Last Minute Bidding Blues: Phil Ochs, Eugene Chadbourne

I hate it when I wait all week to bid on some special item on eBay and then FORGET TO DO IT.

I forgot to bid on this Phil Ochs album some dude in New Westminster was selling, for example - a live, Canada-only 1974 release of a late-period live show, where Ochs is interspersing protest songs with versions of "Okie from Muskogee" and Elvis tunes, while wearing his (cynical?) gold lame suit. The audience heckles him, and he jousts back. The cover is priceless, and as live albums go, it's as odd and special an artefact as, say, Lou Reed's Take No Prisoners. It gets mentioned in my Eugene Chadbourne article in the Nerve this month (not online as I write, but go here, check the contents, or if you're seeing this after it was initially posted, the archives for June). It turns out Chadbourne saw Ochs play live when he was younger, something I did not know. Speaking of Chadbourne -- whose jazz fest return I am most looking forward to (also see here, for his show with Paul Lovens and Japanese pianist Aki Takase, covering Fats Waller tunes) -- I also recently forgot to bid on a signed edition of There'll Be No Tears Tonight, also on eBay and also mentioned in the article. Both these items were radically underbid upon, considering their scarcity and importance as artefacts; the Ochs went for a scant $9.95, with one bidder. It's just as well someone else won them, tho'; they should ideally go to a home where there's a turntable, all things considered. I was just gonna stick the vinyl on the wall, underneath my decorative Monkey Warfare LP, courtesy of Reg Harkema.

By the way, Reg tells me that Monkey Warfare is due out in July, I think it was, on DVD with some cool extras, including a rough cut with Reg and his editor doing commentary. By far the coolest Canadian film of 2006, and you can tell'em I said so.

More on Eugene later - I have outtakes from the interview to post.