Back in February, I attended the New York cast and crew reunion for The Adventures of Pete and Pete, Nickeledeon’s great kids’ show in name only that aired from 1993-1996. It was enlightening, funny, and a reminder that I didn’t completely waste my childhood years. But it was missing something: Polaris, the Pete and Pete house band that memorably performed the show’s unintelligible theme song, “Hey Sandy.” That’s because Polaris, made up of three members from jangle pop mainstays Miracle Legion, including the great Mark Mulcahy, never really existed. Sure, they played songs for Pete and Pete, including “Waiting for October” and “Everywhere,” but they were meant to be thought of as fictional, and they never performed live. Until now.
The group came together for another Pete and Pete reunion, this time as part of FYF Fest in Los Angeles. According to Consequence of Sound:
Though the tears long passed, that buzzy nostalgic feeling lingered on as Mulcahy trekked through each of his classic themes, all beneath an endless, muted clip show. Mulcahy delivered on early cuts “She Is Staggering” and “Recently”, but really came alive during a raucous rendition of “Coronado II”. “It’s a great first gig, that’s for sure,” he said with a sly smile. Before the set’s end, Mulcahy took a break and Syd Straw, instead, came out to perform “Water, Please”, introducing it as “a friendly little song about a garden I murdered long ago.” Despite the whole concert being a rare and once in a lifetime opportunity, it also served as a swift reminder at just how bountiful this show was with talent. This was a series that snagged the musical likes of Michael Stipe, Iggy Pop, Debbie Harry, Juliana Hatfield, Gordon Cano, and many more, not to mention the other endless supply of celebrity cameos. They even regularly featured tracks from The Magnetic Fields. Viscardi discussed this stroke of luck, insisting, “We put in the songs we liked and I’d like to think how ours influenced some of your musical tastes.” (Via)
(Via)
