more shots from the Moodists at Dig it Up april 25th 2013.

thanks to various friends for these shots, especially Phillippa Berry.

the Moodists at Dig it Up 2013

We got contacted in February to be a part of the 2013 DIG IT UP festival, a day long event devised and curated by the Hoodoo Gurus. In 2012 they had built the day around the SONICS and a host of garage rock related bands. This year the headliner was to be the Blue Oyster Cult, a band I'd loved in my teen years in country SA. Clare Moore and myself had also been involved in Kim Salmons guitar orchestra SALMON which had recorded and played a version of Bocs' "ETI". Other bands to be on the bill were the Buzzcocks , the Flaming Groovies, The Hoodoo Gurus themselves, Peter Case, Kim Salmon, Harry Howard and the NDE (who feature Clare Moore and myself as well) , the New Christs and many others. We felt honoured to be asked to be involved by the Hoodoo Gurus. Respect. The Moodists spent most of their career in the UK and are rarely dropped as a name in any narrative about Australian music of the period. IN some ways, we represent and alternative view of the time. We don't belong to anybody.

Only the headliners involvement was announced at first which was good as we had to see if we were still capable of functioning and doing the show- even if it was only a 45 minute set. The first rehearsal in Feb was very rough, several others followed and we felt confident we could deliver. There was a strict no boozing before playing rule agreed to. The rehearsals were at Mick Turners studio.

I did some interviews for the show, during this time, still unsure whether we could actually make the task at end, re-constituting our old selves and playing the music of our young selves.

http://thedwarf.com.au/interview/moodists-reform-for-dig-it-up-the-dwarf-chats-to-dave-graney

http://messandnoise.com/icons/4576645


We got to the Palace in Bourke street early and I got to see the New Christs shake the frost from the stage. Rob Younger is a hero and a great mover and top shelf singer.

There was a communal room for the players and a room closer to the stage where you could gather for an hour or two around the time of your set.

(mick turner,steve miller,john needham)

(just before we walked on)


At 3:30 we walked onto the stage. No soundcheck, using a backline of amps supplied to us. Clare, Mick and I are match fit and have continued to play music for the last 30 years. Steve Miller and Chris Walsh are still original gangsters. the last time they had walked OFF the stage would have been (almost) a Moodists gig, decades ago.

 (steve miller)

 chris walsh

This is the set we played

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machine machine

do the door

frankies negative

gone dead

chads car

runaway

some kinda jones

double life

the disciples know

boss shitkicker

The sound was loud. A quite wide stage. A full room. Generally, like now, I had the idea we were coming at people from out of nowhere. We were the least 60s grounded act of the day. No one else around then or now sounded like us. I was enjoying just moving and singing. 

In recent years I've become a guitarist/singer and you become anchored to the spot a  little bit. Up until 1995 I was always  a stand up singer. That's how I was doing this show. I picked up a  guitar for "chads car" and "gone dead" and "runaway". I was playing through a Vox and Steve and Mick had Marshalls. We would have all preferred Fenders. 

 chris walsh

clare moore and leanne cowie (drums with kim salmon) 

clare moore and the spazzys who were there to sing with the buzzcocks.

They were a very welcome female presence on an otherwise very mannish day

Brad Shepherd and Rick Grossman from the Hoodoo  Gurus.Champs!

As a kind of a review I must say I thought it was a  day for the PROS. the Blue Oyster Cult displayed skills on their instruments that are very, very rarely seen on Australian stages. Brilliant songs. Absolutely loved it. the Hoodoo Gurus the same. I have seen them only a  few times. Pounding rhythm section, two guitars and one of them wielded by the singer. that singer, Dave, just writes songs that are built for radios and concert stages.They are not just some idealized genre type power pop act. They've actually had hits and people love to hear them. A strange band in some ways - inspired by a classic period but making very modern sounding records- but its all held together by the quality of the songs.

Our set was a highlight for me , of course. We brought some drama and a noise that is really out of nowhere. It had some POWER. People came up to me to tell me the sound was muddy but I have never listened to that sort of talk. Number ONE - we ain't gonna come and do another gig and  do it any different for them , and TWO what the fuck were they comparing it to? Its a murky, messy, funky sound. That sort of talk drove us out of Australia twice in the old days. Left them to that horrible paisley revival jive back in the 80s. We were more into George Jones and Bo Diddley . Then and now.

There were a few silly reviews in the online mags but it was generally ignored by people who write about show. April and  May being a period of intense touring in 2013.

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"If there was anyone to ‘still have it,’ it would be The Moodists frontman Dave Graney, sliding around the stage with his sweet moves and drawing in the crowd with his smooth yet snarling vocals against a funky and mysterious bassline."

tone deaf

"Back to the main stage at The Palace Theatre and Dave Graney’s old band, The Moodists are brewing swampy, introspective, bluesy, ominous “Runaway”. The band features the original line up of Clare Moore on drums, Steve Miller on guitar, Mick Turner on guitar, Chris Walker on bass and Dave Graney at the helm. Dave introduces “Double Life” as a “song about having secrets in your life and not being able to tell people.”

 au review

So thats it.
Thanks Clare, Chris, Steve, Mick and the Gurus.

May 26th dave graney and clare moore play the Vanguard in Newtown - Sydney

June 9th dave graney and the mistLY at the Retreat Hotel in Sydney rd Brunswick

June 13th THE DAMES play at the Post Office Hotel in Coburg

June 14th dave graney and the mistLY play at teh post office hotel in Coburg

June 19th-23rd - dave graney EARLY FOLK- 7pm shows (6pm wed and sun) at the Butterfly Club in 1 Carson place melbourne
to book call 9663 8107 (Box Office)

July 6th - dave graney and the mistLY at the Railway Workers Club - Darwin

Friday August 30th - dave graney and clare moore will be playing in Tanunda SA

Saturday August 31st and Sunday Sept 1st dave graney and the mistLY will be playing at the Wheatsheaf in Adelaide , SA.

 

notes about those songs in a looser style

"The Postman always rings twice" was  a 1934 paperback novel by James M Cain and a movie in 1946 with John Garfield and Lana Turner.
I've always loved the book and spent a  great part of the early 80strying to find Cains books in second hand shops from Melbourne to London.

I wrote the song in 1987, just after the Moodists stopped working. Living in London - never intending to ever return to Australia. I made a demo of  paying acoustic guitar with Mark Fitzgibbon on piano. He was a jazz player living in London at the same time whom we met through mutual friends.
I thought it would be too distracting to call the song after the books title so it existed as "between times" Played it live with the original London Coral Snakes in 1987/88.

Eventually we recorded it in 1998 for "the Dave Graney Show" , an album we gave to Festival records. It had Mark Fitzgibbon on piano again, he had returned to Australia as well. Serendipity.

That album was the first after the we let the Coral Snakes go. It was full of great songs and I love it as much as the one that preceded it, "the devil drives". The label, Festival, didn't know what to do with anything, it didn't really have a chance. We've continued to play many songs from it over the years, most notably in the "point blank" narrative shows. We still always reach to songs from it.

 "I'm a commander" was on the same album. Always loved playing this song and thought we could do a  different version of it. the original was very keyboard oriented. I wanted to bring the lyric out  a bit more

"we're gonna find an open field- sit and wait for the enemy to show itself- we shall march drill and manouvre till they arrive- we shall be flanking the opposition forces- a feinting pincer movement - there'll be no retreat no surrender - you''ll be my players! you'll be my foot soldiers! you will die for my song! You will die IN my song...."

Clare Moore plays vibes and also bass xylophone. A large thing like a  marimba- wooden keys.

 "I'm not the guy I tried to be" was the last track on "you've been in my mind". he just wanted another pass at it. With the bass xylophone and 12 string acoustic.

Got some live dates coming up. 

May 17th dave graney and the mistLY at the Prince of Wales Hotel in St Kilda

May 26th dave graney and clare moore play the Vanguard in Newtown - Sydney

June 9th dave graney and the mistLY at the Retreat Hotel in Sydney rd Brunswick

June 13th THE DAMES play at the Post Office Hotel in Coburg

June 14th dave graney and the mistLY play at the post office hotel in Coburg

July 6th - dave graney and the mistLY at the Railway Workers Club - Darwin

Friday August 30th - dave graney and clare moore will be playing in Tanunda SA

Saturday August 31st and Sunday Sept 1st dave graney and the mistLY will be playing at the Wheatsheaf in Adelaide , SA.

Below are pictures of me playing guitar on the MC5s "kick out the Jams" with the Hoodoo Gurus with guests - moi, Cyril Jordan from the Flaming Groovies, Kim Salmon, Eric Bloom and Donald Roeser from the BLUE OYSTER CULT , Peter Case with ROB YOUNGER ex of Radio Birdman singing...It was the last song of the 2013 DIG it UP! show

2013 digital singles - three so far

We have this new digital single out. Its called "the postman always rings twice".

This is what our press release says...
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The Postman Always Rings Twice is the third digital single from Dave Graney in 2013.

A song more than a little inspired by the famous first novel by James M Cain (1934) and the (1946) film of the same name starring Lana Turner and John Garfield.

Dave Graney made a demo version of this song in 1987, as he embarked on a post Moodists career .(The Moodists being the first band for Graney and his partner Clare Moore) .

The song was eventually recorded in 1998 as “between times” for the Dave Graney Show cd. Dave Graney had always thought it best to hide his stash of obsessions and that to call the song after the book and the film would be too distracting for people to experience the song itself. Now he’s restoring it. This is kind of a  a “directors cut”.

Dave Graney plays acoustic and electric guitar, along with Stuart Perera from their band , the mistLY. Clare Moore sings and plays keys, percussion  and bass xylophone.

Dave Graney has always been influenced by hard boiled crime literature and street language.

The Postman Always Rings Twice is an expression of a long ride on those deep swells."

Here is a link to it on Soundcloud

its at itunes

and Bandcamp

Last month we put out "I'm a Commander

This is what we said about that;

I’m a Commander (2013 remake) is the second single in a series of individual digital releases planned  by dave graney for 2013.

This is a remake of a  song that featured on our 1998 album “the dave graney show”. Here it is recast in acoustic 12 string guitars strummed by dave graney against a brave and mad rush of vibes and bass xylophone (wooden blocks/keys like a marimba) played by longtime collaborator clare moore.

“the song was inspired by a dream I had where the artist- the musician was a great and powerful person – like say Napoleon and he was drilling his forces and about to fight a great battle. He tells the record company to get in line and the radio stations that “they are now in uniform- enjoy yourself while you can!”

dave graney

you can hear it here on soundcloud

I'm a commander is at bandcamp too

and also itunes

we started in February with "I'm not the guy i tried to be"

This is how we pitched it...
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I’m not the guy I tried to be (2013 remake) is the first single in a series of individual digital releases planned  by dave graney for 2013.

This is a remake of a  song that closed the 2012 album “you’ve been in my mind” by dave graney and the mistLY. Here it is recast in acoustic 6 and 12 string guitars strummed by dave graney against a sweet rush of vibes and bass xylophone (wooden blocks/keys like a marimba) played by longtime collaborator clare moore.

“the song was inspired by something Willie Nelson said at a  show once. The groove is loping JJ Cale. I like to have another shot at some songs, just to see how it flies with different fins on…The radio was full of adult country pop when I was a kid. Add this one to the pile.”

dave graney

its at BandCamp

and at itunes

you can also hear it at Soundcloud

you know, I never thought the shit would get that real

Whoah - been quite snowed under. This year got away from me.
Can't really explain, still digging my way though some sstuff.
The Moodists gig which we just did at the Palace last week was a major event that was on the far horizon and then came upon us real quick.
We played a great 45 minute set at 3:30 in the afternoon. One of our best ever.
Thanks to the Hoodoo Gurus for inviting us. An honour to play with them and also with the Blue Oyster Cult. Total pros both of them. Never seen the skills of BOC so evident like that. Super guitar playing and sounds.
Crashed out for a  couple of days after that show. Totally beaten up.

This shot was taken after the first rehearsal at Mick Turners studio. That rehearsal was rough. Got together  a month later and then a couple more times.

Been doing a lot of  shows with Harry Howard and the NDE. Working up an album of new material.

Started doing an acoustic album in January, laid down tracks for 12 songs. Got talking to Lisa Gerard from Dead Can Dance at an APRA film award night and she invited me out to her studio to do the vocals. Have done most of them. A beautiful old valve mic and great pre-amps. Getting a  huge sound. Did a couple of days and then Lisa had to go to Brazil and the USA for more Dead Can Dance shows. Will get back there next week.

Clare has mastered the DAMES album, been doing a few shows there as well.

Also been releasing a few digital only singles, for the hell of it. Put out "I'm not the guy I tried to be" in February. This was a remake of a song on last years album, "you've been in my mind".

This time it was all bass xylophone and acoustics.

In March/ April I put out a version of "I'm a  commander". In 1998 it was all electro and keyboards, now it was driving 12 string acoustic and vibes.

Next up, it'll be "the postman always rings twice. The clip will be ready in a day or so...

SOME SHOWS COMING UP

May 17th dave graney and the mistLY at the Prince of Wales Hotel in St Kilda

May 26th dave graney and clare moore play the Vanguard in Newtown - Sydney

June 9th dave graney and the mistLY at the Retreat Hotel in Sydney rd Brunswick

July 6th - dave graney and the mistLY at the Railway Workers Club - Darwin

Friday August 30th - dave graney and clare moore will be playing in Tanunda SA

Saturday August 31st and Sunday Sept 1st dave graney and the mistLY will be playing at the Wheatsheaf in Adelaide , SA.

--> Reading events ---
Tuesday 21st May -  Prahran Library, 180 Greville Street, Prahran, Vic, 3181 --     6:30pm–7:30pm
Wednesday 22nd May - Nunawading Library, 379 Whitehorse Road, Nunawading, Vic, 3131     7–8pm
Thursday 23-25th May I will be at the Sydney Writers Festival
1st-4th August I'll be at the Byron Bay Writers Festival

Also, Mercury Records Australia are to release all three albums that were recorded for them by dave graney 'n' the coral snakes as well as a fourth disc of rarities called "crayfish palace royalty".The set will be called "the mercury years 94-97".
It will cost $20 (for 4 albums) and can be preordered here

perils of the social sensitivities/nodes/nuts

so I turn on the magic box and this fellow I have somehow connected to has activated my name in a  post where he is air-raiding me to the void. .... It was along the lines of "just listened to Dave Graney's somewhat didactic song "field record me" and was disappointed by yet another ignorant depiction of the role of linguists and their work of preserving dying languages through the use of field recordings. What an ignorant rock person.. what would he know etc etc etc ..."

This is the song...
https://soundcloud.com/dave-graney-lym/field-record-me

A woman chimed in with " Wow what a great disappointment this must be to you"

The fellow shot back " disappointed, yes…liked him better when he was a moodist .. but not that surprised at the att.. ignorance is the fuel of so many a rock sermon!"

The woman returned "Unfortunately maybe Dave's showing his age. This kind of objectification or essentialising would have been spot on a few decades ago, just like framing Indigenous people as eternal victims. (...unless of course he has a specific early 20th C bearded pipe-smoking ethnographer in mind...)"

I must state I know neither of these two and was not eavesdropping. It was all opened on my social manor.

The man returned " yep, although many old farts manage not to think in such simplistic terms..there's not much excuse for those stereotypes really.. just lazy thinking. (Unless we're talking dementia?)"

I felt the need to object! " the song is a cry of pain, in a world where people can only listen/hear / see music when it is safely dead or from a foreign clime . Like say, poncey types going on about primitive cultures or making field recordings of exotic savages. In the song, the singer is asking them to field record him, in his natural habitat. But they can't hear him. So you know, one of us is ignorant and its not me. Cheers."

I included the lyrics...

"field record me
put me in the picture, give me a page
put me in a place and time where you can find me
pin me down and forget me
field record me
make me real
treat me as if I was here
field record me
put on your coat with many pockets and stick that pipe in your mouth
and approach me sensitively in my world
field record me
field record me
treat me like a golden bug
and you’ve had the mad luck to be here"

To me, that's pretty direct and plain language. As a songwriter, you like to get simpler and simpler. Less words. More groove and feel. When I play live I often introduce it as a song about a musicians dream where aliens will be in the audience one day and understand what he's going on about. And take news of him back to their planet. Where he is worshipped as a god.  I allude to the educated, rich new Yorkers going down South of America in the 30s and 40s and making field recordings.

I added "I sing songs about my world, not others."

Then lost my cool..." what fucking knobs"

That felt better.

The man came back ...

"Well I suppose I can‘t rightly argue with a creative about what their own song is about. So, if you say ‘field record me’ is not about linguists making fieldwork recordings, then fair enough.

Reading the lyrics again though, I find it difficult not to interpret it as an attack on language documentation, since field recording is generally something done by linguists. Pretty much the only other people who do it are ethnomusicologists...Is the song about ethnomusicologists, perhaps?
The poncey character is a cliche. I guess the song was meant to be set in the 19th century. That didn't come through at all. And the phrases you use: ‘exotic savage’ and ‘primitive’ are racist stereotypes. They are offensive to anyone doing actual fieldwork. If that's what you think fieldwork is about, then actually, you are very ignorant".

This guy would not back off! How many ways can he insult me? 

Even though he was obviously a linguist and very well educated, I felt I should speak plainly…

"why the hell would I be bothered writing a song about linguists? New York folk lorists went to the southern states of America and field recorded people like Muddy Waters in the 40s and earlier. All sorts of folk farmers and the like. The song is about being an Australian singer. Its set in 2012. I don't give a rats testicle what field work is, like most people."

Silence for a couple of days then he shot back with another tirade (which is now invisible to me- as is he)   about it being true that people don't care about his valuable work of preserving dying languages but he does it. (diddums) Also that , perhaps, the song could be interpreted in the way I said, "with the aid of mass scaffolding."

Then he added "ciao".

Excuse me.

"CUUUUUUUUUUNT!"

Yes, thats better. Anyway, whoever he is, he is dead to me. And his bitches too. They had just dropped in to air raid me. Probably, like most people, they don't know where all the flim flam connections pop up.

It was this exchange that worried me though. The fellow professes to be a  linguist but he seems to take everything so subjectively. He can't understand English or the local variant. The cadence, the patois. My song was about just that! In the local field, people can't see or hear many things unless there is a precedent from the US or the UK. If it doesn't, it doesn't exist. As invisible as a creep that's been blocked on the interwebs.

What chance do all those dying languages have?  In the hands of this ignorant , know-all blockhead?

February 3rd THE DAMES (Clare Moores project w/ Kaye Patterson and Rosie Westbrook) at the Post Office Hotel Sydney Rd Coburg 4-6pm

 
February 10th - Butterfly Club 204 Bank st sth Melbourne 8pm. Dave Graney and Clare Moore acoustic set (vibes and 12 string).

 

FRIDAY February 22nd dave graney and the mistLY at the SOUND LOUNGE/Ocean Grove Hotel.175 Bonnyvale Rd 52551122
Doors at 6pm,show at 8pm.Advance tickets-seating 0408575799

 
  

in a world of ICONS! and CLASSICS

an edited version of this post appeared ina  recent edition of THE MELBOURNE REVIEW

I woke up from a short but deep sleep, feeling groggy due to the potions I had partaken of the night before. They knocked me out but wore off pretty quick. I had dreamed, but was going to, as has been my lifelong  attitude to these things, keep them to myself. As soon as I actually remembered them. (This would be usually with a shout of some quite innocuous word at the shaving mirror or at the car windscreen. I would then suddenly look at myself in the mirror. I loved doing that. ). So I woke in my usual manner is what I trying to convey to yas. A time honoured, long held-to direction, and ambled to the kitchen. In a way, I was waking up in a robotic, zombie like manner, though I have since learned I could use a  much grander term. I was operating in a  CLASSIC manner. It was a VINTAGE shamble into a new day. The cat played its part and ran in front of me at every opportunity, herding me towards its food bowl.  I boiled some hot water in the sleek, new, stainless steel, CLASSIC looking kettle and prepared some tea. No tea bags for me, only loose leaves which I had imported myself from a WOOLWORTHS supermarket in South Australia. A RUST BELT state. The tea is in a  packet which I associate with that part of the world where I sprang from. Amgoorie tea. In a brown paper packet with exotic images of the mysterious east all over it. I drive there to get it. 455 kilometres a pack. I assemble a bowl of my CUSTOMARY cereal which is raw oatmeal from the ICONIC house of BLACK AND GOLD. I drench the rustic oats in LONG LIFE soy liquid and open my newspaper. Below the ICONIC masthead which should by rights be rolling upside down in shame at the “all the goss” bilge which is spewed across its pages every day, and spent a good minute learning of the activities of the world while I slept. AS is my want, I throw it away in disgust and leave for the smallest room. I am sure this is the correct outcome of the transaction. I was behaving in a CLASSIC way of a disgruntled reader of my age. They would have had focus groups to agree with them on this. I needed to be herded toward the online version of the paper, which was full of more intelligent shit, as well as blinking lights and sexier ads. The editor should be happy. In the can , which I had had built by a DUTCH man so as I could inspect my PRECIOUS waste rather than drop it into a small pond of water in the ANGLO fashion, I was gladdened to see a log of much health . A glad, JOYOUS stool. AS one of YORE! “Shakespeare could have dropped this!”, I marvelled to myself.  I felt connected to life on earth. An absolute PEARLER. A CLASSIC! A HUMDINGER!

I turned the radio on to listen to the anguished thoughts of the callers. I wanted REALITY, not some namby pamby EXPERT telling me stuff that only he could know.

I drank a can of pop soda. It had my name on it. A friend had bought me a case. CLASSIC IRONY! The drinks name itself was a brand name synonymous with corporate fascism and mass ill health the world over. Loved by billions.

I went for a walk past a toilet I once did a gig in. It was being hounded by near and far-by residents for being noisy and smelly. People rushed to defend it and were referring to it as an ICONIC venue. I reflected , in my now CLASSIC manner, that my morning stool had been more ICONIC than that dump. That PILE of steaming bricks! That was the times we wuz livin’ in though but. People shouted and talked shit up like holy rolling preachers at every turn. Nothing really rated it. Nothing really ever happened any more. It was a CLASSIC STORM EYE we were experiencing. For how long, nobody knew. We looked to SPOKESPERSONS to talk us out of it. So we could see shit from the outside. “You pay peanuts- you get monkeys” was all I could summon as I heard some lame ABC types stretch their skills to the very limit in brave efforts to be entertaining and then Kyle Sandilands and Allan Jones do the same in the way of being informative.

I got back into my car - a Japanese made 4 cylinder van. A CLASSIC from the early 00’s that will never be made again. For some reason. I’m hangin’ onto it. The wheel. Will to live I guess. Some damn INNATE compulsion. I turn on the radio, set to a CLASSIC rock station and listen to stuff I had heard a thousand times before. It had been great. Once. I waited for the magic again. The stuff was guaranteed. SUREFIRE!.

I wasn’t feeling it. I felt off the worlds game. Out of it. Like Steve Martin in THE JERK.

I turned to one of the few stations dealing with new shit and tried some of that. Scandinavian indie bands singing some dreadful, sexless, feckless, filthless , faux folk song that sounded OLDER than time – than recorded music itself. I guess that’s what they wanted. Terrible lyrics and the boy/mans voice came all out of his throat. There was no rest of his body involved. Sounded like musical theatre pipes happening. Thin and reedy. Punk was never going to happen. Is that why people listen to Neil Young? The reassuring grampiness of it all? There were a lot of other acts around on air, they were all generic too. People liked shit that they could see whole. The beginning and the end. They were blind to anythin’ else. Didn’t have the bandwidth. When I grew up there was a squall of old time shit on the tv too. Made it unbearable. The Waltons and Happy Days. How many teen deaths were those shows responsible for? Then we got stoned and turned to the Blue Oyster Cult with their hit, “don’t fear the reaper”. (The singer is dead and is telling his girlfriend to kill herself and cross over- a CLASSIC).  That would have been legendary if we’d all carked out there in the forest, behind the drive-in, with “Tyranny and Mutation” on the tape deck, repeating on the track “OD’d on life itself”. Total teen death VERISIMMILITUDE! Totally! My life would have had , almost, an appearance of meaning.

I was dressed in quadruple denim. The world had perverted me. I was always dressing for that funeral that never was. A denim cape, jacket, shirt and pants. I was looking for some denim shoes and a denim hanky to poke out of my pocket. Years ago, I had a denim slouch hat made. A fucking CLASSIC! It was ICONIC! Made from a  Generals titfer. Five folds in the band. ANZACIACAL! Still, people eyed me suspiciously. They still do. I am neither romantically driven nor do I strive for a  classic form. Well I do, but that’s just me being polite, trying to get square with folks. Get out of peoples way. Dodgy, but. What I really needed was a one piece suit in dark denim , perhaps like the one designed by black panther Eldridge Cleaver. It was called a cock suit , because it had an exterior sleeve wherein a bloke ostensibly sheathed his throbbing purple headed Gila Monster. That was an ICONIC bit of clothing. It beheld a narrative - a story! Eldridge had fled the USA to Algeria and had come back, with an eye to making a  killing in the rag trade. They mocked him, perhaps that garments time has come? And I could at last assume some agreed human form?