[Moshe]

Thurston’s Shopping Basket


Thurston Moore is standing at Crawlspace Records counter with a copy of The Pin Group’s Go To Town EP in his hand. He’s so tall his head is half hidden behind a beam, but it’s unmistakably him on the rare record trail the morning after Sonic Youth’s 9 January 1996 strobing noise fest at the Auckland Town Hall.

The Pin Group is the first record he’s asked for and one of NZ post-punk’s rarest. Few local music fans are aware of it, no matter, Thurston wants it. It’s in his little blue book. He wanders off, flicks through the bins, returns with This Kind Of Punishment’s Beard Of Bees and opens the little blue book again.

“What about The Double Happys’ Double B-Side single,” Thurston asks, grinning wide now, telling us in that eastern gee-whiz twang that his tour manager turned him on to New Zealand’s rich post-punk legacy. They’d asked for The Dead C, they of the free noise assault, as tour support. Their previous Kiwi sojourn saw them request Bailter Space. They got the ferocious SPUD.

The pile on the counter is growing as the Flying Nun Records release of Sister joins Galbraith and Jeffries’ Timebomb and the Alms For Children EP. He wants The Stones’ Another Disc, Another Dollar EP and looks shattered when it’s not available.

Wahup...Wahup...Wahup...Whop Whop Whop...Wahup...Wahup...Wahup...Whop Whop Whop...Whop Whop Whop..

It's the night before and Sonic Youth are riding a strobe maelstrom with a gigantic twin guitar riff that sounds like a helicopter blade slicing through someone’s skull. Brother Gonzo is crawling on the floor at my feet looking for a hash cookie.

They’re chopping out their noise rock anthems (recent) to a crowd dancing and swaying in demonic waves. Yak is leaning on a pillar beside me, smiling his bemused smile and watching the crowd. I’m freaked by how large the alternative scene has become. The freak feeling fades as the Yoof grind out a liberal smattering of Goo and Dirty, pausing only to break up a front row fight. Generic, Silver Rocket, Youth Against Fascism - the songs are coming - and still I can’t move. Gonzo is swaying gently to the waves of noise Sonic Youth have tweezed from that edge where white noise meets melody. I’m blown just like the Powerstation show in 1989, seven years before, and the summer in Belmont wrapped up in Sister.

really nice story. thanks for that

[blunderbuss]

Moshe, I'm disappointed in you. I thought this was going to reveal that you'd been stalking T as he did his weekly grocery shop!

[barnaclelapse]

I love stories like these.

Thanks for posting.

[Moshe]

Originally Posted by blunderbuss

Moshe, I'm disappointed in you. I thought this was going to reveal that you'd been stalking T as he did his weekly grocery shop!

you can find his grocery list in my new book!