Two years ago now (I think) I caught a simply breathtaking performance by Robyn Hitchcock and the Venus 3. I thought I was going to see a nostolgia piece by a quirky, talented performer who hopefully still had some chops left. What I got was one of the best shows of my life. Hitchcock sang and played guitar, and delivered every song with not only the skill, but the absolute light as air effortlessness of a veteran who only knows one thing. I hadn't bothered to even look up his band, but was pleasantly surprised to see Peter Buck on stage as a member. That was my first clue that I might be in for more than I expected. In short order, I was blown away by each musician in turn, playing mostly songs I was not familiar with (Hitchcock's catalog is enormous, and I never acquainted myself with his work with this band in particular). I was just shaking my head at the guitar work, the bass, the melodies, the melodies RH was playing while singing so perfectly.
About halfway through the set they started playing a beautiful ballad called New York Doll that Hitchcock wrote after seeing the documentary by the same name about Arthur Kane, the band's bassist. As the drummer switched over to brushes and started playing along, I was just fucking floored by how tasteful and quiet and perfect it was. I was blown away by what he wasn't doing just as much as what he was. I had never done this before in my life, by I had to pull out my phone mid song and find out who this drummer was, - I was that moved by how understated and beautiful his playing was. The drummer for Ministry you saw on stage in 1992? Yeah. Same guy. To discover that fact against the backdrop of that beautiful, serene moment...was pretty cool. He's definitely married to his craft, first and foremost.
Little story about Bill. Bill went to Roosevelt High, same as half the awesome people in the entertainment industry#Notable_alumni), same as a lot of my friends. As such, he's a known quantity. Or, at least he is, if you know who he is. He's a decidedly unassuming man. One of the first shows I worked for money was the Swans' Soundtracks for the Blind farewell tour - they called it quits for 13 years after that because Michael Gira and Jarboe couldn't stand each other. And I've got the monitors dialed up and I'm checking my lights while they're doing a good'n'proper Swans-ey dirge and this dude in a black sport coat and wool scarf, probably in his 50s, walks in. He stands next to me and proceeds to strip-tease. Mike Gira cracks up, the song stops, and he says "you asshole." Then he gets into the mic and says "Bill Rieflin, ladies and gentlemen." I turn to him and say "You're Bill Rieflin?" He says "Most days." "I drove four thousand miles to see you play with Ministry twice." "I'm sorry." "No, you guys were awesome! It was fuckin' rad." "Those pricks still owe me money." * * * There are a lot of nice people in music, industrial/goth included. Bill Rieflin is definitely one of them. When he started touring with REM everyone in town went UP-GRADE!