Article from Ottawa Express

by Jessica Wilson 9th February 2006

So much to talk about, so little time

Evan Dando hung up on me last week.

He hung up before I could ask him about transitioning from a drug addicted, post-grunge icon into a wiser (and more sober) devoted husband and solo artist. He hung up before I could tell him that I thought Baby I'm Bored (his solo album released in 2003) was brilliant.

Hell, he hung up before I could even say goodbye.

I'm not sure what did it: Maybe it was when I asked about whether he's sick of always being associated with the Lemonheads and he said his next album is a Lemonheads album. (Since, as everybody should know, Evan Dando is not just the former frontman - he is the Lemonheads. Please forgive me.)

Or maybe it was when I asked if he makes a setlist or just wings it, and he told me I could find that on the Internet, you know, if I bothered to look.

This is when he said, "Well I think I'm about done now, bye!" and hung up.

I sat staring at the phone in my hand, baffled and, frankly, a little chastened.

Now, after years of swooning over Mr. Dando and singing along word for word with songs that he now calls "crap," I'm not even sure I'm going to this Friday's concert.

But he was right, I did find his setlist on the Internet (and the Internet says you can hope to hear a slew of old goodies like "My Drug Buddy" and, if you're lucky, a cover of Black Sabbath's "War Pigs").

Know what else you can find online?

A blatant expression of Dando disdain in the form of a mid-'90s fanzine, Die Evan Dando Die (which was almost called "I'm a Dando, He's a Dando, She's a Dando, We're All Dandoes, Wouldn't You Like to Be an Asshole Too?"). While I'm not partial to that sort of balls-out bashing and death-wishing, evidently I'm not the first to have had a sour Lemonhead encounter.

In his defence, I should say that he entertained me with stories of his mid-'90s ecstasy use, spoke (with what verged on a twang) of the 22 old acoustic Gibsons he and his wife just hung in their Manhattan home, and educated me on the wonders of the new auto-wah pedal, which he bought just for the Zaphod's show.

Catch Evan and his new pedal, with special guest John Kastner from the Doughboys, Friday February 10 at Zaphod's, 8 p.m., $15.