My roots are showing! I remember so clearly seeing this when it was originally broadcast on TV Ontario. Back in the early part of 1978, my 14 year old brain had only just scratched the surface of what musical landscapes lay beyond the top 40. Seeing this program was one of those profound, life changing moments when something completely new comes into focus and you instantly know that it’s something that was made for you. I’d seen Nash’s performance with his band, FM, on the same program a year earlier, so I wasn’t completely unfamiliar with Him. This second performance did seal the deal in terms of the depth of influence he would have on my future work. Here is my “soul father” at his best way back in 1978.
Mr. Fist likes to make music. Mr. Fist likes to make creepy music, assembling sounds and words that ferment together into a bubbling broth of hallucinogenic mayhem. He’s been stirring this pot of perversion for nearly 30 years, so you can be certain that this potion is potent enough to unhinge the most stalwart of minds. Once this door is open, you’ll be ushered into a weird, wild world populated by a motley assortment of questionable characters in peculiar places. This is a place where the mundane becomes mutated and the dross is delivered unto the heavens because Mr. Fist knows how easy it is to get stains on white. Mr. Fist has been an independent producer working the DIY vein since 1981. All works here were composed, performed and produced by Mr. Fist unless otherwise noted. Commercial interests may contact Mr. Fist for licensing and contracting inquiries via the Blood 'n' Tongue website.
Thank you SOOO very much for posting this. Every time I listen to Dreams & Nightmares I think back to this show.
I was 13 years old and must have just been channel changing on a Friday night when I saw the skull at the beginning. I was mesmerized and couldn’t turn away.
Changed the direction of music in my life forever.
Sounds like my experience exactly. I’d never seen anything like it and it blasted open the doors of possibility. The instrumentation he was using, the use of the surrealist paintings, the “one man band” setup, the ghostly atmosphere… It was all like some kind of dream where I wasn’t quite sure I was seeing what I was seeing.
Great post! Was 17 when I saw it. I believe the show was called Nightmusic and was broadcast in February of ’78. This caused me to become a fan to this day and greatly influenced how and what I listened to ever since. Thanks.
It’s too bad he’s given up on playing his music and become the “One man Cover Band”, I’ve attended a few of this shows in Toronto, they’re extremely brief and virtually identical to each other.
It’s not like he’s appealing to the “young’uns” , his audience is made up primarily of older folks, and those that may have “discovered” him in the last 10yrs or so.
I’d love to hear him play a show of Dreams and Nightmares tunes ,or take me back to the Decomposing days… I’d even settle for tunes on Children of the Night, the last show had him playing Little Eva’s Locomotion (WTF!)
I can’t figure it out, he’s not making money playing these small venues (there are rarely more then a few dozen people at the show), so why play the new shit?
That’s really very sad to hear that he’s stuck in that kind of rut. It’s especially so considering that now would be a perfect time for him to revive his career by introducing a new generation to his original works. Those pieces are so special and beautiful and it’s really sad to see them neglected in favour of tired old cover tunes. Sounds like he should really start looking for that “Lost Lenore”!
Thank you SOOO very much for posting this. Every time I listen to Dreams & Nightmares I think back to this show.
I was 13 years old and must have just been channel changing on a Friday night when I saw the skull at the beginning. I was mesmerized and couldn’t turn away.
Changed the direction of music in my life forever.
Thank you!!
-David
Sounds like my experience exactly. I’d never seen anything like it and it blasted open the doors of possibility. The instrumentation he was using, the use of the surrealist paintings, the “one man band” setup, the ghostly atmosphere… It was all like some kind of dream where I wasn’t quite sure I was seeing what I was seeing.
Great post! Was 17 when I saw it. I believe the show was called Nightmusic and was broadcast in February of ’78. This caused me to become a fan to this day and greatly influenced how and what I listened to ever since. Thanks.
Yes! My experience exactly!
It’s too bad he’s given up on playing his music and become the “One man Cover Band”, I’ve attended a few of this shows in Toronto, they’re extremely brief and virtually identical to each other.
It’s not like he’s appealing to the “young’uns” , his audience is made up primarily of older folks, and those that may have “discovered” him in the last 10yrs or so.
I’d love to hear him play a show of Dreams and Nightmares tunes ,or take me back to the Decomposing days… I’d even settle for tunes on Children of the Night, the last show had him playing Little Eva’s Locomotion (WTF!)
I can’t figure it out, he’s not making money playing these small venues (there are rarely more then a few dozen people at the show), so why play the new shit?
That’s really very sad to hear that he’s stuck in that kind of rut. It’s especially so considering that now would be a perfect time for him to revive his career by introducing a new generation to his original works. Those pieces are so special and beautiful and it’s really sad to see them neglected in favour of tired old cover tunes. Sounds like he should really start looking for that “Lost Lenore”!
Here’s the tracklisting for the Nightmusic programme:
1. Blind Windows/Countervail
2. Islands
3. Lost Lenore
4. Ylla
5. Fever Dream
6. The Million Year Picnic
7. Masquerade
The tracks all come from the “Bedside Companions” EP and the “Dreams and Nightmares” LP.
Thanks! Two brilliant and highly under appreciated releases.