THE 13TH ANNIVERSARY SHOW
(1985-87)
After the economic disaster of the Mole Show tour The
Residents swore never to go on the road again. The losses
they'd taken were threatening Ralph Records' very
existence. In order to distance themselves from the fiasco,
they took time off from the Moles to work on The American
Composer Series, and eventually returned to the Mole
Trilogy project with The Big Bubble. This last album sold
well, especially in Japan. In fact, it was so successful
there that Wave Records in Tokyo came to the band to
commission two weeks of live shows in Japan. At first the
band was not at all interested, but when Wave offered to
pay all expenses -- air fare, hotel, performance
costs, and shipping -- they could not but accept the
very generous deal.
Having learned some painful lessons from The Mole Show, The
Residents created a very economical production. No huge
sets, no huge props, and no big theatrical concept. Using
the fact that they'd been around for a lucky thirteen years
as an excuse, they decided that this tour would be an
anniversary retrospective of their work, featuring live
performances of some of their best-known music.
The show involved musicians, dancers, Snakefinger playing
guitar, and a ninja. There were few props, just hand-held
work-lights (with which the dancers and stage ninjas would
illuminate the singer) and seven large, inflatable
giraffes. From time to time the dancers would change
costume.
The Residents were a huge success in Japan. They sold out
all of their concerts, performed on live Japanese TV, and
Wave even had a Residents sculpture installed in the lobby
of their Tokyo record store.
Meanwhile, in the US, a young fan of the band had heard
about the Japanese concerts. Rich Shupe, a college
undergraduate on the East Coast, had been a fan of the band
since he was 13 and had crossed paths with The Residents
several times, from helping with the preparations for the
Uncle Sam Mole Show in 1984 to hosting Snakefinger at his
parent's house during the 1982 Manual of Errors tour (and
mailing Snakefinger's lost sock back to Ralph Records
afterwards).
Shupe phoned the Cryptics, wanting to know when the band
would ever get back out to the East Coast. The Cryptics
felt that there wasn't that much interest in them in the
US -- they seemed to do best in Europe and
Japan -- but they told Shupe to see if he could book
dates which he did.
By the time The Residents got back from Japan, Shupe had
managed to arrange far more show dates than the band could
hope to perform. They signed Shupe on as tour manager in
spite of his being only 19 years old, whittled the list
down to twenty-four shows in eighteen cities. Still
remembering the lessons from The Mole Show the band kept
the format from the Japanese concerts, touring in a single
vehicle (with no obnoxious roadies). They also held on to
the merchandising rights, putting Tom Timony (who ran Ralph
Records at the time) in charge of selling the a
hundred-plus different items.
As in Japan, the show was a success. They sold out often
during the tour, including three times in San Francisco and
at both of their shows at The Ritz, where they were playing
New York City for the first time ever. They were third in
club ticket sales in New York, only outsold by Eric Clapton
and Jerry Garcia.
There were some problems, of course. One of the Kansas
venues turned out to be a pool hall and another performance
in the Midwest was the last concert in that location before
the new owners turned it into a female topless basketball
sports bar -- it wasn't really drawing The Residents'
usual crowd.
The most serious problem was the theft of one of the band's
Eyeballs from a Los Angeles dressing room. The band had to
dredge up an old skull mask prop from the Third Reich 'N'
Roll days and a black jumpsuit in order to costume the
bereft Resident. Subsequent concerts would open with a
eulogy for the missing eyeball and black memorial arm-bands
were available in the lobby. That Resident has kept that
costume ever since and is now known as Mr. Skull, or
sometimes Dead-Eye Dick.
The real story of the eyeball's disappearance came out
later. One day someone arrived at the The Cryptic
Corporation offices with a parcel. He explained that a
"friend" had broken into the backstage area of the theatre
and swiped the eyeball from the dressing room. Because he
could not carry the thing out undetected, he instead went
upstairs and dropped it out of a second-storey window into
a dumpster, then casually walked back out again to recover
it.
The Cryptics' visitor claimed that he had persuaded this
"friend" to turn the eyeball-head over and he was now
heroically returning the long-lost mask.
The Cryptics didn't buy this guy's story for a
moment -- it was fairly obvious that he, himself, was
the thief. However, they were far more concerned with the
fact that the mask had been seriously damaged in the fall
than with laying blame. Though they now had their missing
Eyeball back, there was no way they could use it. Mr. Skull
was here to stay.
After touring the States the band took a six-month breather
then headed off to Australia, New Zealand, and Europe,
where they were greeted with more enthusiasm. Eventually,
they returned to San Francisco for a final run, concluding
with a grand finale on January 10th, 1987, featuring guest
appearances by Penn & Teller.
As a special treat during that last concert, Teller --
the one who never speaks -- agreed to sing one of The
Residents' songs in exchange for a Resident taking his
Eyeball-head off. Teller stepped behind a screen to sing
the song, and when he was done one of the band members
removed his eyeball head, revealing... Teller.
All in all, the 13th Anniversary Show was a huge success.
It was well received by both audiences and critics,
especially in New York, San Francisco, and Europe, and
helped cure the band's financial woes.