SY's O'Rourke Moving On

LA City Beat has an article on how Sonic Youth spent part of their time in L.A. during Arthurfest trying to recover equipment stolen from them in 1999 and also states that Jim O'Rourke won't be on the next record and will be moving on from the group. I know this sounds REAL ignorant and I like Jim O'Rourke but I never really got his contribution to the group and it would seem (to ignorant ol' me) that much of their music with him would have sounded the same without him. I think he'll do much better as a solo and freelancer like Mayo Thompson...

So this kid walks right up to Lee Ranaldo, right here in Hollywood, and he says something like: “Remember me? We’re the guys that have some of your guitars.” Ranaldo remembers. He’s been trying to work something out with the kid for some time, but the kid’s skittish, not asking for money, but maybe worried about ending up in trouble. And there are others like him. Not long ago, Ranaldo found another of his beloved and scattered guitars on eBay and managed to reclaim it … for quadruple the original price.

A rendezvous is planned. Drummer Steve Shelley will meet with the kid and a friend the next morning with $500 cash. Ranaldo is not angry at all. He just wants his gear. “These kids had nothing to do with stealing it,” he says. “But they were, in their own sort of fucked-up way, trying their best to help us, even though it took them forever to finally do so.”