THE SAME WHEREVER YOU GO

So I can’t say the Pogues saved my life. But they did help me live. And for that I owe them a tremendous debt of gratitude.

They’re coming around again in March, and brain coral and I bought our tickets yesterday.

I can see doing this every two years or so for as long as it holds up…

Happy Xmas and a Merry New Year, all. I’ll be back in early January

A FREEBORN MAN

Once upon a time, I had an argument with my mother.

Something to do with wasting potential and the lack of a rudder.

I remained calm throughout, as she pushed me for answers: What was I going to do? Where was I going?

“Somewhere. You'll see.”

“What, when you're dead?”

I flinched. She had to have noticed that I flinched.

God, no. Death had nothing to do with it.

She shut her bedroom door, and I retreated to my room without answering her.

“When I'm alive, mom. When I'm alive”

MISFITS



So this dude? Totally Kurt Cobain's claymation doppelgänger. Right down to the “You can't fire me/I quit” philosophizing.

Too bad Kurt couldn't defang the Bumble...

BLOWFISH

Of course, it is best to defer to Hootie in times like this:

"Sometimes you're crazy and you wonder why
I'm such a baby 'cause the Dolphins make me cry..."

And I did actually cry small tears of joy when the 0-13 Fish caught a break and found their way to a win in OT. Thrust my arms in the air and cried...

THE NECESSITIES AND MORE

And then there's this:

"Honest to goodness, the bars weren't open this morning,
They must have been voting for a new president of something.
Do you have a quarter?" I said "yes" because I did.
Honest to goodness the tears have been falling all over the country's face.
It was better before before they voted for what's his name,
This was supposed to be the new world...

"I said 'yes' because I did" seems like a throwaway line, until you let down your defenses a bit. Then suddenly it's a punch in the gut, and you're embarassed by how easy it is to lose your elemental humanity.

And really, fuck all the what's his names...

THE FACTS WE HATE

And no, for once and for all, X were not hardcore. They were beatniks—beatniks who met in poetry workshops, fell in love sloppily, and wanted to play fast with a big old grin on their face.

They also said this:

"I'm guilty of murder of innocent men,
Innocent women, innocent children,
Thousands of them!
My planes, my guns, my money, my soldiers,
My blood on my hands,
It's all my fault!
I must not think bad thoughts."

Like I said, beatniks.

But if that doesn't resonate with you at all here in America v.2007, you're just about three-quarters fucked...

SASON ACCENT

Another thing I like about Jens Lekman is that he pronounces the word "father" like it's something you should be feeding to a cow...

THE SWEET SWEDE SWAYED SWEETLY

One thing I like about Jens Lekman is that he writes songs with his name in them, so that phonetically inclined yakkos like me have a clue how to pronounce it.

It's still not too late for you, Sufjan!

UNLEADED

A couple of weeks ago I stopped to get gas on the way to work. It was about 7:45 AM when I pulled up to the pumps. My windows were down halfway, and I was playing the untitled instrumental from In the Aeroplane Over the Sea. Pretty loudly, if you must know.

While I was filling my tank, a woman pulled up to the other side of the island. She was probably in her early 60s, and as she peered around to my side, I was sure that she was about to complain about the volume of the music.

"What is that?" she asked, with no rancor and obvious curiosity. "Is it Irish?"

I was so prepared to apologize that it took me a few seconds to formulate a different response.

"There's some Celtic in there I guess. But they also have roots in Louisiana."

"Louisiana. Huh." She paused to listen some more. "Very interesting."

I thought about that woman all day...

GREAT SCOTTSO!

It's good to know that the classic-rock folks have a sense of humor.

I heard a promo on satrad the other day that went something like this:

"Madonna is nominated for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame this year, and Bad Company still sit on the sidelines waiting? The Beastie Boys are considered for induction, and Jethro Tull still stand outside the door?"

The tone was incredulous, and if you didn't know any better, you might have thought for a second that it was serious. Hee.

Goddam, I love it when the classic rockers get wacky...

WHO'S THE LEADER OF THE PUNKS...

I swear I read the other day that Johnny Rotten is now married to Ari Up's mom.

In 1990s Mouseketeer terms, this would be like Justin Timberlake marrying Keri Russell's mom.

Yo.

OF MONTREAL

Taeko had never heard Arcade Fire until yesterday.

She doesn’t usually take note of the music I’m playing in the car, but as we drove to Costco everyone was strangely quiet. So quiet that I kidded myself that they were all listening intently.

“Then we think of our parents/Whatever happened to them?”

I imagined Lana and Sebastian sitting there in the second row of the minivan getting a chill up their little spines.

Taeko, though, was the first one to speak.

“What kind of music is this?”

I didn’t know how to answer that, and I told her so.

“I mean, what genre?”

Again. Um, OK: grandiose, gently avant rock that hitches up right close to the mainstream?

“Sounds like David Bowie,” she said.

Right, David Bowie. That’s basically what I meant.

She didn’t come out and say so, but I think she liked it…