ne of Ira Kaplan's latest gigs was a
Passover seder.
Ira Kaplan, guitarist/vocalist/co-
songwriter, is one-third of the band
Yo La Tengo. And the seder was
held at New York City's Knitting
Factory.
"They did it last year for the first
time, and it was such a success, they
repeated it this year," says Kaplan. "They
had about 20 people getting up and doing their
things — not all quite faithful to the 'original'
[seder] — Philip Glass, Lou Reed, D.J. Spooky,
and quite a lineup of poets doing readings."
The Knitting Factory's seder is a four-hour
event in which 12 portions of the Haggadah are
doled out to various artists, who are given free
rein for their own interpretations.
Says Steve Smith, the Knitting Factory's
public relations manager: "[Ira] did a tape-
recorded voice describing the various compo-
nents that go into making a seder playing in
the background — reading off things, kind of
like a grocery list. At the same time, he was do-
ing this extremely delicate and distorted gui-
tar solo over the top. It was one of the most
moving performances of the night."
Kaplan isn't particularly religious — neither
he nor his three brothers had bar mitzvahs,
and, he says, "I remember a lot of celebrations
which revolved around eating" — but who
would pass up an opportunity to sit down to
supper with that crowd?
Kaplan's band Yo La Tengo played its first
show at the end of '84. Said Rolling Stone, "[Yo
La Tengo have] been indie (independent label)
rockers since Pavement were pimply teens."
Begun by Kaplan and drummer/lyricist/future
wife Georgia Hubley, the Hoboken, N.J.-based
band put out its first single, "The River of Wa-
ter," under the production name of Egon
Records, "after our cat, Egon," Kaplan explains.
"We thought our other cat, Shauna, needed
equal time."
So Roshashauna Records was begun, the la-
bel on which all successive records were joint-
ly released. "We knew we misspelled 'Rosh
Hashanah'; we spelled it like our cat."
The voices of both cats, by the way, actual-
ly appear on various Tengo albums: "Shauna
can be heard on "Hanky Panky Nohow" and
Egon can be heard meowing on Camp Yo La
Tengo.
"Both cats are no longer with us," adds Ka-
plan.
During these early years the band went
through a series of bassists, until 1991, when
present bassist James McNew joined.
"He joined for a tour, then decided to record
with us, then decided to stay with us," says Ka-
plan. "In a lot of ways, that's when the band be-
gan ... I can't imagine what the group would be
if James hadn't joined. The value of the period
before that was like Georgia and I being thrown
into a swimming pool and having to learn how
to swim.
"On Ride the Tiger (the band's first album),
it sounds like we're coasting on [former bassist]
Dave Schramm. When he quit, it was like we
had to learn on our own, without crutches.
"Georgia and I did a few duo shows of er-
ratic quality," Kaplan recalls. 'There were times
then we probably thought we wanted to remain
a duo. But it's so much better being a band.
"I do think that's why the band has contin-
ued to evolve — because it's a band now. The
early years were so many fits and starts; it was
important to go through all that, but I'm glad
it has ended, too."
In the band's evolution, it has gone from an
eclectic indie basement band to an eclectic in-
die highly respected band, playing the spec-
trum of spare and simple melodies to loopy pop
to Lou Reed-inspired ambient noise (the band
even appeared as the Velvet Underground in
the film I Shot Andy Warhol).
In the 13 years since Tengo was born, up to
the recently-released-to-rave-reviews I Can
Hear the Heart Beating As One, the band has
Of I Can Hear the Heart Beating as One, Kaplan says: "I'm genuinely glad Rolling Stone gave it a good review, but
what about all the records they would not review at all? Should we be despondent over that? We try not to treat it as
anything special ... We approached this album as we have any other. We're just trying to make a good record."