Defend the Indefensible: Live (the band)

Soon, though, the band members had to figure out other ways to supplement their income. Taylor tried producing movies, like the 2010 Ernest Borgnine-Cybill Shepherd film Another Harvest Moon

“At first I was like, ‘fiber optics?’ ” says Taylor. “ ‘We barely know anything about real estate, let alone fiber.’ ” But Hynes had an idea to lay down a fiber-optic cable that ran directly from New York to Ashburn, Virginia, bypassing the big cities along the I-95 corridor where Verizon and others ran their cables. “I know this sounds weird, but I was like, ‘OK, that sounds like a great idea,’ ” Taylor says. “Somebody said we went from throwing copper to laying cable.”

Taylor isn’t broke to the point where he can’t afford his own bison burger, but he’s grateful for the love.

Why couldn't they just call it Candlebox II?

They probably couldn't use the name (which also comes up in the Live intra-band disputes).

Kind of off-topic, but I recently watched the Go-Gos documentary – I didn't realize how super dysfunctional and shitty to each other that band was in its heyday. Hard feelings over songwriting credits (and, accordingly, publishing $$ split) was a big part of it (which also comes up in the Live thing). It makes me appreciate how smart (and fairly unusual?) it was for R.E.M. to split all their songs evenly, from the beginning.

We park and walk into Redeux Vintage, an upscale vintage clothing store where a Billy Joel T-shirt from the Storm Front tour will set you back $75. In the early Nineties, this was Live’s rehearsal space. He points to a corner. “Ed wrote ‘Lightning Crashes’ right here,” he says. “And I wrote ‘Dam at Otter Creek’ right over there. It all happened right in this space.”

And the Go-Go's collaborated with each other on songs in all kinds of combinations. By the third (and best) album Kathy Valentine and Gina Schock contributed first-rate stuff.

Kind of off-topic, but I recently watched the Go-Gos documentary – I didn't realize how super dysfunctional and shitty to each other that band was in its heyday. Hard feelings over songwriting credits (and, accordingly, publishing $$ split) was a big part of it (which also comes up in the Live thing).

And even then, the Go-Go's doc didn't get into most of the legal fighting - zero mention of the God Bless the Go-Go's reunion album (with some outside songwriters) and the insane legal fighting where at least every member of the band was trying to be fired by the other four.

I saw a recent-ish TV interview with the Go-Gos where Carlisle said something to the effect that one month they'd all be suing each other, and then the next month four of them would be planning a surprise birthday party for the fifth one.

It was startling to learn that Charlotte Caffey had a serious heroin addiction for years, and the other members (by their own admission) didn’t really give much of an f? Sounded like the new bassist had to interrupt a South American tour and physically haul her back to CA for rehab, to save her life.

(I read afterward that Belinda was also an addict, for decades… I didn’t realize the band’s story was so dark.)

couldn't help lolling at this - the rest is just sad

the Reading Outlet Center, which they bought for $1 million in 2011 with plans to renovate it as an apartment and retail complex. The building later collapsed.

When I first saw the New Radicals I assumed it was Live due to his baldness

incredible article, i really enjoyed that

same! what a clusterfuck

lol I had to hear abt this from Ned on FB because I would not have opened this thread otherwqis

You could probably do a whole series of sadness on these 90s type bands from second hand stories I have heard that was in the orbits of Saliva, Days of the New and Kenny Wayne Shepard let alone the more public melt downs.

Behind the scenes, however, the band was falling apart. Taylor says Kowalczyk insisted on taking the lion’s share of the publishing money since he was writing most of the songs, causing tension between him and Taylor that never truly went away. On Live’s next album, in 1999, Taylor says, the singer went further, telling the band he would write the songs entirely by himself, using them as mere support musicians. “That ended my creativity in the band,” says Taylor, still pained by the memory. “I felt like a married couple where someone says, ‘I’m no longer going to have sex with you. But we’ll stay married.’ It was one of the saddest moments of my life.”

a The McLennon Thread: what were The Beatles really about? (evidence presented for consideration) moment

i am 99% sure i have never heard "Lightning Crashes" until right now, as it plays on youtube as i type this. "I Alone", that one i heard a lot.

there's a thread for you now that you've heard it, KM

LIGHTNING CRASHES,

loooooool, thank you neanderthal!

https://i1354.photobucket.com/albums/q686/tinyservants/Screenshot2013-02-04at82712PM_zpsb3e4f4c1.png

Lightning crashes
A new mother cries
Giuliani falls to the floor....

Rudy falls to the floor today at the RNC. pic.twitter.com/h5eke6XEXw

— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) July 16, 2024

Dude's stewed on that Lakini Juice...

MOOOORE WIIIIIINE!

“I remember entering the room and hearing him sing the word ‘placenta,’ ” Taylor says. “I was like, ‘What the hell is he singing about?’ But back in middle school, when everyone else was at home trying to find their dad’s Playboy, he was reading Eastern philosophy books. He was singing about mysticism and our spiritual journey.”

this makes sense!

the way you're bathed in light