hsu@UICSRD.CSRD.UIUC.EDU (William Tsun-Yuk Hsu) (10/18/86)
ROGER MILLER MAXIMUM ELECTRIC PIANO at Chico's, Urbana Illinois (Note: this is Roger Miller from Mission of Burma and Birdsongs of the Mesozoic, not the OTHER Roger Miller) This was one of those bizarre nights I'll be telling stories about for the next 5 weeks (well, at least until I see Big Black tomorrow.) Strangely enough, there was almost no publicity for the show, other than a snippet in the campus rag and a few mentions by local DJs, and I probably wouldn't have heard about it if Doug hadn't posted his list of tour dates. Chico's is this tiny quasi-redneck bar right next to a XXX video store, far away from most of the music activity near campus. Joe and I got there around 10, since Wicinski mentioned Roger Miller likes to start early. We were the only ones who looked like they were there for the concert. The sound check was pretty interesting, with Roger Miller coaxing weird sounds out of his electric piano. Both he and Ross (Russ?), who helped with the sound, were really friendly tho pretty disappointed at the miserable turnout. We were later joined by Dan from the Physics department, and Roger Miller played TWO sets (2 hours with break) just for the three of us! (And Wicinski thought Birdsongs had a small audience in DC... ) Anyway, Roger did a lot of stuff which will be on the next album and 12", including this incredible thing called The Big Industry in which Roger tears these Wyndham Hill type figures to pieces with industrial noise. You should probably keep your Roger Miller solo albums away from your George Winston discs (if your tastes are eclectic enough to own both,) since Roger Miller's unique blend of prepared piano/industrial effects will ooze over and melt down the mush. You won't believe how one person can make so much noise without tapes, synthesizers or overdubs. And just for fun, he also did covers of the other Roger Miller, Hendrix and Eno (Miss Shapiro, from the 801 Live album.) And of course we all bought his hilarious T-shirt. Roger Miller will be touring the midwest for another week or two, so you lucky alternative music gurus still have time to catch his show (GREG TAYLOR TAKE NOTE, he's playing in Madison.) Don't miss it. (Aside to Doug Alan: have you seen Ross' band Bent Men?) Bill Hsu