While VH1's Bands Reunited series may have allowed the world access to the modern minds of such iconoclasts as Terri Nunn and Paul Rutherford (without whom a certain fellow named Bez might have no right to his place in the Hall of Fame), the glaring omissions to the show's mission are not without note around here. In fact WFMU's own Tom Scharpling took it upon himself to throw down the order to, yes, reunite Big Dipper. While that unfortunately didn't happen, it is good to know that Wichita and Lawrence, Kansas audiences were treated last year to the reunited, pre-Big Dipper rock behemoth known as the Embarrassment (which featured BD guitarist/singer Bill Goffrier). To celebrate, here's a clip from the band's hometown of Lawrence, 1981, taking on Iggy Pop's "Funtime" (posted by Waldojeffers, who has some more clips up from the same show, and assorted other numbers including "I'm A Don Juan" and "Celebrity Art Party").
Embarrassment Real Audio links on WFMU here.
Blister Pop, the band's live/rarities CD, available from My Pal God Records here.
Heyday 1979-83, the 2CD Anthology is out of print, but Bar None has info on how to buy it digitally via iTunes.
Er, the reunion shows were a year ago this month, followed by a Vertebrats reunion in Champaign a month later. Sadly, I missed them both. But perhaps the power of WFMU can encourage the guys to do it again...
Posted by: SKM | August 01, 2007 at 01:51 PM
Whoops...sorry about getting that timeframe wrong SKM -- I fixed it!
Yeah, would love to see em in NYC.
Posted by: BrianTurner | August 01, 2007 at 02:03 PM
I LOVE Embarrassment. Sex Drive is one of my favorite songs.
Posted by: Anthony | August 01, 2007 at 04:30 PM
One of the Embos' reunion show encores last year was "I Wanna Be Your Dog"!
Posted by: jonderneathica | August 01, 2007 at 10:41 PM
I went to the Embos' reunion show last year at Liberty Hall in Lawrence. It was a good time, but they had some trouble with the sound. As an added bonus, the Mortal Micronauts played a few songs.
Posted by: Adam | August 03, 2007 at 05:17 PM
http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=68752244&blogID=280290448
from the band itself. big dipper reunion shows april 08
Posted by: dude | August 04, 2007 at 03:40 PM
Yes, the reunion shows and a long-overdue 3-CD retrospective are coming. Scharpling's efforts were not in vain.
http://www.rocktownhall.com/blogs/index.php?title=big_dipper_waleik&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1
Posted by: frankenslade | October 31, 2007 at 11:21 AM