Moe Tucker / Half Japanese - Cabaret Metro, Chicago Illinois, May 5, 1989

Moe Tucker / Half Japanese - Cabaret Metro, Chicago Illinois, May 5, 1989We’re going to hang out in Chicago with taper extraordinaire Aadam Jacobs for a little while longer this week. Just about 10 years before that Jim O'Rourke gig, Aadam and his rig were at the Cabaret Metro recording the radical double bill Half Japanese and Moe Tucker. David Fair, who co-founded Half Japanese with brother Jad, recently passed away, so listen in as a belated tribute. The Moe Japanese pairing was a full collaboration, with the erstwhile Velvet Underground drummer joining the Fair bros for most of their set and vice versa. It’s a great team-up; amongst the countless VU-inspired groups of their day, Half Japanese was one of the few bands who really got the minimalist/amateurist Velvet thing, the primitive rhythmic thump, the furiously strummed guitars, the wild abandon. What fun! Towards the end, the ensemble tears into an amazing rendition of “Hey Mr. Rain” that must’ve conjured up a torrential…