in 1993 and has since designed for clients as diverse as the Rolling Stones, HBO and the Guggenheim Museum. Stefan Sagmeister formed the New York based Sagmeister Inc. See Sagmeister in Calgary at the CAMP Festival We had the pleasure of spending some time with Stefan Sagmeister at the recent FITC Toronto conference in April, 2014, and he had some things to say. You are not a storyteller - Stefan Sagmeister FITC from FITC on Vimeo. Like I wrote, Laughner was always the hippest guy in the room.
There’s also what has to be one of the first Television covers to be performed - a fine and faithful version of “Prove It,” which hadn’t even been released yet. A healthy mix of covers (VU, Neil Young, Dylan) alongside some great originals (a lovely “Sylvia Plath” and a ferocious “Dear Richard”). The recording quality leaves a little to be desired (the norm for recordings of Laughner it seems), but it’s a fantastic listen all the same. Tom Herman, Laughner’s Ubu cohort, is on on guitar here, not sure who the other players are.
The first half is solo acoustic and the second half is with a full band, The Wolves.
If you already know that stuff, here’s a very cool rarity - a tape of Peter playing live in 1976. If you’re not familiar with the dude (who co-founded Rocket From The Tombs and Pere Ubu), you should definitely take a listen to Take The Guitar Player For A Ride, the out-of-print mid-1990s comp that gathers together some choice cuts. More Invisible Hits! You can go check out my survey of some excellent unreleased Peter Laughner material over on Pitchfork today.