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Slinging tuneage like some fried or otherwise soused short-order cook

25 April 2025

What Happened to Me? - David Thomas R.I.P.

 

The ultimate drunken curmudgeon, great Father Ubu, Crocus Behemoth has died. 

One of my top-ten musicians, I have seen David or Ubu uncountable times, in the tiniest halls & slummiest bars to Grande Ballrooms & Theaters of Light. I should take the time to do this man justice but I am flummoxed at the moment & just need to hear (& share) some David. 

This one is for us all. 

 

David Thomas - Monster Walks the Winter Lake, Twin/Tone Records TTRCD8667, 1986.
decryption code in comments


My Theory of Spontaneous Simultude / Red Tin Bus
What Happened to Me
Monster Walks the Winter Lake
Bicycle
Coffee Train
My Town
Monster Magee, King of the Seas
Monster Thinks about the Good Days
What Happened to Me

 

 

David Lynn Thomas R.I.P.
NØ

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25 comments:

  1. NØ4/25/25, 2:31 PM

    Monster Walks the Winter Lake
    FMcbZ3hS3k3nf66gvNcmB9dcdXM4batSTpybNqxGTV0

    ReplyDelete
  2. FlaccusMUC4/26/25, 1:42 AM

    Very sad news. Strangely enough, I never saw Pere Ubu live, missed them many times. Rediscovered Mr Thomas' music in recent years. Going to listen to some DT now.

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  3. Richard4/26/25, 2:40 AM

    Thank You, David Thomas, for all your music, kind, difficult, volcanic, fragile, passionate and all inclusive.

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  4. Mister Kien4/26/25, 8:51 AM

    Wouah, sad news... RIP David Thomas... I don't know that lp, will give it a go...

    ReplyDelete
  5. jonder4/26/25, 9:27 AM

    The first time my friends and I rented a VCR and a couple movies, we chose a forgettable porno movie and the unforgettable URGH. My friends laughed at the big man in the suit who sang in a high voice and seemed unable to contain his excitement about the simple joys of birdsong and the art of walking.

    I was at a loss to explain who David was and why Ubu was important. They might have understood the teenage angst of "Final Solution" -- but how then to explain the radical transformation from the Ubu of 1975 to the Ubu of 1981? It was a transformation that I didn't fully understand myself as a young person who still preferred "The Modern Dance" over "Dub Housing" and everything after.

    In retrospect, the music that David made with and without Ubu is a lifetime of restless exploration in pursuit of a musical vision beyond rock music. He offered both an invitation and a dare to travel along with him. You can see that in the face of the man who looks sternly at the LA crowd and offers a fake smile and a muttered "Sorry!" before the band launches into "Birdies".

    https://youtu.be/ByNZnjvnFsA?si=BhSVx--XBjxHP3Mrm

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  6. NØ4/26/25, 1:20 PM

    Thanks to all for your comments about the passing of another great one. Thanks Jonder for your early recollections. I was lucky enough to live near Clevland & saw Rockets & Ubu live several times. Saw Dave solo & Ubu many times in Cali over the many many years. Still have my backstage pass lanyard from a show I weaseled tickets as a Journalist lol (EAT POOP! 'zine, yeah). The greatest show for sheer memory sake was at Meadville,PA Moose Lodge 2505.
    (read about it here: https://nathannothinsez.blogspot.com/2010/01/slow-walking-daddy.html)

    Slow Walking Daddy (from St. Arkansas)

    I wear a suit and, honey, I wear a tie -
    Yeah-yeah-yeah
    I'm gonna look good each and every day I say goodbye
    I love that highway, US 322 -
    Yeah-yeah-yeah, yeah... yeah...

    Six miles south of Meadville, all bare cinderblocks
    Sitting there is Moose Lodge 2505
    And outside there's a sign that says
    "Good Cod Dinner, Fridays, $5.95"
    "Good Steakeye Dinner, Saturdays, $5.95"
    And it says, "Welcome."
    You are welcome...

    ...to the crazy green of the midsummer nowhere -
    Yeah-yeah-yeah
    Mr In-Between is showing up fair, four-square
    I love that highway, US 322 -
    Yeah-yeah-yeah, yeah... yeah...

    And I saw stars in strange constellations
    Trapped inside the blackness of neverending night
    Seen thru the pearly luminescence of shatterproof glass
    Framed by the wrong side of green velour and maybe it felt like home
    Maybe for just a little while

    I love that road, I love the way it yields to me
    It sorta breathes & whispers out my name - that's how it feels
    I love that highway, US 322 -
    Yeah-yeah-yeah, yeah

    ReplyDelete
  7. Anonymous4/26/25, 9:23 PM

    The best way to say goodbye to a genius:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jcB92beO8hs

    ReplyDelete
  8. Richie Muster4/27/25, 2:36 AM

    Excellent, thank you. Someone on exystence has just posted the 'Monster' boxed set so i'll avail myself of that too.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Viacomclosedmedown on youtube4/28/25, 8:01 AM

    Thanks Nathan and Jonder...got the repost today but youse guys know way more about Dave so gonna route 'em over here. Taking a different angle on it with a comparison on Dave's vocals.

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  10. ib4/28/25, 5:32 PM

    R.I.P. David Thomas. Viva Pere Ubu. Viva Cleveland.

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    Replies
    1. NØ4/28/25, 7:52 PM

      Well. I guess it takes the passing of a great one to draw old fried out from the cobwebs. Great to hear from you, dear friend. Sorry it takes such sadness to bring a ray of happiness.

      Delete
  11. jonder4/28/25, 9:34 PM

    Nathan, as someone who saw RFTT and the early Ubu on their Cleveland home turf, what was your initial reaction when David transformed from Crocus Behemoth into a persona of childlike wonder like Jonathan Richman? ("My name is David and I've got a hat the size of Oklahoma...")

    I understand that a group like Ubu could never be satisfied with remaking The Modern Dance (or the Hearthan singles) over and over again, and I respect them for that. If I remember correctly, for a number of years David refused to perform "Final Solution". There's plenty to love in the later Pere Ubu catalog, but it was a real thrill to see Ubu bring out the old songs on the Coed Jail tour.

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  12. NØ4/29/25, 12:55 AM

    Two initial things come to mind. The split of RFTT into Pere Ubu & The Dead Boys was one signifier. The death of Peter Laughner was a major hammer blow to a cetain coffin nail.

    You referrence The Modern Dance / Dub Housing variation...Laughner being the defining difference in my opinion. The impetus generated by RFTT seemed to hit the wall at that time. I believe that like another musical genius Don Van Vliet, David's muse was always strong & single-minded but wide in scope while remaining true throughout its journey. I believe the musicians he surrounded himself with determined a great deal of the music's trajectory.

    As much as we all love the early stuff, albums like Song of the Bailing Man, The Tenement Year, Cloudland, Pennsylvania, St. Arkansas have some strong top-tier songs. The later releases may have appeared more patchy (Lady from Shanghai, Carnival of Souls, The Long Goodbye, Trouble on Beat Street) because of a combination of band & booze, I believe. I've seen PU where David could hardly stand (sometimes he didn't, but propped up on a stool) but he still alway entertained, even when his condition was a part of the spectacle.

    But as a person who loves releases in their entirety rather than individual songs, I can listen to any of the above mentioned (& more) & enjoy, appreciate, & understand just what David Thomas was laying down.

    Sentimentally though, nothing touches the memories of seeing both RFTT & Ubu in those formative years in smoky, smelly dive-bars & sleazehalls. I believe Crocus was always there throughout the years, just sometimes buried under layers of LIFE.

    On a note to you're first comment above, Urgh! A Music War flick was such a crucial piece of cinéma vérité for me, I've never forgotten it or its effect on me. Seeing David sing in the link you provided is a formative image in my life.

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    Replies
    1. jonder4/30/25, 9:54 PM

      Thank you for the thoughtful answer. The description "single-minded but wide in scope" is very appropriate for David Thomas' career and (as you also said) the musicians who were his collaborators.

      The Laughner factor makes a lot of sense. David chose a different path than Peter's "death trip", while Cheetah embraced the NYC punk rock junkie image and lifestyle.

      And URGH! Some truly memorable performances by Ubu, the Cramps, Alleycats, Au Pairs, Wall of Voodoo, Devo, Magazine, Gang of Four, Dead Kennedys (who didn't make the soundtrack), plus the uniquely loony Klaus Nomi, John Otway and Skafish! Watching it again not too long ago, I wondered (again) how Lux's leather pants managed to stay on...

      Delete
    2. NØ5/1/25, 12:11 AM

      Saw the Cramps (several times, in fact) at One Step Beyond in Santa Clara. I swear Lux' pants must have been glued on somehow. They hung at just that perfect provocative point but never varied from that spot. Course I was more enthralled by Ivy & Bryan Gregory. But when Lux climbed on top of the amp stack, the lights went to near pitch black, & he began fellating the microphone as he sang, all eyes were on that mad genius.

      You always dredge up the craziest of memories, dear friend. As for Laughner, live he was like very few, possessed of some guitar spirit or muse that could carry the audience to an entirely different plane of (ir)reality.

      Delete
  13. jonder4/30/25, 10:14 PM

    I just visited the blog "Doom And Gloom From The Tomb" and read this about David Thomas: " Like Captain Beefheart or Mark E. Smith, he was a powerful catalyst, able to forge a singular vision out of wildly disparate elements (and wildly different lineups)." Single minded/singular vision, wide in scope/wildly disparate! How about that.

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    Replies
    1. NØ5/1/25, 12:25 AM

      You know what they sez: "Small minds travel in circles" or something like that.

      & the David/Beefheart parallels are quite apparent to me (knowing my tastes or lack thereof, I don't really go with the Smith bit).

      Delete
    2. Mister Kien5/1/25, 4:05 AM

      Mark E. Smith, would not that be the fall bit? (Would make more sense). Thanks for the old memories of times unknown !

      Delete
    3. NØ5/1/25, 12:30 PM

      Yes indeed, The Fall. Just not a fave band of mine.

      Delete
    4. jonder5/1/25, 8:36 PM

      Just remembered my own blog's comparison between David Thomas and Mark E. Smith: https://jonderblog.blogspot.com/search/label/Pere%20Ubu

      Delete
  14. jonder5/22/25, 1:05 PM

    I had to "come again" to this post to share an excerpt from a David Thomas interview in Psychology Today (!) The interview was linked by PostPunkMonk in his own tribute to David. I thought of you (Nathan) immediately when I read this.

    "People like to say it’s not the arriving, it’s the journey. Well, that’s baloney,
    Pennsylvania is the space between where you are and where you want to be. Now, if the journey is so important, that means you never get out of Pennsylvania.
    And frankly, I want to get out of Pennsylvania.”

    https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/brick-brick/201801/pere-ubus-dave-thomas-warns-against-self-satisfaction

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  15. NØ5/22/25, 2:54 PM

    Reminds me of W.C. Fields fictitious epitaph that he'd rather be in Philadelphia (than the grave). As a warning against self-satisfaction, I'd guess that David was talking about a Pennsylvania state of mind as much as a geographic location. Pennsylvania was always the place between where I was & where I wanted to be. So onward I travelled & California I arrived. Then forty years slipped away in a blink of the eye & California state of mind was no longer my destination. I realized there were spaces in Pennsylvania that I wanted to be. So rather than settle for complacency I pulled up roots & returned to the source. I have found peace of mind as well as my Slow Walking Daddy strut.

    "I'm gonna look good each & every day until I say goodbye.

    And I saw stars in strange constellations
    Trapped inside the blackness of neverending night
    Seen thru the pearly luminescence of shatterproof glass
    Framed by the wrong side of green velour and maybe it felt like home
    Maybe for just a little while

    I love that place, I love the way it yields to me
    It sorta breathes & whispers out my name - that's how it feels"

    Thanks brother for the 'Come Again'

    ReplyDelete
  16. jonder5/24/25, 12:48 PM

    I agree -- David was describing Pennsylvania as a mindset, and maybe staying in Pennsylvania (or Cleveland) would have been like remaking The Modern Dance over and over again, rather than seeking out "More Places Forever". I've enjoyed this discussion, my friend!

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    Replies
    1. NØ5/24/25, 2:40 PM

      Thanks jonder. Enjoyed our dialogue much. Seems like we used to do much more of it in the underneathica days. Life moves on, not always for the better.

      Delete

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