Autumn Souvenir

the 59 sound - bruce springsteen & gaslight anthem( glasto ) by runawaydream

I haven't posted an Album of the Week in a month or so, but here's my latest favorite.

Every city has its venues that for better or worse are prompt when it comes to set times. The Greek Theatre in Berkeley is one of those. Show time on my ticket stub read 730pm. Given my interest in the opener, Okkervil River, I arrived at the gates around 720pm. As I made my way to the side stage, Okkervil were a few seconds into their first song. I checked my watch: 727pm. That is not prompt, it's bs. Maybe the venue thinks no one's there to see the opener, but I was. As I turned the corner into the beautiful Greek Theatre, nearly all seats were already spoken for. I drifted around the lawn and eventually found some friends about midway between the stage and the back of the venue. Perfect. Okkervil's set was quick but solid. The crowd seemed fairly ambivalent, which is somewhat surprising given the similarities between the bands. And then came Wilco. The arguments from Wilco purists down to the recent converts is often about as tiresome as it gets. Yes, they've changed...

I wasn't even going to add music to my iPhone. I mean, I already have my 16gb Nano and 60gb Classic (which I found after more than two months on the lam) and one of the two is always on me. But c'mon, who am I kidding. Instead of going with my top played tracks in my iTunes library (did that for the Nano), I have opted to pick one entire album from my top 50 listened-to artists on last.fm. As far as which album to select, I went with the least obvious. Or most obvious. Bruce Springsteen - Darkness on the Edge of Town Wilco - A Ghost is Born Josh Ritter - Golden Age of Radio Bob Dylan - The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan Bonnie "Prince" Billy - Beware Josh Rouse - The Smooth Sounds of Josh Rouse Richard Buckner - Richard Buckner Okkervil River - The Stage Names Neil Young - Comes a Time M. Ward - Duet for Guitars #2 Nick Drake - Five Leaves Left Damien Jurado - Ghost of David Eels - Daisies of the Galaxy Tim Easton - Porcupine Centro-matic - Love You Just the Same Uncle Tu...

I find Bill Maher maddening nowadays, but his closing segment on Friday was pretty much what I've been thinking for the past few weeks. Feel free to skip the first 2 mins.

I'd like to lean into the wind, tell myself I'm free