all the news that print will fit.
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| notes from underground - societal whispers all the news that print will fit. |
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Tuesday, September 30, 2003 np: hayden - live at convocation hall there is something ultimately unfulfilling about tonight. despite hanging up posters, getting to put nails in the wall and drinking a beer on a school night (gasp!). i keep wanting to return to the book i'm currently reading: you shall know our velocity! by dave eggers. the last time i read a dave eggers book, two airplanes crashed into buildings in new york city. did i learn my lesson? not really. cos a heartbreaking work of staggering genius was a breathtaking book. and so is this one. it bothers me how much i identify with the statements and observations being made. in the time since we last spoke, i saw lucinda williams and the jayhawks play a jawdropping show at the newly christened disco rodeo (formerly the ritz, and why they changed it to this monstrosity i know not). since this was my fourth time seeing the jayhawks, i wasn't necessarily expecting anything that would floor me. but why do i ever doubt those artists that consistantly make records that thrill me? a summary of the songs they blessed us with: "stumbling through the dark," "angelyne," "waiting for the sun," "take me with you (when you go)," "sister cry," "blue," "i'd run away," "two hearts" (these last two especially made my sink my nails into the arm of my concert compatriot; both are very much loved by me, but i especially didn't expect them to play "two hearts"), "trouble" (another nail sinker; one of my very, very favourite songs from my secret-favourite album by them, sound of lies), "i'm gonna make you love me," "a break in the clouds," "tailspin," "all the right reasons," "save it for a rainy day," "eyes of sarah jane" and "tampa to tulsa." they also ran through a cover of buffalo springfield's "expecting to fly." probably most important about this was that i got to meet gary louris (the jayhawks lead singer/main songwriter). i spoke with him a bit about having seen them at the beyond nashville festival back in london. apparently they had just recently played a show at sheperd's bush and i commented on how i'd seen gary numan play there while i was in london. gary louris smiled and said that he liked numan's stuff. how's that for a great connection? if you have the rare incident of running into another person who appreciates gary numan, you've really hit on something. about half an hour later the incomparable lucinda williams took the stage and proceeded to lay to waste what was left of anyone in the crowd after the jayhawks was finished. her set: "drunken angel," "changed the locks," "side of the road," "something about what happens when we talk" (these three killed me. especially "side of the road" which she played with only her guitarist, doug pettibone, accompanying her on electric guitar), "right in time," "2 kool 2 be 4-gotten," "lake charles," "still i long for your kiss," "joy," "i envy the wind," "essence," "get right with god," "fruits of my labor," "righteously," "ventura," "real live bleeding fingers and broken guitar strings," "those three days" (my absolute favourite song from her newest album, world without tears and possibly my favourite of all time), "atonement" and "people talkin'." i met two members of her band's current incarnation outside before the show. they were standing in the parking lot and i spoke with them about how much i'd enjoyed their set at south by southwest. very nice fellas. also, as a way of sharing (i.e. gloating), i hit the jackpot at one of my favourite used cd stores in charlotte this past weekend. i ran across a good handful of albums that i had every intention to pay full price for sometime soon. the haul included: the church - priest = aura (a devastatingly good record), the mekons - the mekons rock 'n' roll, the stone roses - self-titled, dead boys - young, loud and snotty, wire - a bell is a cup until it is struck, primal scream - vanishing point, his name is alive - home is in your head and the jim yoshii pile-up - homemade drugs. the church, mekons, stone roses, wire and primal scream albums were all things i'd intended to buy. the dead boys i'd purchased in london but lost in the flight back over. his name is alive is a band i've had an ever growing appreciation for but own none of their albums except for a dubbed copy of their rather lovely stars on e.s.p.. the jim yoshii pile-up is a band i had the pleasure of reviewing last year for the station. the album initially didn't strike me as being very unique but in re-listening to tapes of my show where i played songs by them, they really aren't that shabby. so for used, i'll buy. i've decided that were i able to do the impossible and choose a time in which to be a teenager/college student (cos that whole question about 'when would you want to live?' assumes that you are at the height of your dilation powers as you are in that age) i would choose the early 80s - early 90s. that decade was ripe for so much music to which i spend most of my music time listening. especially the replacements. and the church. and the stone roses. and the afghan whigs. and so on. am i weird for wanting to have been older in a time that i defintiely lived through? i don't think so. i was most certainly alive for that period of time, but since i didn't come into my musical awakening until 1993/94, i missed out on being able to soak in all this music that i am just now absorbing. in fact, next year, on 24th May 2004, i will more or less be celebrating the end of my first decade in music. why that date? that is the date that toad the wet sprocket's dulcinea was released. since it was the first album i ever purchased that went on to have any lasting affect on me, i count that as the beginning of my time. i picked up a guitar because of that album. i started creative writing because of it as well. and it is still very important to me. and i can look back on all that i've amassed in ten years. and then turn around and look forward to ten more. and ten more. and ten more. and more, and more, and more. god bless this life. posted by J. Neas | 9/30/2003 12:45:00 AM
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