My Favorite Bob Dylan Album And Why

Desire is my favorite Bob Dylan album. Why? The stories. The high drama. The wildly inaccurate tales of actual people like Rubin "Hurricane" Carter and Joey Gallo. The legend of Dylan's time with a gypsy tribe in Spain. The myth of Isis. Bob and Sara on the beach with their kids. The Greek and the natural disaster on Black Diamond Bay. All these stories and the characters are beautiful and full like a Megan Bell painting and yet they leave plenty of space so they go on and on in your imagination after the music fades.

Why? The players. Rockin' Rob Stoner and his dancing bass. Emmylou Harris, who felt like she was not keeping up and broke down in tears and must not have noticed the powerful spell she was casting over the whole thing, especially Joey. Scarlet Rivera, whose violin and Bob's harmonica should be a train wreck on paper but merge and wail like a mystical spirit on tape.

Why? Because like so many other Bob albums, the recording method shouldn't have worked but it does. Too many players on too few tracks resulting in an erratic mix, confusion, discord, legal issues over the lyrics about actual people, and as always no rehearsal, chord sheets, or lyric sheets for the players. Just follow Bob. Watch his hands. Listen hard. It shouldn't work, but the performances are magnificent, spontaneous expressions of joy and sorrow.

Why? The collaboration. As a devoted fan who wants Bob to be well and happy, who believes that after all he's given us that he deserves to be well and happy, I like that he wrote a bunch of these songs with someone. Jacques Levy, a playwright, contributes to the cinematic quality of the best songs on the album. I imagine them having fun, late nights writing and creating together and I'm glad for Bob.

Why is Desire my favorite Bob Dylan album? Because all those things occurred to me when I was asked the question. I could just have easily said Time Out Of Mind and how it seemed eerily to speak directly to me the first time I heard it in September of 1997. I could have said Highway 61 Revisited and the way I involuntarily barked laughter, disturbing the peace and quiet of the St. Olaf music library, the first time I heard Jesus say, "The sun's not yellow, it's chicken!" I could have said Blood On The Tracks, of course. And who knows what will happen this afternoon, when I listen to Tempest for the first time? I could go on, honestly and sincerely, for at least this length about any and all of them. So yes, Desire is my favorite Bob Dylan album. But ask me again in five minutes.

Ballad Of A Thin Man

Ah, God this sucks. We shouldn't even be playing this game. How did I screw up that throw? Should have been a double play. Dammit! I just threw away the whole thing. Career over. This is horseshit. These guys should be sitting on a couch somewhere watching us play a division winner, not running the bases after I throw the ball into rightfield. All right. Shake it off, just like a thousand times before. Back in the game...

Yes! We're going to get it back! This'll even it up! McCann, Bourn, Prado, Heyward, me. Everybody hits. Here we go! Another shot at the...what? Oh, fuck me. Infield fly rule? Are you kidding me? We shouldn't even BE here!

Hey, what was that? Did something just fly onto the...oh, that's great, fans. Stay classy, Atlanta. You people. Ugh. I should get on a microphone and tell these drunk assholes where they can shove their beer cans. Oh, this is disgusting. Well, we can't all go out like Elway. Fuck.

Judiciary Election Thrills!

Against my better judgment I spent time researching the candidates in today's primary election. I blame my friend Justin Bell, esquire, for telling me that if people really understood politics they'd be as excited about the judicial branch elections as they are about the executive (President/Governor) and legislative (Senate/House) branch elections.

So I read the websites for all of today's candidates. By the end of it I was indeed wound up about the judicial elections, as well as the primaries. Why?

Democratic primaries:

For U.S. Senator I support Amy Klobuchar. As I understand it she will be the Democratic nominee. This is not why I decided to go.

For U.S. Representative District 5 I support Keith Ellison. He did a direct mail piece and some facebook ads that ultimately made me check out the candidates and wonder why he was bothering with campaigning in the primary. Well!

Ellison, who is a Muslim, is facing a Tea Party DINO (Democrat In Name Only) who is accusing him of all kinds of things. As soon as I saw "Sharia Law" on the front page of the guy's website I decided I'd continue researching and maybe even vote. I like to vote against any candidate who uses hate and fear. And I like what I see of Ellison. His interview with Stephen Colbert and the fact that he embedded it in his website doesn't hurt either.

For State Senator District 46 I support Ron Latz. He is running unopposed in the primary.

Judiciary elections:

For Chief Justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court I decided to support Jill Clark. The incumbent has scads of supporters, some of whom I like (Walter F. Mondale, etc.) but she was appointed by Pawlenty. Jill Clark has a very good website where she clearly outlines her candidacy.

In these judiciary elections the winner will not be decided until November. However, the candidate field will be whittled to two. As I understand it the incumbent usually wins the primary, gaining one of those two spots. This basically means I'm voting for either Jill Clark or Dan Griffith. Griffith had a lot of smart, meaningful things to say about judges and how they are chosen but I just heard and saw too many buzzwords suggesting he resents the poor and is basically a Republican.

For Associate Justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court I decided to support Alan Nelson. A clear, well written website splash page (and more importantly its content) made this an easy choice for me. That's actually where I learned the electoral procedural information in the previous paragraph.

For Judge, 4th District Court 22 I narrowed it down to either Deborah Russell or Elizabeth V. Cutter. I asked J. Bell if he had any information and he did not. Deborah Russell would be a fine candidate and I will vote for her if she makes it to November. However, she used two spaces after a period on her website. Thus today I voted for Cutter.

Cutter had a lot of evidence to back up this bold statement on her about page: "Liz is dedicated to issues of fairness, justice, and integrity across a wide spectrum." Plus she is a musician.

So that's what I did today for the first time ever. I actually researched and cared about judicial elections. Then I ran across the street and voted my conscience and my beliefs. When I got home I told bride who I had voted for and encouraged her to do the same since we have similar visions for America and Minnesota.

For someone who once wrote in the Twins lineup on the judicial part of the ballot, today was progress.

Update: 8:44 p.m. The Dems we voted for and Elizabeth Cutter are winning in landslides. Nelson and Clark are losing pretty decisively and will not make it to November. It doesn't look like my vote, even combined with bride's, if she even voted my line, is going to make any difference. Was it all worth it?

Check your own races here if you are so inclined.

Beatles Fan? There's Something You Should Know

There is an album available now called Silver Beatles At Home 1960. It strongly suggests (with my scientific psychology major I have insurmountable internal prohibitions against using the word "proves") that before The Beatles were The Beatles The Beatles were The Velvet Underground.

The tape is of four teenage kids (Paul, John, George, and Stu Sutcliffe) goofing around with a tape recorder. The sound quality is terrible. The music is fascinating. It's almost all based on simple blues changes and a lot of it is instrumental. It's impossible to imagine these Beatles creating a song like If I Fell, to say nothing of Eleanor Rigby or Martha My Dear. Ironically, it's easy to imagine them going immediately to Tomorrow Never Knows, a monolithic slab of a song if there ever was one.

They are much closer to The Velvet Underground song What Goes On than The Beatles song What Goes On.

If Andy Warhol had heard this band in 1960 instead of Brian Epstein in 1962 they seriously would have become The Velvet Underground. Wild. Obviously two years of going to Germany and the Cavern Club and having to learn actual songs and having to entertain people for hours at a time made The Beatles what they became.

I highly recommend listening to a few tracks at amazon.com.

My fellow residents of Hennepin County can get it free at a rate of three songs per week using Freegal. (That link may only work if you log in first.)

Hurry, because this album will disappear as soon as The Beatles legal team gets their way, just like The Complete Decca Sessions did last year. It is part of that "Grey Market" of semi-legal bootlegs that bands don't actually want released but that were recorded before they had their legal team in place.

Seven Easy Questions

In the Saturday Star Trib there was an article about an event called The Great American Think-Off that started in New York Mills, Minnesota. To illustrate the point that they were wrestling with "big questions" the Strib created a colorful graphic with the questions below. In the interest of saving everyone some time I have answered these questions. It took me about two minutes. In the interest of clarity, I have added appropriate capitalization and corrected syntax where the Strib had tortured it.

Q: Has anyone ever had a better run of four albums than Joni Mitchell's Ladies of the Canyon, Blue, For the Roses, and Court and Spark?

A: No.

Okay, that one I just put in myself because I've been listening to those. I challenge anyone to disagree. Please put your candidate for superior four album run in the comment section. Now to the Strib:

Q: Does God exist?

A: Yes.

Q: Does life have meaning?

A: Yes.

Q: Is the nature of humankind good or evil?

A: Evil.

Q: Is the pen mightier than the sword?

A: No.

Q: Should assisted suicide be legal?

A: Yes.

Q: Head or heart: which should you trust more?

A: Head.

And done. Whew! You're welcome.

The Two Bruce Springsteens

In the early '70s there was this skinny guy who wrote these epic story songs about really fantastic characters. You never knew where the songs would go or which of his huge, wild band was going to play the next solo. They blasted out of your stereo speakers and played long, unpredictable jams in concert.

From 1979 until now there's been this guy who writes these wordy folk songs about people who seem all too real. They're mostly people struggling in hard economic times or broken relationships or both. Once in a while they are happy. They're just like you and me. There's a highly predictable verse, chorus, verse, chorus, solo or bridge, verse, chorus structure.

Since summer 2011 I have had a CD player in my car. What I've been doing is putting one CD in and leaving it for weeks, really listening to the music. It's been great and I highly recommend it. Bob Dylan's John Wesley Harding, They Might Be Giants' John Henry (just a coincidence - didn't see that 'til just now), R.E.M.'s Reveal, and the Minnesota Orchestra's Beethoven Symphonies 1-8 (not ready for 9 yet) have been the heretofore neglected pieces of music I've really enjoyed getting to know in more depth. Recently I've been listening to Bruce Springsteen's Lucky Town.

Turns out there are also two of me. Here's how one part of me hears Lucky Town.

- Ugh. Why is every single melody 3-3-3-3-2-1-2-1-1-1-1-(down to)-6-5-5? (These are scale degrees. If you don't know what I'm talking about listen to my very sincere tribute to Bruce Springsteen.)
-These chord changes are the same in every song just in a different key.
-The drummer must have gotten really sick of playing that same medium rock beat on 7 out of the 10 tracks. I wonder how he got up the energy and enthusiasm. Maybe the huge amount of dollars per thump?
-The quiet songs are inaudible and if I turn up for them the next loud song blasts me away. Ah, early CD mastering. Still preferable to current CD mastering though.
-He might should have kept the E Street Band on hand for this one.
-Why is he trying so hard to become Bruce Cockburn? He was BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN!?!?!?!
-Boring, boring, boring. I can't take another repetition of this whole album.

Here's how another part of me hears Lucky Town.

(Weeping) "Yes, Bruce, I too treasure the beauty, mystery, terror, and joy that comes with being an adult and being in a loving marriage and raising a family! Aaaaaaaahhhhhhh-ha-ha-ha!" (Further laughing and crying)

I don't know how that works, but there it is.

---------------------------------------------

Check it out yourself for a penny plus shipping at amazon. It's super cheap used because it was one of those "artist does something slightly different after a huge hit album so the public buys it right away then sells it when it doesn't sustain popularity because the public doesn't really care about music as music only about music as a cultural signifier for part of their fickle, shallow, hollow, insubstantial identity" albums. (See also: R.E.M.'s Monster, which, if they were really super environmentally friendly, they would just take out of print since there are four or five copies in every single used record store and they could save the petroleum used to manufacture new copies.)

In Which I Find More Really Great New Music

You know me, always looking for good music I am not aware of. So today I'm at art class and the teacher is playing something that I think is really great.

After class I'm like, "What was that CD you were playing?"
She looked at me for a second and said, "Adele? 21?"
I was like, "Ohhh, yeah. Wow that was really good! I haven't heard that before."
"Yeah, I try to find good music that will help the students be sort of mellow and do their art."
"Yeah, that was perfect for that."
We talked a little bit more. I felt like sort of a dope. I hope she didn't think I was making some hipster joke or something. I knew ABOUT that album, but I'd never heard that album. So, hey, in case I wasn't the last person on Earth to hear it and you actually are:

There's this really good album you should check out called "21" by this singer from England named Adele.

What's weird about it is that during the class I discreetly texted myself some of the lyrics in order to look them up later on the internet (which I don't have or want on my phone because it's a PHONE) but then I thought, "No. That's so isolationist/information age/sitting at home on the computer instead of getting to know the people in your community!" So yes, I made contact with another human being and, yes, I'm sure she belived I had just crawled out from under a rock.

I Found Some Genuine Good New Music

You know how I'm always like, "What good new music is there?" I mean, I love listening to new stuff from my long time favorite artists and the nth iteration of something with which I'm already familiar. People are like, "Yo La Tengo" or they're like "Arcade Fire" and I'm like, yeah, okay, I can see why people like that. But I'm not like BUWHAAAAH!

But now I am. Somehow I can't remember I came across this:

album: Alopecia
artist: Why?

Hennepin County Library

Amazon.com

I do not know how to link to iTunes.

That is some really, really creative new music that is not really quite like anything I've ever heard before. I really connected with that. And it's from here!

Can You Help?

This morning I thought of a rhyme. Then I thought of a way to make those things that rhyme into a rap song that brags about my identity using irrelevant similes. But I didn't get very far. Please help me complete my rap song.

I'm suckin' on the BLOOD of the INNocents like DRACULA
I'm jumpin' through TIME and solvin' CRIME just like Scott BAKULA

See where it was going?

The Moody Misanthrope

On Mondays it's kindness to all that I meet
On Tuesdays I'm still pretty fine
By Wednesday I'm starting to go a bit mad
in this dippity bapping of mine

By Thursday I might snap a bit at a chap
and on Friday, well, best not to call
The high expectations of weekends, of course
disappoint me and fill me with gall

By Saturday everything seems like a loss
My demeanor turns onward to rotten
On Sunday I drink 'til I can't think at all
So by Monday next all is forgotten

The Onion: News Before It Happens, Part 4

Longtime fans of memphisevans.com know I am a huge fan of The Onion satirical newspaper. They have, once again, published a story BEFORE it actually happened. Here they are:

The Onion, November 30, 2011:
54 Iraquis Die In Not Our Problem Anymore

Yahoo! News, December 22, 2011
Wave of bombings across Iraqi capital kills 60

By the way, neither I nor The Onion are making light of this tragic event. My readers can tell that, right? You get satire, right? The real point being that tragic things are still going on and it is sad, even if we ignore it. I ask because my teacher friend Kaptain Karl has realized that some 90% of high school students do not understand or even recognize satire. It makes me wonder if that statistic is any different in the adult population.

To see previous examples of the remarkable predictive power of The Onion, you can search for other blog entries here with "the onion" tag if you know how to do that. Sometimes I can find that, sometimes I can't. I don't know how to capitalize "the onion" tag.

Now THAT was a GUH show!

Well that was awesome. I really enjoyed that. In light of the less-than-totally-successful Great Uncle Helmer portion of the joint show last Tuesday, I took a half hour or so today and dedicated myself to the success of this all-GUH, two hour night at J&S Bean Factory. I made a set list and printed out lyric sheets for the two songs I didn't have memorized. I organized the instruments and gear I would need. Seems simple, doesn't it? But sometimes I forget or neglect these easy yet important steps.

Unlike Tuesday, the staff cleared the space for us and made us feel welcome. We had enough people there that the place (which is cozy) seemed about half full, then a few more people showed up. So it was totally worth us setting up and playing. (U.T.) the people who were there were enjoying the music, not just the free WiFi. (U.T.) we had plenty of time to plan and execute a set list that ebbed and flowed with the true lifeblood of GUH, now a twenty year collaboration.

We started with Chimney and (U.T.) didn't somehow forget the words of our most oft-played song. We got a good sound going (U.T.) that was appropriate for the room, but not killing anyone. I felt comfortable singing into my microphone. I gave myself a little bit of echo just so it wasn't the dry sound of a banquet toast and I could hear myself and Karl clearly. We started by playing eight straight songs we know very well, right off the set list. It sounds so basic when I put it like that. Of course! Why wouldn't that be a good show? Duh!

We brought up our special guests Scuffy and Scrappy Pucker on banjo and flute and they were terrific. I played bass and Karl played guitar. Two-Dollar Bill Turner was missed at the show but we played a 10-12 minute version of his Total Peace that almost made up for his absence. Here's the crazy thing: Even at 10-12 minutes, it was NEVER BORING. Sometimes I look at a Grateful Dead live CD, I get disheartened just by looking at the track times, and I take it back to the library unheard. (Europe '72, I'm talking to you.) This was not that.

At the beginning of the song Karl said he didn't know it on the guitar. I told him play C and G, but up two frets but with the open strings still ringing out. Done. I sang the two verses in the wrong order but it wasn't an issue. Scuffy started the soloing and we all sat back and answered him when it was appropriate. I stomped on the floor and reduced my bass part by several notes to leave lots of space.

Later in Scuffy's solo I played a long, ascending e dorian scale on whole notes, building tension much like the choir towards the end of the Stones' You Can't Always Get What You Want, only with answer and commentary from my mates. I sang along with my bass part off mike. I got to the highest note on my bass (D) then bent up to reach the E that is the song's key center. It all sounds rather dry and intellectual in these music theory terms but it was really quite thrilling and I was on the verge of shouting. I looked at Karl to end the soloing on a high note and start the vocal, but he was looking at Scuffy. That actually happened several times, to the benefit of all concerned.

Scrappy took a solo spotlight for a while and it was great to hear some extended ideas from her as it rose and fell and rose. Then Karl played probably THE finest guitar solo of his life to date.

Once late at night many years ago we were sitting around mocking and laughing at a guitar solo Karl had played during a show and when the laughter subsided he quietly said, "Justin...when I was playing that solo...I felt...like I had wings." It was the perfect thing to say and we just about got kicked out of the Faribault 24 hour Perkins for laughing. Well tonight Karl made good on that boast and I think we ALL felt like we had wings.

We played a Good For A While that I wish I had on tape because I accidentally hit the perfect wording for the last line before the title in verse three but now I can't quite think of it. (And I think we'll be? And I wanna be? bet we'll be? And I think we could be? Dammit. I don't think I'd even recognize it now if I did remember.)

The Haiku joke was much more successful than it's been in previous years with people actually paying attention, Karl really building it up, and me telegraphing it a little more.

We nailed the complex old favorite Velvets and Karl played a mind-bendingly perfect harmonica solo on "The Wicklund Rose". His New Song Showcase number "She Called Him A Dark Poet" had people laughing at every single line. I then asked him to play Don't Remember Me, one of my top five favoritest Kaptain Karl Kompositions. I stood back up and we rocked Shadowy Figure so hard my foot literally stuck to the floor. My New Song Showcase "(Don't Worry About) The Disco" was just as good a performance as it was on my birthday but this time everyone in the room was paying attention. Ring-A-Ling-Ding-Ding-Ding and Behind The Curtain (by kind request) enthusiastically ended the show almost on time.

Thanks to everyone who came, listened, played along (S.P & S.P), donated toys, and took CDs. Thanks to the woman who videoed some of the show (wish I knew where that was going up) and told us we were good. Thanks to the staff at J&S Bean Factory. Thanks for J. Bell for tirelessly organizing the Toys For Tots drive every year. Most of all thanks to Karl for setting up this particular show and playing it like a champion.

Complete Set List

Well, That Was Technically A Show

So usually when I really enjoy a show I write a blog post about it. But what about when a show is mediocre? I never write about it. Until now.

I'm pleased that Grand Avenue Dunn Bros. has live music. So very many places I used to play are shut down or don't have music. (R.I.P. Professor Java's in Hastings and Java Hut in River Falls - two of my old favorites.) I'm not as thrilled that they have WiFi, which lends itself to scenes like this:



Having seen this photo (taken last week) I was not excited about the potential audience for this show. Laptop slaves. Been there. Am there right at this moment kinda, but at home. Karl and I got to the place and there was a couple in some deep discussion at a table on the stage. We set our guitars down near them and they didn't move. Eh. Fine. We had like an hour before starting. I already felt hostile toward any potential stranger audience and they could all just fuck off. Not a great frame of mind.

Eventually the couple left and we got set up but no matter how much I goofed with the equalisation knobs and sliders everything sounded boxed in and mid-rangey. We started quietly with "Pale Blue Eyes" and I felt like there were so many other songs I would enjoy playing but I couldn't think of them. Longtime GUH fans will be familiar with those shows where we are not particularly sincere and laugh at ourselves a lot while strangers look on in pity, confusion, or disgust and longtime GUH fans are mildly entertained or perhaps merely resigned. This was sort of like one of those.

Karl made a remark about a PBS telethon and that caused me to depart our set list and begin to play "The Boxer" for which I forgot the words. I have played that song dozens of times and the words always come to me and I feel alive in the song. Not this time. No one seemed to get the joke of "PBS always plays Simon & Garfunkel's Concert in Central Park at pledge time" either.

This is where not doing any preparation for the show also hurt us. With a rehearsal or two we could have done new songs I'm really excited about like "I Am The Devil" or "geez I can't even think of one when I'm sitting here three hours later" I guess I would have liked to play "Good For A While" especially since Scrappy Pucker of the Mississippi Seven was there, although in her humility she had her flute hidden in a large bag so we didn't see it and we thus didn't even think to ask her to come on up.

Doc's Kids played and they were good. The contrast between BPZ, calling on people, even strangers, and getting everyone smiling and singing along, and me, standing perfectly still and looking at a high spot on the back wall, is tremendous. I did have fun playing along with DK on casaba and claves. Karl's trombone solo on "Peru" was epic and rhythmic, a fun contrast to his short, tasteful, melodic solo at the Acadia last week. Sitting back down, the sound was boxy and mid-rangey out in the room, though, a far less welcome contrast to the Acadia show, where the sound was great.

(Oh, I would also have liked to play "The Wicklund Rose". That's the one I was trying to think of earlier. But I didn't rehearse it. Or anything. In fact, except for a brief GUH set at the Acadia, I hadn't even played a steel string acoustic guitar in months. All this shit is my fault, btw. In fact most of it is probably just in my mind.)

For GUH's second set Karl was making some jokes as I started Isolation For Christmas and I couldn't stop giggling. I heard some laughter in the audience during that song, which was strange but good. We finished with Powerful Statement and it was over. We were supposed to leave time for Doc's Kids to play another set but I guess we went long. They only played two songs after that. This has been a tough year for the Doc's Kids Toys For Tots Drive for a lot of reasons and I think the performers were kind of wiped out tonight. Still, it was great to see my friends. And there's one show left, for which I think I'll rehearse a bit if I can get time in the next two days. Should be good. Potentially redemptive. You should go! Facebook Event

Oh also I've had a sore throat and something I ate for dinner was not agreeing with me. (Still not.) So if you were there I'm sorry you didn't catch GUH at our best. If you weren't there, well, you picked the right one to skip. Whoo! See you Friday.

2012 Presidential Election Results - Today!

I just realized something, much to my relief. President Obama will be re-elected in 2012! Whew! Not saying it won't be a lot of work for a lot of people - it will. But that work will be rewarded. "How do you figure?" you say.

History. Whether we learn from it or not, we are doomed to repeat it. I am 40 now, old enough to remember 2004. That was the first and last time I actually went door-knocking on behalf of a political candidate, something that went against my deeply held beliefs about the evil that is unsolicited solicitation, but something I found necessary given the greater evil occupying the White House at the time. My new young wife and I were on fire for the Democrats. Can I even imagine such a thing now? Anyway...

We had a sitting president who made about half the population absolutely furious nearly to the point of murder. Certainly to the point of suspending their beliefs about giving the POTUS the benefit of the doubt or, in my case, leaving people alone to enjoy their homes. Nevertheless, the best the opposing party could do was a stunningly boring flip-flopper from the Northeast and a sleazy, cynical, calculated, career politician from the South.

See where I'm going now? I'll spell it out for you. Bush 2004 = Obama 2012. Kerry 2004 = Romney 2012. Edwards 2004 = Gingrich 2012. Game over. I've seen this movie, only this time I am happy about the ending. Whew!

(Unless, of course, the Republicans again manage to take the election out of the hands of the American People and leave it up to their crooked voting machine cronies.)

Really Fun Show

Really fun show tonight (actually last night now) at the Acadia. (It's all for the 2011 Toys For Tots drive and there are a few shows left. Great Uncle Helmer and Doc's Kids at Grand Ave. Dunn Bros. in St. Paul on Tuesday Dec. 13 at 8 p.m. and Great Uncle Helmer only on Dec. 16 Facebook Event. Bring a new toy or $10 and get an exclusive CD featuring several local artists.)

Tonight began with Mischa Suemnig, who I had never seen live before. He was really good and I'm glad I showed up early for his set. It continued with Doc's Kids, who were out of their minds great. They struck the perfect balance between antics and musicality. They also made clear that vulgar language would be acceptable on this night, which I always enjoy.

Next up was Shotgun Johnson & The Mississippi Seven, in yet another configuration we've never done before and likely will never exactly do again. Tonight was (counterclockwise):
J. Bell: bass
Srappy Pucker: flute
Kaptain Karl: guitar and vocals
Memphis Evans: ukelele and vocals
Scuffy Pucker: banjo and squeezebox and vocals
Two-Dollar Bill Turner: keyboards and vocals

Drums and cover tunes are banned at The Acadia and we enjoyed their commitment to quiet, original music. I personally got really into Good For A While and sang it absoluetly perfectly. (I can say that, can't I? It's my song. I think I get to decide.) I usually unintentionally goof some lyrics but I did not. I think I conveyed emotion with my music, which I don't always do.

I prefaced Hey Where My Shed Done Gone with the country authenticity story. I prefaced The Devil Is Knockin' At The Door by saying it was our gospel number. On the latter I didn't play an instrument and my phrasing was all over the place but in a good, conversational way that suits the song. I could see and hear people respond and enjoy the humorous yet passionate song.

I really enjoyed sitting next to Scuffy and sharing an amplifier. (I was using his uke as mine does not have electronics.) On the songs I didn't sing, especially Total Peace and Don't Be Dumb, we really had some musical conversations going. It was very satisfying. Everyone wants more banjo and uke interplay in their music these days, right? That could be all over the radio for all I know or care. (Thankfully I have a CD player in my car now and have been obsessed with Beethoven Symphonies 1 & 6.)

Then Sarah VanValkenburg played a good set of original material she developed with the help of J. Bell who, in addition to doing all the hard work for this T4T thing every year, taught guitar before becoming an attorney. Karl and Justin and I sat right up front and, while we were chatting because we don't get to see each other and catch up as often as we'd like, we were certainly enjoying the catchy tunes.

Karl and I played next as Great Uncle Helmer. After Chimney Karl went in to some spooky weird sounds that were hilarious and inspired me to play Winter Ghost, which people responded to well. I've played that song so many times I don't really feel the words anymore (the song is old enough to vote this year) but I did enjoy playing the guitar parts and having people obviously enjoy it.

As GUH always do with Toys For Tots shows, we did New Song Showcase, since Karl and I basically play only these few shows as GUH nowayears but we both still write quite a lot. I did "(Don't Worry About) The Disco". I felt it so very strongly I was tearing up a little and I had every word memorized and flowing out of me. I fingerpicked it in C, very different from the daffy recording I made last year. I felt as though if someone were to pay attention to my performance without any distractions they would understand something very important about me. It's not necessarily true but that's how it felt.

I do not always feel that way. During some musical performances I feel confused, secondary, misunderstood, disconnected, or intentionally hidden behind a mask. During others I am merely a technician, a vessel, a sideman, a hired hand in the background, or sometimes all of these things at once. But tonight during Good For A While, The Devil Is Knockin' At The Door, The Disco, and even Hey Where Mah Shed Done Gone, people had an opportunity to see me as real and as pure and as good as I get.

We finished with California, No Time To Kill, and Don't You Need Me with all of MS7 and DK onstage. I played bass and something about the bass, amp, and microphone gave me a shock when the band dropped out and I tried to sing the first line of California. Instead of "Went up on the mountain" I cut loose with a very naughty word not heard from me onstage since Urban Rust played a poorly thought out bill with Amish Armada. (***********r)

So it was a great start to the 2011 Toys For Tots drive and I'm hopeful we'll have similar moments at the remaining two shows. Thanks to everyone who came out and gave toys, everyone who played music, and especially J. Bell for setting it all up and unknowingly taking home the half dozen Urban Rust CDs I sneaked into the toybox. Ha ha!

Mississippi Seven setlist:
Ghost Train D tr
C'mon Lizzie G bo
Kansas City, NE C tr
(Let's All Get Drunk In) St. Paul D wa
Good For A While G da
Illusions of Banjeur G tr
Into The West D ba
Hey, Where My Shed Done Gone? A ca
North on the Soo Line C wa
The Devil Is Knockin' (At The Door) G sw
Total Peace e dorian so
The Rainmakers C ca
Don't Be Dumb G tr
Between the Weather and the Scores C ba

tr = train
bo = boogie
ca = cajun
wa = waltz
da = da...dat-da
ba = ballad
sw = swing
so = soul

Library 1971 vs. Library 2011

Let's go back in time forty years or so and stop in at your local public library. What do you see?

Look there in the children's section. Children sit listening to records on big bulky headphones, smiling together and laughing a little too loud because they can't hear themselves. A mother reads to her son, doing the funny voices that she knows he loves.

Smell the musty card catalog. A high school student is researching a paper he's writing on Egypt. He finds what he is looking for and uses a pencil to write the call letter down on a handy sheet of scrap paper. Off to seek the ancient treasure!

There's the newspaper section. An old man sits and has a cigarette while he reads the week's news from all across the country. But wait, what's this?

A smelly drifter has entered the library. Everyone is apalled and after a mercifully brief altercation he is led out of the library and asked politely never to return in such a state.

Fast forward...now it's 2011!

Forty-five smelly drifters sit, eyes glazed over, playing Bejeweled and Farmville. What's that tinny, angry sound? Why it's a violent music video the taxpayers are providing to that disheveled man in the surplus army coat. My, he likes it loud, doesn't he! What would he do without free access to the internet?

Wait, what's this? A child is crying because some of the puzzle pieces are missing from the wooden puzzle of a castle in the clouds. The smelly drifters within earshot glare in the direction of the child and her mother. But wait, here comes the uniformed security guard. The mother is told her child must be quiet or they'll have to leave. Now the child is frightened and the mother is angry and embarassed. They end up leaving. Thank goodness! The drifters all grunt and return quietly to their pornography.

-------------------------

On January 1 Hennepin County Library is reducing the number of items you can have out to 30. (I currently have 40.) They're reducing the number of items you can have requested or on hold to 30. (I currently have 72.) They're reducing the loan period of CDs from 21 to 7 days. (DVDs currently have a 7 day loan length and guess what? I never borrow DVDs because I don't get to the library every week.) This change is sold as a "conservation of resources" decision here.

I won't bore you with further details of how much this new policy seems likely to ruin my library experience. In short, the library has become THE WAY I experience new popular culture and I don't think it will work anymore. And when I think about what they ARE spending their money on I can get really pissed off. Seriously. Have you been in a library branch lately? At ours most of the floor space and presumably the money is dedicated to the smelly drifters at this point. A bunch of unemployed noobs playing addictive video games. Fucking computers. Fucking disgusting.

So Hennepin County Library, I might still love you. We'll see. But if your goal was to drive me away to try Kindle, Amazon, iTunes, etc., give me less reason to visit your branches, and cause me to recosider votes about libraries getting more tax dollars - mission accomplished!

(I am turning 40 remarkably soon, so I'm sure this will be the first of many such rants against change.)

The Ten Greatest Guitar Solos Ever Recorded

1. "Let It Be" (album version), George Harrison
Perfect tone. A melody you can whistle. Versatility: I have learned and used this solo verbatim - in other songs. A transcendent overall form, building slowly to its highest notes, then relaxing back down to make way for McCartney. The perfect blend of repetition and freshness from one phrase to the next. The guitar comes raging back and is a soulful co-lead singer on the outro.

Honestly I could have made this whole list out of George Harrison solos. Hearing this song recently inspired me to write this list.

2. "Sympathy For The Devil", Keith Richards
The guitar solo that channels everything people who think Satan is cool think is cool about Satan. Violent, brusque, screaming insanity. The solo tells the story just as much as the lyrics do. And that last ripped chord before Jagger comes back in? A frustrated Satan vanishing in a burst of hellfire.

3. "Candy's Room", Bruce Sprinsteen
The fastest, most intense song on Darkness on the Edge of Town comes to a literally screeching halt then gradually speeds up and loses its mind to become even more intense than before. It seems he's tried to become this sort of this folky, songwritery guy now but here Bruce just freaking wails.

4. "The Wind Cries Mary", Jimi Hendrix
More eloquent than any words could be, this solo makes an initial powerful statement and then sings about the variations the statement suggests. Then it goes veering off into places that appear nowhere else in the song. Finally, a return and resolution of the early statements. This solo is like a satisfying mathematical proof if a mathematical proof was translated into a heroic fanfare.

5. "Sunshine Of Your Love", Eric Clapton
I once created a piece of art with construction paper, two corks, and a wire that tried to depict how this electric solo blazed and flew above a sea of color. This made me realize the necessity of getting my first wah pedal.

6. "Sweet Child O' Mine", Slash
The awkward fourth note of the scale has been involved in a lot of poignant moments over the years, usually yielding to the sweetness of the third, never more so than in the indelible first two lines of the solo over the verse chords. The more violent, minor solo later on and of course the intro that kicks the whole thing off are possibly the best guitar moments of the entire 1980s.

7. "Bell Bottom Blues", Eric Clapton
Like Coltrane he sort of plays the melody but with embellishments. Also like Coltrane (come to think of it) he uses harmonics. This song taught me to use the edge of my picking thumb to make the guitar cry a little bit.

8. "The Crane", Matt Wilson
From Trip Shakespeare's Across The Universe album. It's an entire melody to itself, climbing up in bent fits, then falling down into the lowest notes the guitar has to offer. Once I finally figured out how he was articulating some of the climbing parts, this solo taught me to bend a note on one string to match a note on a higher string, something I later found in Hendrix as well.

9. "Way Out West", Alex Chilton
From Big Star's Radio City album, a melodic distillation of everything good and chimey Roger McGuinn ever played. Hearing this taught me how to solo using chord shapes and to mix open strings with fretted strings where possible.

10. "Octopus' Garden", George Harrison
In a demo session in the now unavailable Let It Be film Ringo is plonking out this silly little number on the piano. Months later, with a fellow underrated Beatle leading the way it exploded into a 3-D rock masterwork. I used to quote bits of this during Honigman shows. The guitar intro, verse arpeggios, solo, and outro are justification for the song's existence and inclusion on the greatest rock masterpiece of all time, Abbey Road.

Also essential learning:
"Johnny B. Goode", Chuck Berry
"Patience", Slash
"Eruption", Eddie Van Halen
"Bohemian Rhapsody", Brian May
"Let's Dance", Stevie Ray Vaughan
"Dear Prudence", George Harrison

All right, what did I forget?

Cross Section of Conversation

Me: ...I mean the whole reason I started going to doctor visits again was to live as long as possible.

Doctor: Yeah, good! What else have you done to that end?

Me: Hmm. (Thinks) I quit eating sausage, egg, and cheese muffins from the gas station every week.

Doctor: Congratulations. You have discovered the key to immortality. Surely you shall be a modern Methuselah.

Last Thoughts on the 2011 Twins

1. The undeniable highlight of this season was the roadtrip with my friends where we saw two games and did some epic tailgating in Kansas City. The Twins swept the Royals in four games and seemed to be on a path back to contention. Brian Dinkleman got hit by a pitch, was intnetionally walked, got his first hit, and made a spectacular catch directly in front of us in left field - all in his first ever major league game. Awesome time.

2. But it wasn't all sweeping the Royals for the Twins this year, obviously. It was all about injuries. Joe Mauer, with bilateral leg weakness (I can relate, but then I'm 39 years old), sat out a ton of games. He was widely criticized for not playing hurt. I disagree with this criticism. If this was his final year in the majors then sure, play hurt. But we want Mauer to be well and healthy for the next 6-10 years here in Minnesota. Forget this year and just heal up real good, I say.

3. On the other hand, Michael Cuddyer played hurt a lot and got most of the positive press for the Twins despite Liriano's thrilling no-hitter and Thome's 600th home run. To me the explanation is simple. Cuddyer is in the final year of his contract and stands to get the biggest payday of his career if this season is a success for him personally. So I'm not jumping on the Cuddyer-plays-hurt-has-heart-and-Mauer-doesn't bandwagon just yet.

4. The biggest question now is next year. Will Bill Smith bring back the players this team could build around to contend again in the near future? I hope so. I realized this year how much I've gotten used to supporting a winning team and I (a Hennepin County resident just like Bob Dylan) continue to pay a .15% sales tax to support the new revenue generating stadium.

5. Which brings me to my penultimate point - I did not attend a single game at Target Field this year. Too pricey, too crowded, just never got in the habit. Yes, Johnny Cash, I still miss someone and her name is the Metrodome.

6. Finally, I think I just saw Alexi Casilla (15-day disabled list) shopping at the Knollwood Target in St. Louis Park. Does anyone know if he's shaved his goatee off or whether he's back here from Florida?

Oh, and I will try to catch at least one more game on the radio to hear John Gordon one more time. What's next year's broadcast team going to be? I'm hoping for Chris Atteberry and Jack Morris but they'll probably keep the Dazzle Man.

Have You Ever Met Your Heroes and They Were Totally Cool? I Have.

On July 22 I played bass at a Skittish show at Mears Park in St. Paul. We were opening for The Twilight Hours featuring Matt Wilson and John Munson, two of my all-time musical heroes. It was awesome to meet them, tell them how very much their music has meant to me over the years, and find out they are really great guys who are kind and considerate toward their fans. Here is that whole story, which I wrote up when I got home because I was very excited about it.

My Dad and I drove over to St. Paul and got a parking space directly behind the stage. It was perfect. I got my stuff set up. Then Matt Wilson arrived. I must have stared a little bit because as he walked by he said, "Are you playing tonight?" I said I was. After a little while I went to the back of Dad's Kia to change into my suit pants from my shorts. That was unpleasant, changing into a suit there on East 6th Street in downtown St. Paul in the back of a car.

I realized the knot in my tie, which I leave in due to not knowing how to tie one, was looking totally weak. I asked Dad to do it for me. He realized he couldn't do it without a mirror. He was doing it in a car window and said to the car's owner, "I'm not trying to peek in your car but I can't do this tie without a mirror." The car's owner was Twilight Hours' keyboard player Dave. Matt Wilson went over to my Dad and was trying to tie it on him.

At that point I came over and said, "You've further outsourced my outsourcing of tying my tie." Matt asked if he could put it on himself and do it. I said sure and he put a good, big knot in it. Dad asked him about schooling or something and he said St. Louis Park High School then a short time at Harvard. Dad bragged about me being in the St. Olaf Choir.

I told Matt I'd first seen him in December '92 at First Ave and how very much his music has meant to me over the years. He said thank you and said he was honored. I said I wished there was more of it and he said he did too. We talked about how music gets put into such a small stretch of time when you get older. "Unless you're Mick Jagger or my brother," he said. I agreed and said yeah I was in a similar boat. Then loud music started to play over the P.A. and he gestured to his throat and said something about his voice - needing to not shout to be heard right before the show presumably.

John got there a little later, while I was soundchecking my bass and when he walked up I said, "John Munson!" and we shook hands. I said I'd seen him for the first time at First Ave in 1992 and that his music had meant a lot to me. He said thanks and asked my name and I told him.

While the sound man was still setting up I went and got in a conversation with Matt, John, my friend and bandmate Pete Rivard (who has done some work for Twilight Hours), and Dave, Twilight Hours' keyboard player. John talked about vintage clothing acquisitions and golf. Pete brought up the ukelele and said he'd given me one and he hadn't gotten it back. I said I could not possibly give it back. John said he liked playing single note stuff on the uke - just sitting around and picking out melodies. That I would be fascinated to hear, but I didn't say that because I felt very conscious of seeming like an overly involved fan, which of course I am.

As Skittish was soundchecking and the soundman asked for bass I played the riff from Matt's "Raking Service". John noticed this walking by and laughed, which I found gratifying. We played the Skittish show and I was distracted by Skittish leader Jeff's acoustic and possibly my bass being badly out of tune. I'd been so busy chatting with John, Matt, and Pete that I neglected to tune right before the show. Skittish were okay but not great like we can be. I had to really try to get into "Little Things" but got there of course, partly by thinking that it may have been our last show. (It turns out this was probably true. There are currently no shows on the calendar and unfortunately co-leader Vonnie has quit again.)

The Twilight Hours part of the show was pretty great. Like their album, they started with "Dreams". They were much more electric and rocking live than on their album. Matt was lit in red and the night grew dark and the music became increasingly intense. Their musical interaction was really great to watch. They did stuff from the Twilight Hours album and several new songs. As far as I could tell only "Troublemaker" and "Descender" were older than 2010. They finished with "Descender" then encored with "Stay With You".

I spoke to both guys afterward. Matt mentioned how great it was that my dad seemed so totally with me. I agreed and we talked about the benefits of having good parents.

A moment passed and I radically changed the subject and mentioned that he had done a lot of new stuff and that I liked it. He said they're working on a new album. Matt signed my Twilight Hours CD soft case I brought with the Sharpie I also brought. He wrote, "I'm happy to adjust your couture anytime. Matt Wilson." Jeff and Vonnie came by and we chatted about ties. I said in high school and college that if you couldn't tie a tie it just meant you'd have to get a girl to do it for you and that was a good thing. Matt jokingly asked if that was what was going on tonight. I said no.

I talked briefly to John and he signed my CD as well, writing "A pleasure to meet you after all these years. John" and drew an arrow to his picture. I helped Jeff and Vonnie take their stuff to Jeff's parents' Chevy Suburban on the opposite side of the park. I was in a great mood and was much more talkative than I was when I was exhausted and hot at rehearsal yesterday afternoon. I don't know what the other people in Skittish must think of me. Probably just that sometimes and I am talkative and funny and other times I am stonily silent, which is accurate.

Dad and I drove home. Then I came downstairs and wrote this blog entry while it was all fresh in my mind. I feel so happy to have met those guys and to have had them be such friendly, gracious guys. I think I conveyed how much their music has meant to me without seeming creepy or obsessed. I feel inspired to really try and get something of my own going and finish an album and maybe even play some shows, even if only a few people ever hear it.

I remember how strongly I used to feel sort of sad and happy all at once after a Matt Wilson show. Like pretty much all my feelings at this age (39), I still sort of feel it but it's muted. It's a more manageable, practical feeling that won't interfere with my getting to sleep or send me into some kind of spiral one direction or another. Getting old is weird. Or maybe it's being young that's weird and you just don't realize it at the time.