Can somebody explain to me
 

Why Mark seems so happy in the old videos of pavement? yet I've seen him perform in SY twice and he doesn't have that same skip. he is very technical in SY and emits energy but is expressionless and often plays into his amp?

I saw SY a number of times last year and Mark seemed downright exuberant
for most of the shows. Far more expressive than Jim ever was on most
nights.

I kinda miss Jim, though. I'll never forget DC '04 when everyone else in
the band was beaming and going apeshit on stage and there's Jim
plucking away, glaring at the floor like someone had just pissed on his
Converse All-Stars.

caus - what you say describes exactly the difference betwenn pavement and sonic youth. Pavement is joyfull and funny, sonic youth is ... you know ... like stick your head into the amp. Thanks to mark, they got some of Pavements happiness now, but mark had to pay the price and become al little sy-like.

The one show I saw Mark he was happy, energetic in certain spots but mostly in the background. I've never thought of Thurston as a stick your head in the amp type of player nor the rest of the band. To me they let their music do the talking not their antics.

Mark has always appeared extremely jovial in Pavement videos, except for maybe Preston School Of Industry video. And that band has always seemed more lighthearted and cartoony compared to Sonic Youth's violent for lack a better word, esotericism. From what I can tell from videos, and that's all I have, Mark still seems to be enjoying himself, albeit slightly out of his element. I'm sure there was a bit of a adjustment period there when he first joined. He's still great though, Ibold rules.

sy + jim on blues-guitar and ibold on bass. the super group. and maybe mark e smith could announce the show.

Which band is he playing with at Oshega?

hahaha, so he wasnt just high at the two shows Ive seen with him in germany

Yeah, I'd say he was pretty darn happy when I saw him.

Didn't he used to be on Home Improvement?