From: "Eric Frederick (News)" <ericf@nando.com>

Date: Mon, 1 Dec 1997 21:53:10 -0400

one more story about what great people the fibbers are:

at the carrboro show last wednesday night, bill was standing around near the t-shirt booth before the opening band, chrome cranks, went on. i walked up and asked him if he had a second. "sure." i told him it would mean a lot to my kids, who are fans, if he would autograph something for them, and i suggested a couple of the giveaway stickers at the booth. he said he'd be happy to, but "do you really just want me to sign these?" i said "yeah, unless you've got something better." so bill hops over the low door into the booth, starts rummaging in a box and says, "i'm gonna give you an album." he pulls out a vinyl copy of "butch," spends another two minutes scrounging for a magic marker, rips off the plastic and writes on the back, "to calvin and hannah, thanks for your enduring love, wm. tutton 11-97." i'm standing there thinking what a great gesture this is when he says, "i'll be back in a second; can you watch the booth for me?" he hops back out, goes backstage and then comes back about five minutes later, hands me the album and says, "don't say i never gave you anything." all five of 'em had written something to my kids. i was a big hero the next morning. you know, i'd love this band if they were all assholes, but these are people who know what the fan's experience is like, and they really have a synergistic relationship with the people who love their music, which makes the experience for both that much stronger. they're all incredible in my book.

this was my fourth GF show, and the band never sounded better. as an aside, the chrome cranks didn't impress me (i was sorta trying to watch the duke-arizona game during their set) until they played "street waves," a very old pere ubu song. any band that plays old ubu is ok with me. and it was their last show with the fibbers, who seemed to be quite fond of them. carla saluted them before bringing their lead singer, peter, out to join the vocals on "the french song."

the fibbers seemed to be having a lot of fun. nels in rare form, kevin and bill as synched and energetic as ever. leyna really seems as if she always belonged; her improvisation on the violin is every bit as impressive as nels' on guitar. and carla was beautiful and incredible as always. in "cuckoo" she skipped the "you might think i hate you" line the second time around and just let out a hilarious, short scream. the way "you doo right" boils into that jam at the end and then, almost imperceptibly, kevin and carla and nels leave the stage one at a time until only bill and leyna are left, and they've seamlessly eased into that beautiful duet -- amazing.

a great night.