Being a no-hit wonder, dear reader, I never thought I had written a signature song. However, seeing these two clips side by side made me think that possibly I have. The first is from New Band Night in The 7th Street Entry in Minneapolis during the summer of 1989. It was the first time I had played the song in public. The second is from the For the Love of Pop festival in The Bellhouse in Brooklyn April 11, 2012 to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Chickfactor.
Being able to see performances of a song I wrote being played 23 years apart is really an intensely interesting thing – to me anyway! The song is my ode to the phenomena of internal emigration. Or as my friend Karrie once told me, “why do you try so hard to pretend you don’t live here?”
My experience with the real Amsterdam up to the point of the 1989 show had been one of wide-eyed wonder in the summer of 1986. I had traveled there and stayed a week after working 3-months in a pub outside of London in a suburb called Ruislip (no relation.) You might notice I don’t live in a zolder (attic) in the Van Wou Straat in the first version, because I hadn’t yet made its acquaintance.
My favorite part of the clip is seeing Rena playing the bass, the same one the band still uses. As most of you know, she died less than a year later in a traffic accident when we returned from The Netherlands after spending a school year there. She was the subject of many songs I wrote before and after her death. I think it is funny she is wearing stripes, de rigueur at The Bell House show, 23 years ahead of her time I guess.
Special thanks to Allison LaBonne for converting the Rena and Her Men show to digital for me and to Bleary Eyed Brooklyn for committing the Chickfactor show to digital for posterity. Also, a heartfelt thank you to everyone who took the time to learn and play this song with me over the years, I’m truly grateful.
Rena and Her Men 7th St Entry New Band Night 1989
Comments
I don’t think we ever talked about it, Jim, but I spent a little time in the Netherlands, too. It was during the summer of 1992, just before I moved to Minneapolis for school. It was about 6 weeks.
“Mij Amsterdam” and “Minneapolis”: the one-two punch about where I’ve been.
Maybe you could write a song about Kansas City now?
That’s a tough one there being that K.C. song The Beatles did. Which city in The Netherlands were you in?
I’m partial to “Train from Kansas City,” though it portrays people from KC as losers (in love, at least).
I was mostly in a small town in the nether regions of the Netherlands called Zierikzee. I took a bike tour through the countryside and a train tour of the larger cities, though. I feel like I was a bit wound up for the time and place.
That was 20 years ago. Sheesh!
Thanks for posting this. This song has a magical quality and getting to see the old entry performance was a time machine to a few years before I was able to be a part of that reality. Thanks for letting it be part of my afternoon. Can’t wait for 1965!