"So, let us not be blind to our differences - but let us also direct attention to our common interests and to the means by which those differences can be resolved. And if we cannot end now our differences, at least we can help make the world safe for diversity. For, in the final analysis, our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet. We all breathe the same air. We all cherish our children's future. And we are all mortal." JFK, June 10, 1963.
Friday, June 14, 2013
Pixies Break Up (Again)
The Pixies have broken up for a second time.
The first time, frontman Black Francis famously sent a terse fax in 1993 to other band members, informing them of the decision to disband the group.
This time, bass player Kim Deal has pulled the plug.
Here are two videos I shot during a Pixies show in Oakland in 2009:
The Pixies released this statement on their Facebook page today (June 14, 2013):
We are sad to say that Kim Deal has decided to leave the Pixies. We are very proud to have worked with her on and off over the last 25 years. Despite her decision to move on, we will always consider her a member of the Pixies, and her place will always be here for her. We wish her all the best.
Black Francis, Joey Santiago and David Lovering
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Any true Pixies fan can't help but feeling disappointed today... And make no mistake, much of what we think of as indie music today and the indie music aesthetic comes directly from The Pixies.... We loved seeing the reunion tours. One of the concert highlights of my life was seeing the reformed Pixies playing at Coachella in the California desert in 2004. Although I had listened to The Pixies for years, I had never seen them live during their first iteration. Many thousands of hardcore fans, we saw them together for the first time at Coachella. I subsequently saw them several other times and loved it each time. That music is classic (specifically Come On Pilgrim/Surfer Rosa and Doolittle).... BUT WE ALWAYS HOPED DEEP DOWN INSIDE FOR A NEW ALBUM............... And Kim was always the obstacle to that, always placing the interests of The Breeders (who she founded with twin sister Kelley Deal) before those of The Pixies. They seemed to get along so well on the tours that much hope was generated that new material would be forthcoming and there were a few new things... a single, Bam Thwok plopped on iTunes without fanfare in 2004, a (great) Warren Zevon cover Ain't That Pretty At All, and a Frank Black cover, live acoustic at Newport, All Around The World.... But I was among the fans who were certain that any album of new material featuring songs and singing by Black Francis and Kim Deal, with the singular crisp guitar licks of Joey Santiago, the thunderous thud of Kim's bass and David Lovering's steady beat couldn't help but BE GREAT.... Efforts were made, from what we heard, but it was not to be. Perhaps the final straw was Kim's decision to hit the reunion circuit with The Breeders for the 20th anniversary of their breakthrough album Last Splash, dooming any chance for a new Pixies album (or tour) for another year or so.... The break up announcement doesn't seem to hold rancor, so who knows if somewhere down the line if there could be a new album or new tour, but for now, we'll have to satisfy ourselves with the memories and dreams of what may have been...
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