MR. SPARKLE

My good friend brain coral was talking the other day about Mark Linkous’ pre-Sparklehorse days, and he mentioned something that I damn sure should’ve known, but damn sure never did: Linkous was in the Dancing Hoods.

Now, the Dancing Hoods were a mid 80s Long Island band that received some local airplay on WLIR. What I remember most about them is that they sucked.

But wait, maybe they didn’t suck. Maybe my reverse provincialism colored my opinion to such a degree that I was blind to their inchoate brilliance.

Maybe their music was made of flowing ribbons of color, ribbons worn supple in a warm, rippling milkbath of sound.

Perhaps their music was informed by the melancholy of the ages, sung sweetly with a tongue forged of ice and fire.

Or maybe it was a future sound. The sound of gleaming crystal spires and the open synapses of biomechanical connectivity.

Nah, I think I’ll just stick with my original story: They sucked...