OFF: Ozrics

[Paul Mather]

On Thu, 22 Jul 1999, Dan Witt wrote:

=> Just saw the Ozrics at First Avenue in Minneapolis last night.  Great
=> show, they played about 125 minutes.  Lots of fancy lights and
=> projections.  The opener, Star People, was a real surprise, kind of like
=> Bryan Ferry meets Syd Barret, or maybe Dean Martin meets Sun RA, take
=> your pick.  Do check out Star People if you get the chance.

I saw the Ozrics at Ziggy's, Winston-Salem, NC on this tour, and arrived
during the opening set of Star People.  Quite bemusing.  They struck me
as being a kind of dada outfit, who freely (and sometimes randomly:)
ranged over several disparate styles.  There is definitely an air of
performance art about them, all smartly decked out in those tuxedos and
affected antics. It's my guess that folks will either love them or hate
them.  Some of the spoken word pieces reminded me of early Hawkwind,
albeit less heavy (though Star People can lay down some brutal riffs).

=> I have great dat of the Ozrics show, made from some AKG's and a Lunatec
=> pre.  I'll be transferring it to CDR and will be up for a trade in the
=> near future, if anybody is interested contact me privately.

Do the Ozrics officially allow taping?  I ask because I saw at least one
mic rig in front of the soundboard at the gig I went to, and one or two
people with camcorders, too.

I have to say I was sorely disappointed with the Ozrics merchandise.  I
was all set to buy a 1999 tour t-shirt only to find they didn't have one
(just generic Ozrics shirts, and a Blim "creation").  Plus, they'd run
out of the latest CD release (which I subsequently got in my local
shop), and, in fact, had no CDs or other audio for sale.

Cheers,

Paul.

NP: Ozric Tentacles, _Waterfall Cities_

e-mail: paul at gromit.dlib.vt.edu

"I don't live today; maybe tomorrow..."
        --- James Marshall Hendrix