Shows/John Flansburgh/1997-01-11
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Links:
- New York Times listing; Jan. 5, 1997
- The Star-Ledger preview; Jan. 9, 1997
- New York magazine listing; Jan. 13, 1997
- The Village Voice listing; Jan. 14, 1997
- WHY magazine photo; Spring 1997
Setlist:
- Chords of Fame
John Flansburgh
Bottom Line in New York, NY
January 11, 1997 at 7:30 PM
Fan Recaps and Comments:
A tribute concert to folk musician Phil Ochs, titled Outside a Small Circle of Friends. The event was hosted by Oscar Brand and produced by Sonny Ochs, Dennis Diken and Alan Pepper. Proceeds benefited the non-profit organization World Hunger Year. About a dozen artists participated, each covering a different song from Ochs' catalog. John Flansburgh performed a rendition of Ochs' 1970 song "Chords of Fame", accompanied by Jay Sherman-Godfrey on guitar. A preview article in the January 9, 1997 issue of The Star-Ledger described the event:
Mighty Ochs
Freedy Johnston, John Flansburgh of They Might Be Giants, Richard Barone and folk group Magpie will be among the artists participating in "Outside a Small Circle of Friends," a tribute to the late singer-songwriter Phil Ochs, Saturday night at 7:30 and 10:30 at the Bottom Line, 15 W. 4th St. (at Mercer), Manhattan. These artists, and others, will perform songs written by Ochs, a key member of the Greenwich Village folk scene in the '60s and early '70s.
Tickets are $17.50, with proceeds going to World Hunger Year, call (212) 228-6300.
Flansburgh spoke about the show in a radio interview a few weeks later:
I would have mentioned ["The Day"], if I thought I wouldn't have full drinks thrown at me from across the room. It was a very different kind of night than I was expecting. [...]
They've been running it for fifteen years. Alan Pepper asked Dennis Diken to bring in some people from the Loser's Lounge program at The Fez, which routinely does these tribute nights to different artists. So it's not that big a stretch. Yo La Tengo did it, and Freedy Johnston, who are regulars at those kinds of things. It was very different. Oscar Brand is a very, very cool guy. Although he announced from the stage that They Might Be Giants had broken up, so I was a little bit freaked out. [...]
Me and Jay Sherman-Godfrey, who was part of the band, did "Chords of Fame", which is a pretty interesting song. I had a ringer with me. I just sang, I just did the diva thing. Jay can play any song, any style, any time.