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Vol. 2 No. 1 (Mar. 1, 2004) |
An unofficial newsletter for fans of the rock group BETTER THAN EZRA |
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| IN THIS ISSUE:
Mardi Gras! Who's That Girl? Fan Profile News & Links Map of Ezra TTPY Hall of Fame Archives
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FROM THE EDITOR'S DESK MUSICAL EDUCA-SHUN
(BTE STYLE) You know, one of the definite side-benefits from being a BTE fan is an exposure to music you may not otherwise get to hear. Over the years the band has covered a veritable smorgasbord of classic songs by a broad array of artists. If you’ve been a fan for only a short while you might not necessarily agree with this statement. You might have heard snippets of Blue Oyster Cult’s "Don’t Fear the Reaper," "Debra" by Beck and "Ms. Jackson" by Outkast and figure you’ve heard all BTE has to offer in the cover department, but if you take your coat off and stay a while you might understand what I mean... Those Not-So "Standard" Covers What you might think are the "standard" BTE change over time. For instance, we infrequently get to hear James’ "Laid" any more. That was featured at the end of "Rosealia" for a long time. And Madonna’s "Don’t Tell Me" has more or less disappeared from "Extra Ordinary." Outkast’s "Whole World" seems to fade in and out of "This Time of Year." But, if you peruse older bootlegs, you will notice the band had an entirely different stable of "standard" covers. Blondie’s "Rapture," for instance, was a consistent feature of "This Time of Year." Prince’s "When Doves Cry" turned up in "Good" for a long time. "Natural Woman" by Carole King was a (very) unexpected cover for a long time. "Radio Song" by REM often surfaced both in "One More Murder" and "This Time of Year." Those "On the Fly" Covers There’s an entirely different type of BTE cover that appears on an ad hoc (ad havoc?) basis. How many times have you heard a spontaneous snippet of a song? Happens all the time. The list of songs is almost endless. Of course, certain shows seem to be all about "on the fly" covers. Consider the recent Christmas shows in New Orleans, here’s just some of the random covers fans got to hear in addition to the "standards": "Fade Into You" (Mazzy Starr) What’s my point here? Yes, there is one. The point is that if you go to BTE shows you are going to get exposed to a whole lot of great music that spans from the 1970s (or earlier) to today’s hits. That’s one heck of a musical educa-shun... Sounds like a deal to me. Cheers, EnglishDave |
THE 3 B'S OF MARDI GRAS: BEADS, BOOZE AND BOURBON
STREET.
Beads, Booze and Bourbon Street...there’s nothing quite like New Orleans at Mardi Gras. For the past 7 years, Better Than Ezra has thrown their own Mardi Gras party - it started at Tipitina’s Big Room in 1998, moved up to Tips’ Uptown location for a few years (those were the most fun), fumbled in 2002 at the CAC, then settled at the House of Blues last year. BTE’s 2004 Mardi Gras celebration kicked off on Friday, Feb. 20th in grand style - with the band taking the stage to the Meters’ "Mardi Gras Mambo," armed with throw beads. Travis and Jim had some standard-issue beads (it really is true what KG said about "bead greed" - see later on in this review), but Tom had the coveted "long beads." He threw most of them out into the middle of the crowd, but I did manage to catch his eye and snag a string from my front-row spot. Kevin appeared on stage with only one string of beads to give, which he was kind enough to place right in my hands (Thanks KG!). These were actually the navy blue BTE beads from 2000. Apparently the bead order for 2004 fell through! We knew the band was ready to party when they kicked off their set with "Allison Foley!" The show was particularly exuberant this night, with the Mardi Gras libations flowing, guest horns by Mark Mullins and Brian Graber, and KG greeting us bellowing "Happy Mardi Gras!" Kevin and Tom were dressed in their usual frilly shirt/black suit/mask Mardi Gras finery (and Tom with the fabulous hair glitter!), but Travis took home the Best Dressed honors for the evening. Mr. McNabb appeared Clad in a white waistcoat/pants ensemble with a white bowler hat and mask. He was the visual embodiment of festive!
"Allison Foley" led into "Good" which in turn led into a spirited "Rosealia." KG introduced Tom’s trademark bass solo by exclaiming: "Ladies and Gentleman, from Shreveport, Louisiana, Tom Melville Drummond on the bass!" After the bass solo, Kevin announced that "Travis’ ensemble deserves its own theme song." The theme song was Ludacris’ "Area Codes," which showcased Kevin’s vast knowledge of local and national phone numbers! (Story continued on page 2). |
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