#bob pollard

11/15/24.

My first listen to Children's Crusade's "Man-Gun" and "Lurker on the Threshold" made me think of Guided By Voices, Protomartyr and David Bowie. Once I saw the band's picture I assumed this was a reissue of a band from the 1970s or 1980s.

Two of my initial impressions turned out to be spot on. First, Children's Crusade (Cleveland, Ohio) did initially record this in 1984. Second, the band was made up of Fraser Sims and Doug Gillard (later of Guided By Voices).

Correct me if I'm wrong, GBV heads, but this anecdote from Tobin in the insert of the new reissue of Tonics & Twisted Chasers about a bunch of band names being read at "Manager for Life" Pete Jaimison's house is new? I don't recall it being in one of the books (thinking of both Greer and Cutter's).

Bob always gives the origin story of needing to tell a concert promoter their band name and going with GBV, I recall?

I love this version of the story. Very cinematic.

The reissue sounds great. Weirdly this was one of my main entry points for the band.

Also, gimme some Big Star chords

My recording of their return show at the Great American.

Amazing show from GBV, third time I've seen them live ...first time was in 1999 when they played with Sonic Youth, Sleater-Kinney, and a few other indie notables at the Greek Theater in Berkeley(*), which I remember they were very very drunk. Next was in 2016, where they were good, and a bit less drunk This time, in 2022, they were absolutely brilliant...

Got to meet the coterie of devoted Aussie and Welsh fans of the group who were trailing their West Coast USA dates, whom my friend Mike Siou knew from online.

Even got to swig from the bottle of Jose Cuervo Bob was nice enough to share with the crowd.

Bob was hilarious, that's me completely losing it talking about how it's problematic when your physician is also a huge fan of the band ahead of "Eyes Of Your Doctor". He also introduces the band and completely eviscerates Amoeba Records ahead of "Amusement Park Is Over".

This recording came out decently well, though there was a bit of funkiness with the left mic shifting around every time I took photos that phase correction seemed to take care of. "Unfun Glitz" has a bit about 1:30 where the sound goes pear-shaped, but only for a few seconds...

It's easy after listening to this to hear how Robert Pollard and band were a major sonic inspiration for a certain Seattle grunge band...