News 980730-1

From SPLRA
Jump to navigation Jump to search

Smashing Pumpkins' Media Blitz Continues

On Thursday evening (July 30), the Smashing Pumpkins will perform outside the Ed Sullivan Theater in New York City. According to a press release issued by the band's label, Virgin Records, the special outdoor performance will follow the taping of the platinum-selling Pumpkins' first appearance on the Late Show With David Letterman. The taping for the show runs from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. EDT, immediately following which the band will conduct an hour-long set in the streets of New York City. The Late Show appearance will air on Thursday at 11:35 p.m., and according to Virgin, the band is scheduled to perform a live version of "Perfect" from their latest release Adore.

Speaking of "Perfect," the Chicago-born trio spent last weekend in Los Angeles filming a video for the upcoming single. The clip, which was directed by Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Farris (the same team who directed "1979," "Tonight, Tonight," and "Rocket" for the band) generated a buzz around town last week when local station KROQ announced a phone number for fans to call in order to be extras on the shoot. Those lucky few who got through spent hours on the set for little pay, but to make it worthwhile, the Adore-able band treated them to a discreet performance at the former site of the Hollywood punk rock club, The Masque. Although vacant for over a decade, the underground walls of the club still feature graffiti from those pioneering punk rock bands that made the punk pit legendary. Playing in the same spot where once stood such venerable L.A. units as the Germs, X and the Go-Go's, the Smashing Pumpkins crowded on the small stage area and played their "heavier" material.

The show started on a less than "Perfect" note. According to a source on the set, Corgan began strumming his guitar, but just before the rest of the band joined in, he abruptly stopped. As the other band members looked at him in confusion, the bald-headed Pumpkin began searching the club for his girlfriend, Ylena Yemchuk.

"Where are you, Ylena?" he cried into the microphone.

"I'm over here," she answered waving her hand. As soon as Corgan sourced the site of his ladylove, he seemed to relax. He then said, to the surprise of the audience, "I don't want to start playing until I can see you," which is either an expression of his intense love of or a deep obsession with his current flame. Either way, once his dark-haired beauty was in sight, the band rocked the Masque's ruins thunderously for nearly one hour.

-Jennifer Schwartz