An anecdote about "Zebra" and The Magnetic Fields ------------------------------------------------- The Magnetic Fields performed the entirety of their album 69 Love Songs on seven occasions, in places like New York, Chicago, London...and, since their record label was Merge, Carrboro, NC. So, I got to see the album performed over two nights, April 25th and 26th, 2000, which was pretty fantastic. I'd seen The Magnetic Fields perform a couple of other times in the mid/late-90s at that point, and I can tell you that a) they put on a great show and b) the band's frontman, Stephen Merritt, seems to be a grumpy, grumpy man. Wildly talented, of course, but almost every time I've seen them before Merritt and drummer/pianist/manager Claudia Gonson wind up bitching at each other between songs, with Merritt making catty remarks, sighing audibly, the whole nine yards, and Gonson giving as good as she gets. The other band members - Sam Davol on the cello and John Woo (not that John Woo) on the banjo/guitar - seem like lovely people who resist the urge to gripe at anyone mid performance. Meanwhile, the last song (of, yes, a full 69 tracks over three CDs) of the album 69 Love Songs is "Zebra", a very funny song about a gold digger looking for more outrageous gifts to demand from their rich spouse. It's a hoot, but it's also a song with Gonson playing the piano and singing and the rest of the band doing absolutely nothing at all. It's not really the big number to wrap your show up with, but when you're performing the entire album in order, well, there it is. So, after two full nights Gonson launches into "Zebra" and the rest of the band just kinda takes a breather and waits for the concert to end. Halfway through the song is the line, "I want a zebra", and at that exact moment a guy in the audience throws a medium-sized stuffed zebra onto the stage. The entire audience cracks up laughing, the song comes to a screeching halt, Gonson looks flabbergasted, Davol and Woo look quietly amused, and Merritt looks absolutely disgusted, rolling his eyes so hard I was worried he'd sprain them. Big laughs all around while Gonson recovers her composure, waits for folks to quiet down, and then starts into the second half of the song. The final lines of "Zebra" are: But there's one thing I need if you won't think I'm greedy, my dear: Another zebra! Zelda looks lonely, I want a zebra! Gonson gets right up to these last lines...and then stops. Gonson, the other band members, and basically the entire audience turn and look at the guy who threw the stuffed zebra. The guy looks back at everyone hands out and empty, as if to say, don't worry, I'm all out of stuffed animals. Reassured, Gonson sings the last lines, hits "another zebra", and the dude whips a Beanie Baby zebra out of his jacket pocket, chucks it at the stage, and lands it directly on the keys of the piano. Absolute pandemonium as the audience completely riots, Gonson gives up entirely, Davol and Woo crack up, and Merritt looks ready to absolutely murder the sonofabitch who disrupted his show. It was an amazing finale to an incredible concert. - Phil