Music

Yo La Tengo’s James McNew once lived in Las Vegas?!

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One-time Las Vegan: Yo La Tengo’s James McNew (center)

An offhand mention by bandmate Ira Kaplan prompts a quick e-mail exchange:

Is it true you once lived in Las Vegas? If so, when and for how long? And more important, why?

It is true. I lived there in the fall of 1989. I moved there to join the band Christmas, who had relocated there about a year or so prior to my arrival. We all moved back East in January of 1990.

What part of the city did you live in?

210 Earl St. A short jaunt from the Glitter Gulch.

Did you get out on the town much while you were here? What sorts of things did you do?

I was what you'd call "flat broke," so not many on-the-town shenanigans. Highlights were mostly thrift shopping, grocery shopping at 3 a.m., and by an odd coincidence, getting to meet the esteemed film director Ray Dennis Steckler at his video shop.

Anything you're looking forward to doing here next weekend when you're back?

I dunno. What is there to do in Las Vegas?

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