|updates|

031805
news: The Decemberists' tour trailer was raided in the early hours of Thursday, March 17th. $75,000 worth of instruments and equipment are missing. Anyone who has any information on the recovery of any of the band's gear is encouraged to call the Portland Police Department or 911. More here.

Some new reviews and interviews. The Decemberists are mulling a quantum leap to a major label (a leap we sincerely hope they decide not to take ultimately, if we may editorialize).

Interview: San Francisco Bay Guardian
Interview: Seattle Weekly
Interview: The Register-Guard
Review: Portland Tribune
Interview: Canada.com
Interview: Georgia Straight
Interview: Terminal City

030605
reviews: Some new reviews to check out:
Harvard Crimson
Salt Lake City Weekly
Cornell Daily Sun
Joe Critic
Boston Globe
Drowned In Sound

021505
Get a sneak peak at the cover to "Picaresque" here.
Also, the second leg of the upcoming tour has been posted. You can go to the Decemberists' official site or the Kill Rock Stars website for the goods, or you can wait until my lazy ass posts them here.

012705
news: meant for the stage may exclusively report that Andy Smetanka, arts and entertainment editor of the Montana alternative publication the Missoula Independent, has produced an animated video for the Decemberists.
setlists: Thanks to Allen for the setlist of the Cafe du Nord show earlier this month.
the decemberists: Band member info and timeline have been updated.
photos: memorabilia photos and all live pics should be working; if not please contact me. miscellaneous photos are currently en route to their proper place. Note to self: upload the 3casbah pics, redo cbc thumbnails, post lyrics to "Southern Girls", post Morrissey EP information, post Picaresque information, take a bath.

012605
After all these months, we're back on Geocities. With some clever maneuvering, we hope this will be a more reliable fan site with almost no downtime (if you would pardon the annoying banners).

tour: The "Advance of the Picaroons Tour 2005" Part One dates have been added. Only the first leg has been announced; a second leg with East Coast dates will be released soon. Rumor has it the Decemberists will play Irving Plaza in New York City, as well as Warsaw in Brooklyn.
discography: Updated and corrected track listing to Picaresque.

1. The Infanta
2. We Both Go Down Together
3. Eli, the Barrow Boy
4. The Sporting Life
5. The Bagman's Gambit
6. From My Own True Love (Lost at Sea)
7. Sixteen Military Wives
8. The Engine Driver
9. On the Bus Mall
10. The Mariner's Revenge Song
11. Of Angels and Angles

Also, a limited edition of the vinyl version of Castaways and Cutouts is available from Jealous Butcher Records and Hush Records.
tarkio: Liner notes to I Guess I Was Hoping For Something More added. Also, clarification on Tim Bierman; thanks to Terry Dean Bartlett for shedding some light on that matter.

011305
latest news: meant for the stage is sad to report that drummer Rachel Blumberg has left the Decemberists to focus on Norfolk and Western, one of her other projects. decemberists.com reports that she will be replaced by John Moen. The Decemberists are now a sextet: Petra Haden also joins the band on violin (she recorded Picaresque with the band last year).
Billboard.com reports that Her Majesty has sold more than 40,000 copies according to Nielsen Soundscan.
A Colin Meloy solo date has been added for Fez in New York City.
121504
breaking news: Picaresque tracklisting and lyrics to the 8 minute, 46 second "The Mariner" have been revealed.

Heaps of gratitude to Gary at The Evil in Chris' Closet. You may go to his site if you wish to read the transcribed lyrics to "The Mariner".

Picaresque track listing:

1. The Infanta
2. We Both Go Down Together
3. Eli, The Barrowboy
4. The Sporting Life
5. Espionage
6. Lost At Sea
7. 16 by 32
8. Engine Driver
9. Bus Mall
10. The Mariner
11. Angels


120204
tour: Colin Meloy solo dates posted.
quotes: A few political quotes added.
lyrics: Lyrics pages have been relieved of their blinking.
The rest of the live photos are in the process of being transfered off-site, so the main site is less likely to exceed the bandwidth limit. The second page of live photos may be temporarily down.

110104
Photographer Alyssa Scheinson, who was kind enough some time ago to let us post some marvelous photos she took of Colin Meloy, has photos of the Decemberists at Webster Hall on her website. Check them out here.

setlists: Recher Theatre setlist added.
reviews: Under the 'live reviews' header, an article from Spin on the recent Webster Hall show in NYC.
interviews: Great interview with Colombus Live added.

101104
book review: Since the 2002 release of the Decemberists’ debut EP “5 Songs”, front man Colin Meloy has made his name synonymous with a resplendently literate style of indie pop. So it should come as no surprise that his first endeavor in the literary world would take the form of a meditation on what he considers to be one of the most important albums of his formative years.
Meloy reflects on punk/post-punk band the Replacements "Let It Be" (a band admittedly foreign to the present author) and how that album colored both his regular life and his burgeoning musical one. A pre-adolescent Meloy opens the book with a fateful trip to the music store in his native Helena, Montana, beginning an intimate revelation of those familiar years that sit on the brink of full-blown adolescence, with a record brimming with the aggression of disaffected youth to escort him through to the end. Amusing at times, with only sparse hints of heartbreak, one is led to wonder how someone as soft-spoken and amiable as the twelve year old Meloy could possibly relate to lyrics so scornfully mocking. Over-compensation becomes the answer easiest to clutch, as Meloy’s disjunctiveness from his peers finds consistent refuge in Replacements front man Paul Westerberg’s raw antagonism.
But those looking for a chronicle or exposition of the Replacements' "Let It Be"; may want to look elsewhere; the music is more or less a dominant in the key of Meloy's junior high school life. But those interested in a self-portrait of an artist as a young man need look no further.

TV appearance: Set your VCR/Tivo for CNBC on Tuesday, October 12 at 10PM EST/PST. The Decemberists will be on The John McEnroe Show.

092404
Hi, we're back. meant for the stage v.4 is here. Sitemap is in disarray, as some of the links have been renamed, and the site (as you may have noticed) has been rearranged. If you find any broken links, please feel free to report them to tawnygypsygirl1 at yahoo dot com.

092404
pics: CBC pics have been fixed.
reviews: Two new articles in Rolling Stone and the NY Post.
interviews: Three new interviews from the Cleveland Plain Dealer, the Cleveland Free Times, and the John Hopkins Newsletter.
Some new album sneak peaks according to various articles/interviews:
The first track of the forthcoming third LP from the Decemberists, "The Infanta", boasts of having 40 tracks; the album also contains a song called "The Buxmoll" (or "The Busmall"?) about Portland male prostitutes. Another song is about Cold War spies.

081504
tabs: page corrected so that the link to Justin's site is actually visible! :)
discography: compilations page now includes "Acuarela Songs 3", with new track "In The Kingdom of Spain".

081404
pics: Two posters, one from the last Casbah show and one from the University of Puget Sound show earlier this year, are in the memorabilia section.
interviews: Five new interviews. The Creative Loafing one is a split between Colin Meloy and James Mercer of The Shins discussing the Portland music scene.
tarkio: Some glaring inconsistencies have been cleaned up. Cover artwork of I Guess I Was Hoping For Something More and Live on KBGA have been added.

081104
pics: live photos are back up. High resolution photos have unfortunately been sacrificed due to bandwidth restraints.
pics: Cheers are in order once more to Joy for giving us six great new pics from the first of the two Great American Music Hall shows last June.
tour: New September tour dates hot off the presses, plus a few other dates swiped from the band's official site, and one arcane after-party in which Mr. Meloy will presumably display his Mad Skillz.
tabs: Link to Justin's site containing plenty o' Decemberists tabs.
memorabilia: More tour posters to be added soon.

071704
photos: live photos presently down.

070404
photos: 16 new pics from The Casbah on June 25th thanks to Michael Wayne.
setlists: Setlist from that same show also thanks to Michael and the El Rey setlist from the following day thanks to Allen.

061704
Tarkio: Lyrics to "Tristan and Iseult" added. CBC pics will be replaced with better quality .jpgs soon. Please note these are screen captures taken from the CBC site without their permission; if you happen to be from CBC Radio 3 and your policy doesn't accomodate the posting of the captures, please email us and we'll take them down promptly!

061504
Tarkio: Lyrics to "Neapolitan Bridesmaid", "Save Yourself", and "Better Half" posted, in addition to a bit Willamette Week did on the band in 1998.

061404
photos: Taking my brother in arms to an all new level. 12 out of 15 screen captures from a recent article the CBC did on the Decemberists are in the miscellaneous photos section.

061204
text: Lyrics to non-album (or hitherto non-album) tracks have been added in the text section.
text: Lyrics to covers the band has done live have been added in the text section.
setlists: Setlists to the June 3rd show in Minneapolis and the April 1st Schubas show have been added.
tarkio: A page on Colin's former band Tarkio has been added under "the decemberists" section. Tarkio lyrics coming soon.
sitemap: Sitemap completed. New sections added
quotes: Quotes page moved to the text section, quote from Chris Funk added.
facts: Facts section updated with info on Colin's sartorial preferences, chimbley sweep introductions, and Edward Norton.

060604
quotes: Quotes section has been updated with some new gems from the Athens show.

051304
quotes: A quotes page has been added!
interviews: Okay I found out some time ago that back in the 80's there was another band called the Decemberists (see the facts page); they were from Liverpool, England. I've always wondered whether the band knew about this, and I finally found the answer: they do. And it isn't pretty. Find out more from an interview I found from last October in SLAP Skateboarding magazine in the interviews page, along with two other new interviews from Junkmedia and Daily Nexus Online.
reviews: An article about Colin's old band Tarkio from the Missoula Independent a couple years back.
pics: 12 new pics from the Mercury Lounge show this past March thanks to Neil at Life's Rich Pageant. They are located on the first live photos page right underneath the stereogum photos from the same show.

050704
interviews: Three new interviews from The Oregonian, Vox and Washington Square News. The first is quite unconventional and the third is with Crutchy!
reviews: Two new live reviews from Variety.com and The Flat Hat.
photos: 20 new photos from the Horseshoe Tavern in Toronto thanks to Thomas. You may find them right below the first set of Horseshoe pics on the first page (they're in black and white).
If you find any broken links among the photos, please email us and we'll correct them.

050204
tour: The Decemberists will be opening for Belle & Sebastian on the 5th at the Paramount Theatre in Seattle, and likewise for the Shins on the 18th at UC Davis.
photos: 8 new pics from the Casbah show last month thanks to Gavin and 4 pics from last October at Will's Pub in Orlando thanks to The Sleeper's Opera. The latter are on the first live pics page.
setlists: Setlist from The Troubadour show last month thanks to Allen.
facts: updated.

041804
Shwoops, there's 8 Ithaca pics! And we've got linkage for fictions's site now.

041604
Bork bork bork!

photos: Ok this is a great story. Your pious "meant for the stage" webmaster was recently listening to an interview Colin gave to UC Santa Cruz's student run radio station, in which the Decemberists front man said he received an email from a fan who told him he had gotten a Decemberists tattoo. So last week I was googling like the google fanatic I am for any new Decemberists pics that may have popped up on cyberspace and I come across nothing less than dear fictions and his great pics (see below). I email him for permission to post the photos on the site, and he emails me back a pic...of his tattoo.
I notify him about the UCSC interview, and he replied that I made his night.
While I go off to sing "It's A Small World", you can view Omer's tattoo on the memorabilia photos page (I think a tattoo qualifies as memorabilia...).
quiz: Quiz has been added to the type section. For some reason the quiz doesn't work in some browsers ::coughoperacough::. The results page doesn't load correctly.
photos: A 2nd page has been added to the live photos section. And 21 new photos thanks to fictions, whose blog is abruptly non-existent, have been posted onto that page: 7 from the Ithaca show and 14 from the Bowery Ballroom show.
interview: New interview from canned magazine with Rachel and the gang.
tour: New tour dates have been posted.
biography: Biography redone into timeline form. Still under construction.
setlists: Setlists page created under the catalogue section. Heaps of thanks to Michael Wayne for supplying a pile of setlists!

040904
photos: Whoomp there it is! 48 new photos have been added; all bow to Sam at samorama who caught the band at Schuba's on April 1st. He also supplied us with a shot of the show's poster, which seemingly features that evil toy monkey from "Merlin's Shop of Mystical Wonders".
discography: "Tracks and Fields" image added to the compilations section.

040104
photos: Whoa nelly! 32 new photos have been added. 26 thanks to Frank at chromewaves.net, 2 thanks to nashvillager.com, and a ticket in the newly minted memorabilia section thanks to James at consolationchamps.com. Also three more of Joy's pics, the first, sixth and seventh of the high resolution ones, have been added.

033004
interviews: We're double dutching tonight, boys and girls! Looks like our favorite commie pinko symps, upon their miserable execution of the revolution, have acquiesced to those words as old as time: "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em"; they're now hardline capitalists. What I'm trying to say, to little effect, is that The Decemberists were on NPR's Marketplace on March 16th...no shit Sherlock.
Check out the 4:24 clip here: Marketplace.
photos: Five new photos from the January 2004 performance at the Wow Hall thanks to Brian at Oregon Music Guide. The latter three are exclusive to this fan site and we are indebted to OMG for sending them to meant for the stage.
photos: Six new photos from last week's show at the Mercury Lounge thanks to Scott Lapatine.
interviews: Five new interviews from eye, The Black Table, Westword, The Daily Pennsylvanian and Dallas Observer, all of which contain precious gems. Look out for the 'sexy' questions, the calendar, and the black Okie with the ax.
This would be an ideal time to remind our visitors that if you have any photos of the Decemberists, feel free to send them to us at baubledforests at yahoo.com.

032804
layout: Welcome to the new layout, v. 3.55! We're sticking with this one for a while. Pardon us while we move in. The update page has been morphed into the opening page.
photos: Three more of Joy's high res photos will be added on April 1st (no joke). :o)
tabs: Tabs link fixed.
video: The link to the video for "The Solidering Life" has been updated.
miscellaneous photos: In the second batch, the thumbnails to the first two photos have been fixed and the third one is now a much larger version (perfect for your walls, eh girls?).

032104
photos: Thank you to Joy for supplying 7 new live pics from the Noise Pop Festival last month in San Francisco. By all accounts the show was blazin'! However please bear with me in getting the high resolution pics up.

030904
type:April may be on the cusp of marching on, and perhaps it felt like December only yesterday, but boy does it feel like July in California! Four new interviews have been added: Eugene Weekly, erasing clouds, tinymixtapes and a really great one from the Denver Post. Most are brand new but the Eugene Weekly is from some weeks ago. Interviews are not in chronological order, though I should change that, no?
type: Also, a live review from "the scarlet & black online", Grindell College's rag.

030604
text:Lyrics to The Tain have been added! New interview from red magazine and new review from Salt Lake Tribune.

030104
links:Ok this kicks ass. I found a Decemberists fanlisting. Go and add your name here.

022704
photos: Holy mother. 15 new pics are up in the photos section. 30 actually, 15 in scaled down form and the bigger originals. The bigger ones take a really long time to load, be forewarned (all the bigger ones do). Also, the photo section is divided into sections now.
Lyrics to The Tain coming soon...

022404
The Tain is out today! You can buy it online at the Hush website, or from the label that's releasing it, Acuarela. Lyrics will be added as soon as my copy arrives d'Espagne!
tabs: A tabs section has been created, thanks wholly to Barelyboy who transcribed them and was kind enough to let Meant for the Stage post them. He rocks!!
interviews: New interview from -30- music is posted.
discography: ep and vinyl sections are being updated for The Tain. The artwork to this EP kicks ass.

020204
photos: 15 (!) new photos: 12 from Alyssa Scheinson (do check out her site, too) and 3 from Claire. Thanks to both!!!
sitemap: Added. Not completed yet.
Oh and we're getting rid of the news thing. Bold headers are better. :P

012904
Ahem...new layout...again. Bigger space: less migraines: more user-friendly. Thanks to Jessica McQueen for the Celtic knot used in the layout.
photos: Two photos from June 2003 at the Mainzer Theater in Merced, CA thanks to Ben and one from CMJ thanks to jinners.
video: Video section created in the catalogue section.

012704
Six new photos are up: four from Bumbershoot 2003 and two from the Crocodile Cafe Valentine's Day 2003. A pink velvet unicorn to anyone who can spot the bass player in drag. :P Thanks to Josh for taking the time to supply them. Also, March-April 2004 tour dates are up.

012104
The name of this page is being changed to "news and updates" so you actually know what's *new* when trucking around this place. Seven, count them, seven new pics in the photos section with major thanks to Eric! New interview from the San Bernardino County Sun and three February 2004 dates have been added.

010804
Photos section now has 2 photos taken at the Crocodile Cafe last March.

010604
Happy New Years: Photos section updated to include 2 photos from the Mercury Lounge last October. Facts section up and will be completed soon. Interviews and Reviews section being updated to include an on-the-server archive page in case any of the articles disappear in the future.

122503
New layout for The Tain. Hope you like it. Also, new tour dates for January 2004 are up. Discography: compilation updated: the Decemberists will be featured on a Kill Rocks Stars compilation. A facts section will be up soon. You also might want to go to the Decemberists' official site: they have new pics up!!!!

112803
A crapload of interviews and reviews added. Note: When new interviews, reviews etc. are added, they will be broken from the old ones until the page is again updated. Also, a photos section has been created.

112303
Vinyl page added to discography, two old PopMatters concert reviews in the reviews section, tour page updated to include all old tour dates. Oh, and the banners are back up again!

112203
At the peril of looking like we're playing musical chairs on everyone, the brinkster banners were getting irritating, no? meant for the stage is now on 1 ASP Host! Lots of info will be added onto the site soon!

111703
MSNBC link added to the review section, right under the New York Times one. New HMTD poll.

111003
A New York Times blurb added to the reviews section and an interview from the Portland Tribune!

101203
Two new reviews: Onion A.V. Club and DFW Star-Telegram. Updated discography and tour dates.

092603
Adding reviews, another interview.

092503
New layout. New server. I hope you like it. :P I'm still working a few kinks out though. I've also added some new stuff, like a new interview from Citizen Robot (which freaked the crap out of me initially).

091503
Bio, Her Majesty lyrics, new tour dates have been added. I had a creative spark last night for a new layout, I think I'm going to try it out (as soon as I can get back my laptop). Fickle, fickle is me...

082103
*Wacky item of the day* I typed 'www.krs.com' into my web browser wondering if I could get to the Kill Rock Stars website through that address, and my web browser came up with 'fbi.gov'. WTF?
I'll be adding the Reclinerland CD to the compilations portion of the discography; Colin does vocals on one of the tracks. I shall discover which one it is when I get the CD!

082003
In the process of making backgrounds transparent, so the layout actually looks *decent*. Lyrics are also being added.