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urdog biography and
previous shows


biography (complete with references and unconfirmed anecdotes).


generally speaking, writing is irresponsible, in the strict sense of the term, because it does not come in response to a question. it proceeds of its own pace...
jean-françois lyotard

particularities first... there's the matter of pronunciation (a matter which has generated some degree of confusion and uncertainty).

acceptable pronunciations of urdog are as follows:
  • urdog... as in, rhymes with 'tour dog'
  • urdog... as in, rhymes with 'fur dog'
just plain wrong pronunciations are as follows:
  • urdog... as in, 'you are dog'
  • urdog... as in, 'your dog'
  • urdog... as in, anything else one might conjecture
    • 1
on to more important matters... urdog formed in the late summer of the year 2002 c.e. in the strangely besmirched, smallish town of providence, rhode island. two, by name of jeff and erin, equipped solely with aged and decrepit farfisa minicompact and ramshackled drum 'kit' and led by a fierce yet loveable dog by name of parmalee, set out to form a progressive beat combo of sorts. after working their way through the entire repertoire of king crimson (but in actuality, just one song), new little ditties strained to emerge. yet something was missing... months later, dave appeared, armed with fender mustang and a confusing array of pedals. and that's how urdog was formed. (a more complete and slightly-radically more different telling of this genesis (by noted historiographers, david and erin) can be found within the liner notes of urdog: 2003).

by the by, a somewhat hurried explication of how urdog got it's name is to follow: the humble penman and shamelessly, minimalist web dilettante, following his obsessive archivalist tendencies and his passion for adjectives and adverbs, naturally inclined towards that which evoked the originary. and so... as a term preceded by 'ur' refers to the original, originary, and prototypical example of that thing (for example, ursprache = original language), it would follow that the urdog is the most perfect example of what a dog was, is, and ever shall be. without the dog (and by association, without the urdog) humanity's relationship to itself, language, and the world is shattered and 'living' becomes mere 'existence'. accordingly, ur also refers to the ancient city of sumer. (moreover, ur, in ancient sumerian, means dog (look it up), and the city of ur is home to the ziggurat of babel). so why urdog? isn't that obvious? (again, a more detailed account of the phenomenon of urdog can be found within the body of the song 'urdog, awaken' on the album garden of bones).

previous shows.

2006

--- final show ---
21 april. terrastock 6.

2005.

--- invisible pyramid cd release and benefit for parmalee ---
08 october. may-n-kevin, providence, ri
17 september. galapagos, brooklyn, ny
... cmj festival, secret eye showcase
--- u.s. tour with circle ---
... 6 september - 16 september
16 september. khyber, philadelphia, pa
15 september. 31st street pub, pittsburgh, pa
14 september. high 5, columbus, oh
13 september. empty bottle, chicago, il
12 september. the dame, lexington, ky
11 september. nashville, tn
10 september. drunken unicorn, atlanta, ga
09 september. king's barcade, raleigh, nc
07 september. ottobar, baltimore, md
06 september. knitting factory, ny, ny
... w/ circle, merzbow, double leopards ...

01 september. goddard memorial state park, ri
... w/ lots of finnish folk
20 july. as220, providence, ri

--- european tour ---
... 12 march - 28 march
28 march. l'usine, geneva, switzerland
[ note: show was immediately preceded by 4-hour detainment and thorough search and harassment by swiss border gestapo, who somehow - in all their glorious stupidity - managed to miss my rather large and obvious bag of morphine underneath the front passenger seat of the van. the banality of evil is but an obvious trait of a people who continue to perpetuate the concealment of stolen wealths. ]
27 march. 8mm festival, castelfranco, italy
26 march. hybrida, tarcento, italy
25 march. ekidna, carpi, italy
23 march. fruehauf!, leipzig, germany
22 march. immerhin, wurzburg, germany
21 march. twisted robot, berlin, germany
[ note: followed by a visit to nico's grave in the grunewald forest cemetary. ]
20 march. inkonst, malmo, sweden
19 march. academy of fine arts, aarhus, denmark
[ note: j. alexander was to sit-in for j.knoch at this performance owing to an, ummm, accidental overdose. ]
18 march. waffle factory, copenhagen, denmark
[ note: an extract from this performance makes up the body of "the open" on lvd's "invisible pyramid" compilation. ]
17 march. onderbroek, nijmegen, netherlands
16 march. paradiso, amsterdam, netherlands
16 march. vpro radio session, amserdam, netherlands
15 march. le foyer, louvain-la-neuve, belgium
13 march. worm, rotterdam, netherlands
12 march. kraak festival, hasselt, belgium

09 march. as220, providence, ri
02 march. as220 (black dog), providence, ri

2004.

30 october. autumnal fest, as220, prov, ri
... with bf/bs, golden hotel, big huge, fern knight, landing, and skygreen leopards skyband
25 september. palaz of hoon, providence, ri
... with cerberus shoal and climax golden twins
03 september. colt state park, bristol, ri
31 july. century lounge, providence, ri
23 july. h.o.s.s., boston, ma
[ note: cancelled by cops and childish and pathetic promoter who was unwilling to accept responsibility for much of anything. ]
21 july. as220, providence,ri
19 june. as220, providence, ri (black dog: miriam goldeberg on cello)
18 june. safari lounge, providence, ri
06 june. sin-è, new york, ny
05 june. the eye, pittsburgh, pa
04 june. detroit art space, detroit, mi
03 june. pat's in the flats, cleveland, oh
02 june. darling hall,milwaukee, wi
01 june. hotti biscotti, chicago, il
31 may. mala, minneapolis, mn
29 may. m.i.m.f., south bend, in
23 may. somewhere in philadelphia, philadelphia, pa
22 may. tarantula hill, baltimore, md
01 may. mayday party on cemetary st., providence, ri
25 april. y.u., baltimore, md
24 april. la casa, washington, d.c.
15 april. white electric, providence, ri
17 march. as220, providence, ri
12 february. palaz of hoon, providence, ri
09 january. as220, providence, ri

2003.

 07 november. bsr (live in radio station), providence, ri
05 november. dirt palace, providence, ri
21 september. as220, providence, ri
06 september. as220, providence, ri
27 august. dog's lair, providence, ri
16 july. north six, brooklyn, ny
15 july. jeff the pigeon, allentown, pa
14 july. project 1877, pittsburgh, pa
12 july. twisted branch tea bazaar, charlottesville, va
08 july. talking head club, baltimore, md
04 july. as 220, providence, ri
29 june. hilarios attic, providence, ri
28 june. 305 club, east providence, ri
21 march. vernal equinox party, providence, ri
14 march. safari lounge, providence, ri
01 march. as220, providence, ri
25 january. monahassett mill, providence, ri
[ note: this show also featured one j. harris on guitar who subsequently left the band on account of me - apparently he lacked the intellectual comprehension to understand much of a damn word i ever said. not my problem. mr. harris is the sort who likes to attach himself to the slummin' variety - that is, those who have an obscene amount of money at their disposal, yet they like to pretend that they have none. alas, such people are truly vile! ]


1(note: footnotes are for completists only. they will address sensitive matters of no particular concern to anyone save, perhaps, the author. (yet another contentious matter). caution and extreme prudence is thereby advised for any further perusal).
one final note on nomenclatural matters, there is the matter of hyphenation. in short, there is no hyphen in urdog. it's not ur-dog. common practice (in english) dictates otherwise. conceded. yet in the case of anglos and their language usage, common practice often suggests laziness and inclinations towards positivism. if one can't discern the roots within a simple two syllable word, then all is lost. even further furthermore, the act of hyphenation would eliminate the possibility for any sort of creative play on words (for instance, maybe it's urd og - that is, something akin to earth eye in one of the many, many languages lost to massive globalization). in summary, it's urdog - not ur-dog.



news:


alas, urdog is no more - and its members have moved on to other things:

j. knoch is once more a solitary wanderer (w/ canine) in the land of nod at the helms of the harmonium-based eyes like saucers - with a forthcoming release - still living in the desert - on last visible dog:


some mp3s:
ideas of reference
numinosity
desert song


e. rosenthal is pursuing visual art making, dance, and percussion in collaboration with l. goldberg in the project called crude hill.
she can be reached at: erhinlib@hotmail.com


d. lifrieri info forthcoming.

thank you to all who have supported us over the years.


contact urdog at:

parmaleedog@yahoo.com