A first-person account from off the beaten track, as told to Anne Ford.
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“The tagline is that it’s a dance show for kids of all ages. I open the show; I introduce every song. It’s kid wrangling, too: ‘Kids, can you be polite, please? They’re talking.” And I interview the band. Sometimes I have to really perk them up. A lot of these guys are indie rockers who graduated from the school of shoe-gazing. We’ve had the Cramps, Neko Case, Yo La Tengo, TV on the Radio, Flaming Lips.
“Ratso, oh man, he needs some TLC. He’s falling apart. Guy [Picciotto] from Fugazi cut his finger playing bass, and he got blood on the puppet. It wore off, eventually. When Ratso’s not on, he’s slumped under the table, and children are fascinated. If they’re really young, they’re like, ‘What happened to Ratso?’ I’m like, ‘Ratso’s sleeping.’
