Fire

Mike O flew out to meet us in Atlanta. He had helped coordinate our performance for The Monster Show at Eyedrum and it was one of my favorites. It was certainly the largest stage, with the biggest screen that we had played up to that point.

Mike had gotten there early to build this huge cardboard city and the plan was to burn it down at the end of the night, after our performance--I guess those people in Atlanta just like to see a city burn every hundred years or so. Anyways, one of us had the idea of performing Explode while the flames climbed high into the night, so we figured Balthrop would teach it to the crowd during the set and then go outside and provide a soundtrack to the pyrotechnics.

Needless to say, it was a lot of fun and it went well, although, as you can see in the video, Luverne got kind of possessed and we had to make sure she didn't throw herself into the flames.

Not on the video is the spontaneous song Jemison wrote on the spot, "Burn It Down Again" which would be a hit in any period, but you had to be there to still have it stuck in your head like I do.

Mike O was overwhelmed by the success of his flaming urban landscape (or something smokey) and laid down for a bit with his head over the side of the loading dock. Some say he just wanted a better view of the spot where the truck wheels meet the pavement, but Chris says he was smiling, so we weren't too worried.