Lee is so nice to the fans
 

He was so nice to me on Thurston's ATP (he even got me a backstage pass). Now check this blog out:

2.10.07

This Guy, Lee Ranaldo, and Archers of Loaf


The night after the lady licked my ear clean at the Guided By Voices show in Dayton, I decided to brave yet another GBV show, only this time in Columbus.

I was driving with my friend John and a couple of his buddies.

One of John's friends - let's call him "Steve" since I don't remember his real name - heard me mention Archers of Loaf and had a story to tell.

Steve went to school somewhere in North Carolina. He drove over to Chapel Hill one night to catch Archers of Loaf in their hometown. As an added bonus, Steve met Lee Ranaldo of Sonic Youth outside of the venue.

Steve and Lee struck up a somewhat friendly conversation. Then, Lee wanted to go in before Archers of Loaf began their set, so he went around to the back entrance, as rock stars tend to do, and said he'd meet Steve inside.

Steve started to walk up to the front entrance when he noticed two concert-goers being turned away because they were not 21. Steve, who was 20 at the time, didn't know what to do. He really wanted to see Archers of Loaf and wanted to continue his conversation with Lee, but now he was unable to enter the venue.

A few minutes later, Ranaldo comes out looking for Steve. Steve tells him the situation. Lee offers Steve his ID and says he'll meet him inside.

Steve promptly walked up to the doorman and handed him his ticket and Lee's ID. The doorman looked skeptically at the ID, at Steve, and then back at the ID. He asked Steve what year he was born.

Who really knows how old Lee Ranaldo is? Steve apparently did not. He guessed something like 1962 (Lee was born in 1956) and was turned away as the doorman kept Lee's ID.

Steve eventually got in the back door with Lee's help, but the only thing he could remember from that Archers of Loaf show was his encounter with Lee Ranaldo.

Too bad the doorman wasn't into Sonic Youth. He'd be all shades of what the fuck.

I just saw Kill Your Idols and I really dug his interview, maybe more so than everyone else's.

I went to see Free Kitten in Hoboken way back in the day... 94 or 95 i think?

...anyway, I was living near princeton at the time, and the train ticket cost the same whether I went to NYC for the day and then took the PATH back to hoboken or just went to hoboken for the show.... so i did some museum and gallery hopping in the morning and headed over to hoboken around 4:00, since i'd never really been to hoboken before and didn't want to worry about finding the club right before the show... so i walk in to the empty bar and order a drink, and as the bartender hands me my beer, kim walks in and sits at the bar. So i'm sitting there thinking "that's kim gordon sitting at the bar" and i really wanted to tell her that, but figured she already knew... so i finished my beer and left to go smoke... some ... cigarettes... came back about an hour later and Kim, Julie, Mark, Yoshimi, and Thurston are sitting at a table eating and there's one other guy in the corner drinking. so I got a drink and walked over to their table and just said what's up? i got here early for the show.. or something... and thurston looked up and said "we're eating, you want some food? it's on the house..." which was way more generous a response then i was expecting, even from a band as cool as sy... so i pulled up a chair and hung out for a while... i think i asked what they thought of bikini kill or something like that... when they were finished eating they had to go set up the equipment and do sound check, but they put me on the guest list on top of feeding me!!* i bought a hot pink t shirt i probably wouldn't have bought, cause i could only really wear it to sy shows... but after not paying for dinner or the show, i wanted to get some sort of merch, and they didn't have any records... i wish i still had that shirt, but my ex stole it when we broke up.

*it was more casual than that... what actually happened was i was just walking and talking to thurston (who didn't have any band responsibilities since it was a free kitten show) when we were heading toward the back or the bar where the stage was when the doorman stopped me. kim (who had been totally quiet up till then) turned around and just casually said "oh.... he's with us" and then kept walking.

sonic youth rule all

After the Rather Ripped tour show in Houston texas me and my friend Heath decided to wait out back to see if any of the Youth would show up. As we waited about 50 feet from the backstage door a crowd of people gathered around, maybe 50-60 peopel, some with records, some with posters, etc. I was wearing my sonic nurse shirt and holding a fat sharpie in case any of the youth came out. As we waited I see the back door, flanked by three large security bouncers, open up, and steve shelley walks out. he starts to head toward us when the security guys hold on to him, point at us (the crowd) and shke their heads. Steve pointed at himself (saying soemthing i coudl not amke out) and then pointed at us, and walked towards us (I like to think he said "those are my people" hee hee). the security guy shrugged his shoulders and we all got to meet steve and talk to him and I asked him to sign my shirt ad he did and he was as nice as everyone had ever told me he was.

I LOVE sonic youth

almost a year ago a nice SY fan send me some photos that he take later of a SY show...Lee appear very nice and friendly with him in that photos.

when i met sonic youth out the back of a show in sydney last year, i gave lee a hug and and he was really nice and he grabbed my arm and said come get a photo, so some guy that was with the band took a photo of me and lee. and now i'm giggling and blushing like a 12 year old just telling the story, but i really wish i had a copy of that photo.

I met the Youth last year and Lee was totally the most personable of the four. In fact, he walked over to me, shook my hand, and thanked me for coming to the show. I didn't even have to be all weird and approach him. He hung out with people after the show and talked too. So yeah, Lees a good guy.

they're all a buncha cool cats. Quite weirdly, the only one I didn't get to meet in Chicago after Daydream was just Lee. Thurston was amazing and so was Steve. Killer people. Lov'em.

Lee Ranaldo keyed "I love fat dick" into the side of my car once.

I take it all back, Lee's an asshole. Well... unless you really love fat dick.

Another time, back in junior high school, Kim noticed that I had a boner in class so she put a vibrating dildo into my locker. The school administration thought it might have been a bomb so they broke open the locker.

I had the change schools.