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GUIDED BY VOICES
Tramps
New York, NY
June 20, 1998

Former school marm Robert Pollard appeals to the fourth-grader in all of us.
The lead voice of Guided By Voices makes learning fun, and tonight's syllabus
is a two-hour examination of rock 'n' roll through our learned instructor's
ears. Pollard filters the Anglo-pop he's been obsessed with for the past three
decades--from the Beatles and the Who to Wire and XTC--and almost always
concocts melodic magic.

This evening's class is packed with more than 800 of his sweaty students. As
in any classroom, there's bound to be a cluster of pupils--in this case four
girls--who think their conversation is more important than what teacher is
saying. But as soon as Pollard scissor-kicks into "I Am a Tree," from last
year's Mag Earwhig! the girls shut up, perk up and begin a herky-jerky little
jig. "There is nothing worse than an undetermined person," Pollard imparts on
the excellent "Subspace Biographies," a track from his forthcoming second solo
LP, Waved Out.

Pollard and his current permutation of GBV (the 21st or so version of the
band)--guitarist Doug Gillard from Cobra Verde and Gem; bassist Greg Demos, a
longtime collaborator; and Breeders/Amps' Jim MacPherson on drums--are trying
out new material. "This is the anticipated big hit off our next album,"
Pollard says. The quartet rips into "Surgical Focus," a dreamy, British
Invasion-drenched offering planned for inclusion on GBV's 11th LP due out in
the first half of 1999.

Stage lights shine off Pollard's close-cropped, rapidly graying head. The
40-year-old father of two kicks about on stage, twirling his microphone like a
latter day Roger Daltrey; he has as much energy as any of the tykes in the
all-ages audience. Here's another lesson: Rock 'n' roll knows no age. He
almost always addresses the crowd as "kids," not in a wise-ass David Letterman
way, but in a cool, slightly tipsy avuncular way. Pollard may not be in a
traditional classroom in the Dayton Public Schools anymore, but he's
enlightening just the same.

Repeated requests for the slinky "Hot Freaks" are met an hour into the 30-song
set. "She told me, 'liquor'/ I am a new man!" belts Pollard in his usual faux-
British singing voice. The double entendre rings as naughty tonight as it did
when originally released on 1994's Bee Thousand.

The aforementioned girlie klatch, less interested in Pollard's new songs, is
paying attention as the band comes back for its first round of encores.
"Bulldog Skin," the single from Mag Earwhig!, gets the crowd singing. And by
the time the evening's last "I Am a Scientist" is performed, many of Bob
Pollard's kids are dancing Peanuts-style.

He can only teach them so much.

Kevin Amorim