Pitchfork

Photo by Jason Bergman

Who could've possibly imagined that Girl Talk, maestro of the twenty-second snippet-of-a-snippet, and Widespread Panic, the veteran jam rockers, would prove a less than ideal match? Our boy Gillis opened for the 'Spread in Boston last week, and, shockingly, chaos ensued. Let's let Mr. Talk explain, via his MySpace blog:

On Wednesday, I had a show in Boston opening up for Widespread Panic. I had never heard this band before, but I knew they were in genre of "jam band." I don't know anything about the jam scene really, which is part of the reason why I wanted to do the show. I knew it was going to be weird, which I guess was also part of the allure of doing it...

A few people emailed me prior to the show, wanting to attend but not wanting to pay the ticket price for an abbreviated set. I arranged for some of these people and some friends to join me on stage during the performance. When I arrived at the show, the organizers were completely against having dancers on stage with me, even though there was a ton of space. We agreed to have them jam out in the space between the stage and the audience the barricade.

They wanted me to do two sets, one opening the show and one in between Widespread Panic sets. I always play one extended set so I wasn't too into this idea, but they said it was the only way I could perform. I agreed to do it. My first set was scheduled to be from 6:30 PM to 7:15 PM. My back-up dancers were pre-gaming pretty hard in the backstage trailer prior to the show, starting at 6:00 PM. The venue could probably fit 5000 people, and when I took the stage, there were about 50 in attendance. I was into the show, on a "this is ridiculous but kind of amazing" level. One of the girls who initially contacted me through Myspace ended up passing out drunk in front of the stage at 7:00 PM. Security tried to help, and she ended up pissing herself. Then, her friend was trying to explain what happened and barfed all over the place. 7:00 PM, so insane! Security then kicked all of my friends out. My set was cut short, and then, they told me that I wasn't allowed to perform another set.

Sounds to us like your average Wednesday night out with Girl Talk. Still, there's something you must always bear in mind when you're dealing with jam bands: they take substance abuse very, very seriously. Ahem.

All that unpleasantness aside, Gregg, his laptop, and the drunken revelry that seems to follow him wherever he goes, are headed Down Under this winter. Just not 'til after he crafts that Of Montreal remix, and not 'til he wraps up a bunch of shows with friendly firestarter Dan Deacon, among others. In fact, that Australian/New Zealand tour doesn't kick off 'til December, when I'm told it'll be the dead of summer in the southern hemisphere. You crazy for that one, Aussies!

Talkin' girls:

07-27 Seattle, WA - Capitol Hill Block Party
07-28 Louisville, KY - Forecastle Festival
08-05 Baltimore, MD - Pimlico Race Course (Virgin Festival) !
08-09 Indianapolis, IN - Talbott Street
08-10 Baton Rouge, LA - Spanish Moon
08-11 New Orleans, LA - One Eyed Jacks
08-17 Mariaville, NY - Indian Lookout Country Club
08-24 Tulsa, OK - Cain's Ballroom
09-08 Portland, OR - Roseland Theater (MusicFest NW) $
09-12 Toronto, Ontario - Phoenix !%
09-13 Montreal, Quebec - La Tulipe !%
09-14 Boston, MA - Avalon Ballroom !%
09-15 New York, NY - Webster Hall !%
09-17 Philadelphia, PA - First Unitarian Church !%
09-20 Charlottesville, VA - Satellite Ballroom !%
09-21 Asheville, NC - Orange Peel !%
09-22 Atlanta, GA - MJQ Concourse !%
09-27 San Diego, CA - Epicentre !%
09-28 Los Angeles, CA - Echoplex !%
09-29 San Francisco, CA - The Fillmore Auditorium !%
10-04 Lawrence, KS - Granada Theatre
10-05 Minneapolis, MN - First Avenue !=
10-06 Iowa City, IA - The Picador !^
10-11 Calgary, Alberta - The Warehouse <
10-12 Edmonton, Alberta - The Starlite Room <
11-01 Houston, TX - Engine Room *
11-02 Dallas, TX - Palladium Loft *
12-08 Rennes, France - Festival Transmusicales
12-30 Lorne, Australia - Falls Festival
12-31 Marion Bay, Australia - Falls Festival
01-01 Sydney, Australia - Field Day Festival
01-03 Brisbane, Australia - The Troubador
01-05 Busselton, Australia - Southbound Festival
01-10 Sydney, Australia - Oxford Arts Factory
01-11 Melbourne, Australia - Miss Libertine
01-12 Auckland, New Zealand - Rising Sun

! with Dan Deacon
$ with Clipse
% with White Williams
= with The Show Is the Rainbow
^ with Old Time Relijun
< with Holy Fuck
* with Busdriver, Daedelus