BOC-L Digest - 30 Dec 1996 to 31 Dec 1996

[John A Swartz]

Yeah, John (or is it Jon?) Micelli filled in on I believe 3 dates for
Chuck Burgi, who is the band's current drummer.  Micelli has filled in
a few times (in '92 and at the end of '95) in the past and from all
reports is the best drummer BOC has had in years.

X-Ray Eyes may have been done only once or twice, but is supposed to
be on the upcoming album.

Reports on Eric are mixed.  I read some stuff on AOL regarding the shows
and most thought the band kicked ass at the recent shows.  A few mentioned
that Eric was in much better form than he was in October, which is
encouraging.  Then again, it sounds as if he's still not his old self.

My biggest concern is that the band's setlist appears to be shrinking by
one or two songs, and is about as STALE as I've seen it.  With the
exception of the 2 new songs (and even doing "Harvest Moon" every show
for the past 2 or 3 years seems old hat - what with all the choices of
"new material" they have), this is the same setlist they've been doing
for years.  What happened to The Vigil?  Lips in the Hills?  Shooting
Shark?  Flaming Telepaths?  See You in Black?  and on and on...  Some
of these can be attributed to Eric's recent vocal troubles (he may be
better, but the setlist is still very Buck-oriented as far as lead vocals
go), but not all.  One has to wonder why with a new album with some
very good tunes on it due out in a few months, and a massive catalog of
great old material (some of which hasn't been done in years), why do
they continue to simply re-cycle the same stuff?

John