Autumn Souvenir

The things we find when doing a little housecleaning. I just came across a printout from May of 1998. I won't even get into the "others" section, which consists of about 75 records, but I figured I'd post my Top Ten from that time. Amazingly, not much has changed. These ten records, with the exception of maybe one, could land on a Top Ten list of mine today. This is how the note reads: NO ORDER, ONLY ONE RECORD PER ARTIST IN TOP 10 (Yes, I put this all in caps for emphasis): Uncle Tupelo Still Feel Gone Wilco Being There Bob Dylan Blonde on Blonde Steve Earle Train a Comin' Son Volt Trace Big Star #1 Record/Radio City Richard Buckner Devotion & Doubt Beatles Beatles For Sale Neil Young Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere Bruce Springsteen Nebraska

I may have posted this already, but it certainly bears repeating. Wilco covering Buffalo Springfield/Neil's "Broken Arrow."

I don't read Twitter posts. I'm still not sure what it means to RT (re-tweet? as in sharing someone else's tweet?) or the whole @ thing that shows up on people's pages (someone else posting on your page?). I understand the attraction and why people obsess over it. Okay, I don't understand why people obsess over it, but yeah, I get it. I mean, I post Facebook updates so I'm not really that far off. And I have a blog. And I send about 455 texts per day, so by no means am I'm claiming to be "above it." That's actually not what I'm saying at all. However, when it comes to those I look up to or artist's whose work means the world to me, I beg of them not to go the route of Twitter. I understand Miley Cyrus, McCain's tedious daughter or Paris Hilton Twittering, because, well, these people really don't have much to say whether on Twitter or not. And sure, fans of say Nickelback should probably be able to read posts from those asshats, ...

I first saw Welch & Rawlings at Boston's Paradise Rock Club in 1995. They played a beautiful opening set reminiscent of The Carter Family and the greatest of pickers and songwriters. As the night neared to a close, they joined Son Volt for a raucous take on Neil Young's "Come on Baby Let's Go Downtown." Welch, along with Rawlings, have gone on to release four records, all of which are either incredible (1996's Revival , 2001's Time (The Revelator)) , pretty incredible (2003's Soul Journey ) or very good (1998's Hell Among the Yearlings) . As her fans have eagerly awaited a new record for now seven years, many are starting to wonder if perhaps she is done making records. As the wait continued, a glimmer hit us with David Rawlings' first record, last year's A Friend of a Friend . Rawlings' record proved that whether released under Gillian's name or his, they just put out stunning music. As the wait for a Welch release continues, i...

Wilco used to pick the most classic covers.

It's been at least two weeks since I've posted anything outside of photos, YouTube links or quick nuggets on here. I used to check the "unique visitors" per day a few times a week; it's been months since I've checked out those nifty graphs. That said, I have no idea if anyone's even stopping by anymore. It's become obvious to me that my time to post on this blog is becoming limited. I do hope that I can pick up the pace in the weeks to come, but at least for the next two weeks or so, posts will likely remain limited. On a quiet Saturday night, I'll just toss out some updates on stuff: I haven't touched the book in three weeks, but that's usually how "work" on the book goes. I do have a deadline, which I will meet. And it's soon. And that deadline is for me to complete a full edit, then re-read the beast one full time. When I am done with both, I will find an editor and take next steps. The photo book was also to be compiled by...