'm Gonna DJ." It was over. Even after the show, the really nice couple next to us said some nice things to me, but I was in complete shock. I was just so stunned that this had happened. I couldn't even speak. It was very weird.Thankfully, I had a friend with me, so he could verify to my wife that this had actually happened. In many ways, I was glad he was there so he could verify it to me !A couple of years have passed since then, and I could not find a copy of the show anywhere. But I came to "stumble" across REMring and Eric Zimmerman was very cool about helping me out. Its one of the things I love about R.E.M. fans. We're all in this together. If you get a chance to hear the song, you'll hear that I'm no Michael Stipe. But for one chorus of one song on one night, I felt like I was.Here's hoping you all get a chance to fulfill your R.E.M. dream moment in your own way. In the meantime, I've got my tickets for Red Rocks and the United Center in June. Brush up on the lyrics for the classics. Peter is saying in interviews they're reaching back in the catalog again. I cannot wait. Seeyou there...A sincere thanks to Eric Zimmerman and REMring for this posting of the Oct. 25, 2004 show and asking me to share my thoughts with all of you. R.E.M.10-25-04Auditorium Theater, Chicago, ILBrett Lowman Version1. Around The Sun2. Begin The Begin3. So Fast, So Numb4. Exhuming McCarthy5. Animal6. Boy In The Well7. So. Central Rain (I'm Sorry)8. The One I Love9. The Outsiders10. Bad Day11. I Wanted To Be Wrong12. (Don't Go Back To) Rockville13. Final Straw14. Losing My Religion15. Walk Unafraid16. Life And How To Live It Encore17. What's The Frequency, Kenneth?18. Sitting Still19. Leaving New York20. Sweetness Follows21. Permanent Vacation22. I'm Gonna DJ23. Man On The Moon

Posted to Dime By Ademotte (http://www.dimeadozen.org///torrents-details.php?id=196284) R.E.M. Paramount Theater Seattle, Washington October 4, 1986 Lineage: Sony ECM-939 stereo mic > Walkman D6-C => master cassette => Nakamichi CR-7A => M-Audio Transit/Peak => TC Finalizer => Master CD-R => FLAC ** "Way Beyond Thunderdome" -- A JEMS recording ** Disc 1 (55:34): (1) These Days (4:15) (2) Radio Free Europe (4:28) (3) Hyena (3:04) (4) Pilgrimage (4:18) (5) The One I Love (3:33) (6) Shaking Through (4:37) (7) Feeling Gravity's Pull (5:29) (8) White Tornado (2:18) (9) Driver 8 (3:32) (10) The Flowers of Guatemala (4:31) (11) I Believe (5:25) (12) Swan Swan H (2:55) (13) "The Counting Song" (0:29) (14) (All I Have To Do Is) Dream (3:30) (15) Superman (3:03) Disc 2 (55:08): (1) Can't Get There From Here (3:44) (2) Pretty Persuasion (3:40) (3) Auctioneer (Another Engine) (6:29) (4) Windout (1:44) (5) Home On The Range (a capella) => Little America (4:01) (6) Fall On Me (3:02) (7) Cuyahoga (4:24) (8) 1,000,000 (start cut) (3:53) (9) We Don't Need Another Hero (5:39) (10) Strange (2:49) (11) Begin The Begin (3:27) (12) Funtime (2:54) (13) Toys in the Attic (3:26) (14) So. Central Rain (5:50) MD5 signature file is included. Comments from Butterking, the original seeder in late 2005: This is a great R.E.M. performance from what is perhaps my favorite tour, in support of Life's Rich Pageant. The NW swing included Eugene, Portland, Seattle and Vancouver--I managed three of the four, while JP and AW did 'em all. The set lists varied wildly and this one had a cover version to beat all cover versions: "We Don't Need Another Hero," the Tina Turner song from the Mad Max 3: Beyond Thunderdome soundtrack. Why? Never found out, but it's a highlight here. Another gem for me was the debut of a song that wouldn't appear until Document: "The One I Love," which was awe inspiring to hear live for the first time. And the show closing covers followed by "So. Central Rain" are terrific. This was recorded, like so many of our Paramount tapes, from the very last row of the main floor, stage left up against the curtain onto which we mounted the microphone. It might be a little distant, but the mic never moves all show and the sound is very good indeed (sample below). There are a couple of edits where we stopped the deck and a bit of gentle remastering to add some punch. We used this skinny Sony stereo mic a lot in those days. Further comments (May 2008): I think this period (the middle of the "Life's Rich Pageant" tour) was R.E.M.'s finest hour as a live act. They were promoting what many believe to have been their strongest album, and the performances featured intense performances and wildly innovative setlists (including, as on this show, previews of upcoming material and inspired covers). The quality of this one, considering the relatively primitive equipment (by today's standards), is really good. The vocals are right in the front of the mix and there is nice balance between the various instruments. For anyone who is more familiar with their 1990s/2000s material, this recording will be a treat. As one can tell by the setlist, this is a really fun, loose performance that's well worth hearing for even a casual fan.

Posted to Dime by timsmyname (http://www.dimeadozen.org//torrents-details.php?id=196161) (http://www.dimeadozen.org//torrents-details.php?id=196161) September 6, 1986 - Indiana University Auditorium, Bloomington, IN, USA Recorded from the balcony to a sony recordable walkman with a stereo radio shake mic. Setlist: - 01 These Days - 02 Harborcoat - 03 Begin The Begin - 04 Maps And Legends - 05 The One I Love - 06 Old Man Kensey - 07 Driver 8 - 08 Shaking Through - 09 Just Messing Around.... - 10 Fall On Me - 11 The Flowers Of Guatemala - 12 Last Date - 13 I Believe - 14 Swan Swan H - 15 California Dreamin' - 16 Can't Get There From Here - 17 Superman - 18 Second Guessing - 19 Pretty Persuasion - 20 Life And How To Live It Encore: - 21 Cuyahoga - 22 Strange - 23 Little America - 24 Lightnin' Hopkins - 25 So. Central Rain (I'm Sorry) - 26 Just A Touch I noticed when researching the setlist that all the sites seem to have left out the last song "Just A Touch" If there are any other recordings of this show out there, this may be a surprise find for hardcore collectors.

As you have read here, not much has been posted as of late. For one, the Accelerate Promotional Tour that lasted all of three months left me a little weary for some R.E.M. Timeout. I have also been looking at my other blog which has gotten so very little attention, someone informed me that my last post there was informing everyone that I was endorsing Barack Obama. As it seems, he will be winning the nomination for the Democratic Party and make history in the process. Anyhow, I am going to have to find a way to balance them both somewhere. :) I am still around and about and I do have plans for the future. First off, I am going to be posting the Chicago 10/25/04 Show pretty soon. I got a request from a fan (another Eric) who had received the microphone from Stipe that fateful evening during the song Sitting Still. So he had requested it and I thought it would be neat for him to tell everyone his story and in return I would put the show up here for not only you but everyone else to download and listen to. It was recorded in the beautiful and accoustically wonderful Auditorium Theatre here in Chicago. Next, I want to work on ways, and it still needs to be more developed on my end for you the fan to share your experiences for the upcoming shows. Some of the areas that I want to touch on are going to be encouraging the development of the Flickr, Youtube, Twitter, Reviews and Recordings. If some of this stuff seems foreign to you presently that is fine. However, more importantly, if you are interested, it will be a way that you the fan can post and describe your experience to the rest of the fans out there that will want to hear various accounts of what is going on. We are about two weeks away from the first show in Vancouver.

With only 2 weeks to the first show in Vancouver . . . . this is the time for making final arrangements and plans for getting this show on the road ...

During this period of quiet times I offer a couple thoughts about the most important R.E.M. albums… I have been thinking over the past week or so about the most important albums by R.E.M., and I thought that honestly that the most important one is easy to answer: Murmur. Of course as a purveyor and leader among fans, I have no doubt that I have the unilateral support of all 100% of you out there that are reading this. However, for the condescending fan out there that does not agree with me, Murmur was the album that put the band on the map and made them more than just any other small band out there. By getting noticed by large publications like Rolling Stone as well as smaller publications like Village Voice, Murmur “Catapulted” the band into the top 50 where they immediately had an audience. But enough about Murmur for a moment. However, the second most important album the band released is much more difficult. We could look at importance as sales but I think that it is more than that. An important album has to not only be in our collective conscious but also be a significant stepping stone in the growth of the band. While, as a reader out there, other albums might stand out more in terms of content, none of them were as important as this one. R.E.M. needed a change of pace and sound and the album that did that was Lifes Rich Pageant. It was the first album were R.E.M. really made a conscious effort to attract a larger audience both with their sound, their songs as well as their technique. It planted the see for the hits that came on later albums, like Document and Green. It changed the way that Michael Stipe sung, as Don Gehman the producer worked incessantly with him with his enunciation and lyrics. It was also the album the band made after their difficult Fables sessions, a period that many claimed that the band almost broke up over. So here they go, back in the studio, and they are able to take whatever issues that the band had at the time and fix those areas and problems. As we see in pop music today, too many bands inability to work as a group ultimately becomes their undoing. Lifes Rich Pageant is also a growth of lyrical ideology. For the first album the lyrics are more pointed and direct at the listener and political undertones become weaved in its inner fabric. Before this time, R.E.M. would not be considered a political or activist band although they did support various causes since their inception. They just never wanted to be branded as such. Lifes Rich Pageant blended a dose of political activism without being preachy. Where there had been political and or social ideals present on pretty much every R.E.M. album, the themes did not raise to the surface as much as it did on this one. Again, albums like Document and Green followed Lifes Rich Pageants lead and were a result in this change. Some might make cases for later works in the Warner Bros. years like ‘Out Of Time’, because of the hit ‘Losing My Religion’ or maybe ‘Automatic’. ‘Automatic For the People’ was a masterpiece, but it was not as important as “Lifes Rich Pageant’ in their overall sound.

Posted to Tracker Lossless (http://tracker.lossless.fr/torrents-details.php?id=557 hit=1) R.E.M 2008-03-21 Studios Canal, Paris, France VIDEO #1/1 (103:25) —————– 01. Living Well is the Best Revenge 02. Accelerate 03. Drive 04. What's the Frequency, Kenneth ? 05. Man-Sized Wreath 06. Hollow Man 07. Electrolite 08. Houston 09. Supernatural Superserious 10. Final Straw 11. Losing my Religion 12. I'm Gonna DJ 13. Walk Unfraid 14. Horse to Water 15. Until the Day is Done 16. Man on the Moon 17. Interview 18. Bonus : Tarata 2008 (Supernatural Superserious, Hollow Man, Interview, Losing My Religion)

Any fans out there from Chicago that are planning on going to the show. I am wondering if I should have a party or not or if it would be too many to do and just meet at a bar beforehand. Anyhow... please respond.... :)

ST. PAUL ON-SALE SATURDAY: Tickets for R.E.M.'s show at the Xcel Energy Center Theatre in St ...

R.E.M.'s stint in Austin this March leading up to the release of ACCELERATE included two memorable firsts: a concert for SXSW ...

According to this Billboard Article (http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003796636) it would seem that one reason to NOT boycott R.E.M. is their desire to pull out some gems from the early years. Peter Buck added: "[For] the last Dublin shows [in June and July 2007], we went back and learned a whole bunch of stuff from the early days we hadn't played in a long time, just to see where we came from, and it was pretty inspiring to play those," guitarist Peter Buck tells Billboard.com.Regarding upcoming dates, Buck says, "We're obviously going to play the new record ['Accelerate']; we've been playing nine songs off it, which is 28 minutes or something, so there's a lot of space for us to do stuff from all through our career." Also in regards to 'Around the Sun' this also seems more inspiring from Peter's mouth: "I think Mike [Mills] particularly was saying, 'God, I wish we could get back and record ['Around the Sun'] right now,'" Buck recalls. "I had no interest in making another record the way we'd been working -- book eight months in a studio and see what happens. I never liked that. I always complained and I always suggested that we work quicker and more spontaneously. The other guys [Mills and frontman Michael Stipe] weren't into it. "I think maybe the reception ['Around the Sun'] got kind of shocked them and made them realize ... I was right, we can't work like this any longer." Peter Buck prevails again! Truthfully I completely agree with him on the sense the band does not need a ton of time to finetune an album. I think you can ruin stuff that way. Back to the tour, this really gives me hope that the band will pull out some great songs while on tour. I think something needs to be mentioned that basically a generation of R.E.M. fans have never heard a lot of these songs live and it would be great to unearth them.

Who says that R.E.M. is not on the radio? They are being played on Liberty Rock Radio 97.8 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Theft_Auto_IV_soundtrack#Liberty_Rock_Radio_97.8) . Those of you gamers out there that want to play this game, R.E.M. is on the new Grand Theft Auto IV Game. Thera are in-game radio stations that you can listen to while driving around and Turn You Inside-Out is on rotation on this station. Various peaceniks around might find that this is a bit disturbing since Video Games have been proven to be very bad indeed for society. I still remember when I got Burger Time as a youth and then got fired after less than a week at McDonalds for walking all over the Big Macs.

Mike Mills was featured on a Podcast with Fastball's Miles Zuniga and Tony Scalzo. I have not had a chance to listen to it yet but you can listen to it here (http://www.modwinos.libsyn.com/index.php?post_id=331109). From the Site: We taped this episode at the Driskill Hotel. It's supposedly haunted but the only thing scary was the amount of wine we put away. It was 2005 Burgundy and so far I'm believing the hype. Pour yourself a glass and listen.

According to REMHQ (http://remhq.com/news_story.php?id=759) , R.E.M. is slated to play the Voodoo Music Festival, in New Orleans on October 24-26 (or my assumption would be that they would be playing on of these dates). You can also find more information about the Festival here (http://remhq.com/news_story.php?id=759) .

We are excited to announce that R.E.M. will play the 2008 Voodoo Music Experience in New Orleans on October 26th ...

“King Of Comedy” evolved from another unreleased song from the Monster sessions called “Yes, I Am Fucking With You.” I assume that there are two reasons why that title did not carry over to the finished product: First, and most obviously, it would have caused some problems for the band at retailers such as Walmart. Secondly, that title would’ve made it a little too easy for the listener because yes, Michael Stipe is fucking with you in this song.

There’s a great deal of irony on the Monster album, but “King Of Comedy” is by far the most ironic track, to the point that it’s very difficult to discern whether or not there’s even the tiniest moment of uncomplicated sincerity in its three minutes and forty-one seconds. Throughout Monster, Stipe distorts his voice in order to distance himself from his characters, and this song is the most extreme example, with his processed, mechanical staccato delivery rendering him nearly unrecognizable. The lyrics overflow with cynicism, not just in its advice for advancing a career in the arts, but also in how an artist relates to their audience. It’s easy to take it all as being a simple mockery of ambition and celebrity, but the reason the piece works comes down to the reality that on some level, Stipe relates to the pragmatism and pessimism in the song’s advice.

“King Of Comedy” speaks to a deep ambivalence about the singer’s motivation, and a conflict between self-image and public image. In a way, it picks up where “Turn You Inside-Out” leaves off, with a performer who has become acutely aware of the power he wields over an audience, and attempting to feel out a way to hang on to it while clinging to his dignity, ethics, and pride. At the end, when he repeatedly exclaims “I’m not commodity,” the emotional meaning seems to vacillate between mourning his complicity in the creation of his celebrity, and putting on a show of false modesty.

It’s worth noting that, even aside from its distorted lead vocal, “King Of Comedy” is a very strange sounding song. Monster is often written off as a “return to rock” album that doesn’t quite deliver, but that’s only if you’re expecting a straight rock record. The truth is, it’s more of a queer rock record, full of skewed, campy glam songs with audio textures that evoke a haze of super-saturated colors. The album doesn’t sound quite like anything else, and with its odd collision of industrial rock, arty noise, and disco, “King Of Comedy” in particular is unlike any other song I’ve ever heard.

Though I will always remain baffled by the band’s decision to leave “It’s A Free World, Baby” in non-album limbo, it’s not all that hard to understand why “Fretless” was discarded despite its obvious quality. The problem of “Fretless” is that while it is exceptionally good at evoking this potent, heartbreaking melodrama, it just seems so maudlin in the context of other R.E.M. songs, particularly those on Out Of Time. If it was going to work anywhere, it’d be Automatic For The People, but as far as songs about familial dissolution go, “Sweetness Follows” is far more successful, in part because it doesn’t seem to be actively tugging on the listener’s heart strings. Interestingly, “Fretless” may be the saddest song to ever feature a vocal performance by Kate Pierson — she sounds atypically cold and distant, but she ought to given that she’s standing in for the voice of the mother in this broken family.