Review from Flagpole magazine dated June 21, 1989
Notes From A Thursday Night... or, I Met God At Kinko's
Strictly speaking, of course, this piece really should have been in last week's Flagpole, but I couldn't seem to hunt down my regular film processor in time, plus I have family in town and a new pet to boot (not one and the same, I assure you) but enough of my kvetching and on with the show... I managed to sweet-talk a press pass out of the nice people at the University Union for the Robyn Hitchcock / Poi Dog Pondering show, in the hopes of a) bringing you, our loyal readers, quality photographs and journalism ( ha ha ha), and b) doing a much better job of shooting the Great Man than I did a year ago up north (when the best shots on the whole roll are of the homeliest singer/ songwriter in Boston, you know you're in trouble.)

So there I was in Kinko's on Thursday afternoon, running off a couple of things for Snatches of Pink (also due In that evening), when who should come strolling in but Mr. Hitchcock himself, tour manager in tow, all set to pick out the best color paper for this tour's passes. Very English, very charming, and very eccentric..."Oh," he said when I told him I'd be taking pictures that night, "we'll have to put you somewhere high up, or you'll be shooting up everyone's noses. Can't have that now. And they aren't terribly interesting, either. Anyone's nose... Sting's nose..." and went on for a while on the topic of Mr. Sumner's proboscis. Hmmmm... should be an interesting evening if nothing else...

Unfortunately for me, I didn't see anywhere sufficiently elevated for the likes of short little me to shoot from, and I wasn't feeling brave enough to pester the crew, so I had to settle for down by the speakers, far stage left. (Note, don't ever spend 2 whole hours with your ear 6“ away from the tweeter, especially if you're not planning to go hear an even louder band afterwards. My right ear hurt the whole next day, even with foam-rubber earplugs.) I'd never seen Poi Dog Pondering before, and wasn't really familiar with their material, but they were a most enjoyable surprise. I don't know how they mange to fit that many people on stage in the smaller places they play, as they pretty well spilled off the Georgia Hall stage as it was, but never mind... what's a little crowding if you're having fun anyway? And they were fun... lively danceable, bouncy and almost contagiously upbeat, and bashed out on a large variety of "instruments" including, trumpet, trombone, recorder, bells, a wheel rim and a light-up electric globe (all right, it didn't play music, but the lead singer was having a ball spinning it around and around.) The mandolin player even decided to show off a bit by playing behind his head for a while, and the violinist hopped and skipped as she fiddled away. The more acoustic numbers reminded me of the Pogues, but the Poi Dogs singer can actually sing and has much better teeth to boot. Anyway, lots of fun and I'm looking forward to seeing them at the 40 Watt (but probably not for much longer, these folks are going places, as well they deserve).

Finally, after what seemed like a small eternity passed, on came the main attraction. I have to admit that I enjoyed the last show I'd seen a bit more but that was mainly because he did more of the older songs that I like, pure personal prejudice on my part. Oh well, it was fun anyway... most of the material seemed to be newer material from Globe of Frogs and Queen Elvis (the latter of which I haven't heard yet because of financial constraints... i.e., no money for records) And of course, there were stories as well... I remember one of them involving a couple hoping to be buried in close enough proximity that their bones would wash into the same gully, or something along those lines, and a grossly fat old man turning into a wasp in his castle (as the prelude to " Madonna of the Wasps", of course). I missed not hearing "If you were a priest" and " I often dream of Trains", but "Balloon Man" and a lovely version of "One Long Pair of Eyes" eased the pangs of disappointment considerably. (The former Always reminds me of my one and only trip to NYC, most of which was spent on and around radio city music hall on 6th avenue, definitely some of the most fun I had in 1987, but another story entirely.) After an encore of (surprise!) "Gotta let this hen out", it was all over too soon, so it was back onto the soggy streets and back to the 40 Watt for Snatches of Pink.

The pictures, you say? how did they come out? well, the Poi Dogs came out best of all , Robyn came out rather, er, atmospheric (bad lighting and a zoom lens do it every time). But, if a picture is worth a thousand words, here's 2,000 words for yall...
R C Alexander