This Is The Sound: 2002

OK, now things are improving.  2002 saw us fall more in love and get married, which is more than enough to make it memorable, but a lot more happened.  I moved across the river to SE, got promoted to manager at work (oh what the heck, I’ll give World Cup Coffee a shoutout), made a connection there with staff at the Crystal Ballroom, getting us into tons of shows, started doing a radio show with the fabulous DJ Mr Romo on KPSU,  did some acting and sound work for the Miracle Theatre where my wife worked, kept writing and performing music around town, and made my first two trips to California (one by train) to meet all of my wife’s family.

And of course there was the music.  I mentioned ‘Yankee Hotel Foxtrot’ in the 2001 post (due to its chronologically displaced status) so I won’t include it here – if you don’t know all about it by now there’s really no helping you.

The Flaming Lips / Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots

Following an undisputed masterpiece like ‘The Soft Bulletin’ is no easy task, but ‘Yoshimi’ largely pulls it off.  It’s not a total left turn, and it’s not an attempt at rehashing its predecessor, either.  Also, it’s not as if there isn’t joy and exuberance on ‘Soft Bulletin’, but “Do You Realize” takes those sentiments to another level altogether.  “Ego-Tripping At the Gates of Hell” (and its varied remixes) is just as powerful in speaking of regret, and “One More Robot/Sympathy 3000-21” is without a doubt the best song ever written about a robot learning to feel emotions.  I can imagine this is a record my kids will appreciate when they’re just a little older, and I really hope Wayne and co. are still touring then.

Beth Orton / Daybreaker

I love all of Beth Orton’s records for various reasons, but ‘Daybreaker‘ is definitely my favorite.  It covers lots of emotional ground, the production is swirling and grand in the right places and simple and direct in the others, and the guest list?  “Concrete Sky” was co-written by Johnny Marr and on harmonies features Ryan Adams, who wrote “This One’s Gonna Bruise“, and also shows up on “God Song” alongside Emmylou Harris.  Oh, and Everything But the Girl’s Ben Watt co-produced.  Overall, this is a great introduction to her work, featuring acoustic ballads, a dance track, straightforward pop and more languid chill-out stuff.  And, “Mount Washington” is without question on my best of the decade mixtape.

Josh Rouse / Under Cold Blue Stars

Similar to ‘Daybreaker’, ‘Under Cold Blue Stars’ is another example of the perfect entry point to an artist’s work.  Almost all of Josh Rouse’s records have great songs and decent production, but this one stands out.  Wilco’s Pat Sansone is all over this record, which contributes to the overall sound, but here it’s the songs that really stand out.  And, perhaps most importantly, we listened to this a ton in 2002, and there’s something to be said for the record that comes at the right time when you’re slowly allowing depressing music to release its stranglehold on you.  “Feeling No Pain” was on our wedding gift CD as well, obviously.

Ron Sexsmith / Cobblestone Runway

I’ve been a Ron Sexmith fan for a long time – he’s the consummate songwriter’s songwriter (Feist covered his “Secret Heart” on ‘Let it Die’ and co-wrote “Brandy Alexander” from ‘The Reminder’ with him).  I don’t know how he does it every time, but he makes it look so effortless.  His songs are so simple yet expertly constructed, and how he keeps coming up with so many catchy melodies after all these years is something I’ll stop questioning and just appreciate.  That said, ‘Cobblestone Runway’ is not my favorite record of his, but it was my wife’s introduction to his work, and “God Loves Everyone” was a perfect choice to play at our wedding(s).  Oh, and Coldplay’s Chris Martin guests on the remix of “Gold In Them Hills“

Lambchop / Is A Woman

Possibly the other strongest musical memory of 2002 is this understated effort, quite a change of direction from the boisterous ‘Nixon’ from 2000.  ‘Is  A Woman‘ is very simply any one of a number of Sunday mornings, sitting at home after breakfast at the Cricket Cafe (mmm… bacon and blue cheese omelets…) with the newspaper and a pot of coffee.  I’ll highly recommend you add it to your Sunday morning paper and coffee playlist, should you have the occasion.

Honorable Mention: Ok, there’s a lot of these.  Paul Westerberg/Grandpaboy’s ‘Stereo/Mono‘ got played a lot back then, but right now I’m thinking it was more because he’d been relatively silent for a while.  “Making Pies” from Patty Griffin’s ‘1000 Kisses’ is the most touchingly beautiful song of the year.  Tom Waits’ ‘Alice’ and ‘Blood Money’ two-fer threw a lot of tracks at us, “Alice” being the most memorable.  Beck’s ‘Sea Change‘ is of course a classic, but I was a little too happy and content to really play it a lot that year.  Pedro The Lion’s ‘Control‘ is another intense little record, but it has some really strong songs.  Richard Buckner had been a favorite for a while, but ‘Impasse’ was quite a surprise – “Count Me In On This One” doesn’t really sound like alt-country, it just sounds great.  I listened to Elvis Costello’s ‘When I Was Cruel‘ quite a bit that year, but it hasn’t held up as well.

And we saw quite a few live shows that year (Low, Ron Sexsmith, Bad Religion, Gillian Welch, Elliott Smith, They Might Be Giants, etc.) but really, anytime you see the Flaming Lips it rightly should be the highlight of the year.

This Is The Sound: 2001

Obviously, a lot happened in 2001.  And I don’t just mean the Cubs pulling off the big trade for Fred McGriff.  I was still in Portland, but was meeting more people and eventually moved out of my tiny studio and into a house with some friends.  I did a professionally recorded demo and started playing around town and was still writing plenty of new songs.  I went to tons of shows, and that summer, I met my wife.  So then there was all of that.

I also apparently bought a ton of music that year.  I guess I really didn’t have much else to spend money on (and I walked past Music Millennium on NW23rd on my way home from work everyday, where, true story, I once ran into Benicio Del Toro, who really likes the Stones, btw), and while the dark times were slowly lightening on their own, fantastic music certainly helps.  So, out of the 90 hours of 2001 music I have, the best stuff of the year for me was:

Joe Henry / Scar

I first saw Joe Henry open for Wilco at the Riv in May of 1999, and his literate, moody roots rock impressed me enough that I picked up a few of his records.  But they didn’t prepare me for ‘Scar’.  This is a nighttime record, dark and spare and shadowy yet well lit in all the proper places.  The title track is masterclass on writing lyrics, but it’s the combination of mood, restraint and passion on the first track that leaves the biggest impression.  It’s titled “Richard Pryor Addresses A Tearful Nation” which is probably more apt than it has a right to be.  It rolls along at a jazzy, slow burn tempo, but catches fire once Ornette Coleman improvises a gorgeous solo in the middle that pulls together all of the song’s elements (title, lyric, key, tempo) into a raw yet beautiful summation of purpose.  I’m not doing it justice, but I’ll finish by saying it may be the most powerful musical moment of the whole decade for me (read Henry’s essay on the topic “The Ghost in The Song” for the full story on its creation and execution – you won’t be sorry you did, trust me).  Oh, yeah, and track 2 was later recorded by Henry’s sister-in-law.  Madonna.

Gillian Welch / Time (The Revelator)

My friend Alexis introduced me to Gillian Welch’s earlier albums that year, so I was caught up in time for this one.  My best memory of it is walking to work at 5:30 AM on my way to open up the coffee house.  And then finishing it on the way home, taking the long way to let “I Dream A Highway” take its course.  ‘Time’ is certainly made of the same cloth as her other records, but that cloth is made into a completely different dress here.  It’s not more personal, it’s not any less timeless, but it feels very different.  Another top contender for the best of the entire decade list.

Bjork / Vespertine

I bought ‘Vespertine’ for my wife a few weeks after we started dating.  In an incredible and justified bit of foresight, I did not buy a second copy for myself.  Everything seems to have worked out well (aside from history not being kind to the Swan Dress), and “Unison” closed out our wedding gift mix CD as well.

Low / Things We Lost In The Fire

I liked Low’s earlier records, but ‘Things We Lost in The Fire’ marked a turning point for them.  It moved them away from the strict slow, spare and quiet sound of records like ‘Long Division’ and ‘The Curtain Hits the Cast’ and toward the adventurousness and increased volume of ‘The Great Destroyer’ or ‘Drums & Guns’.  And, as so often happens with a band in transition, they made their best album as a result. “Sunflower” is one of those classic track #1’s that so grabs you from its first chord that you don’t get to track 2 or 3 for the whole first week you own the record.  Also, 2001 was the first time I saw them live, at the Aladdin in Portland, and the highlight of the show was a stripped down cover of The Smiths’ “Last Night I Dreamt Somebody Loved Me”.

Red House Painters / Old Ramon

I’d been a Red House Painters/Mark Kozelek fan for quite some time, which was pretty directly responsible for me moving in with Steve and Jamie in Portland.  I worked with Jamie, but we only became friends after I brought in a handful of RHP records to play at work.  I snapped up ‘Old Ramon’ as soon as it was rescued from its label-limbo unreleased status by Sub Pop that Spring.  2001 was also the first time I saw them live, though that show was largely a disappointment to many (especially Kozelek) thanks to a particularly disinterested Portland audience (a frequent occurrence – don’t get me started).  I played this a lot, obviously, but the one song that stands out most now is his simple guitar and voice tribute to John Denver, “Golden“.  Don’t laugh.  Give it a try.

Honorable Mention: On the whole, Rufus Wainwright’s ‘Poses‘ was a slight let down from his debut masterpiece, but the title track is a moving and stunning accomplishment.  Ryan Adams was certainly ubiquitous in the Fall of 2001 because of the release of ‘Gold‘, but for as much as I listened to it then, I don’t think it’s aged as well as his other albums.  Rather, the also shelved then released belatedly in 2001 effort ‘Pneumonia’ by Adams’ old band Whiskeytown has held up very well, and “Jacksonville Skyline” might be one of my favorite songs from 2001.  Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds’ ‘No More Shall We Part‘ and Duncan Sheik’s ‘Phantom Moon‘ (a ridiculously underrated and completely atypical gem compared to the rest of his output) are both forever tied to a gray weekend in May, and earn their place here thanks to that memory. But, the elephant in the room is of course Wilco’s ‘Yankee Hotel Foxtrot‘.  By the end of 2001 we had all heard it, and they basically played all of it when I saw them at the Roseland that November (as well as at a Tweedy solo show that Spring), but it wasn’t actually released until April 2002.

The top live show memory of that year was undoubtedly Radiohead with the Beta Band at the Gorge in George, WA in June.  The Gorge is just that, an outdoor amphitheater set overlooking a huge gorge of the Columbia River in Central Washington.  So, the setting, the band, the timing (right after the release of  ‘Amnesiac‘) and the set list itself – opening with “The National Anthem” if memory serves – were all perfect.  We were on such a high that we sealed the evening by driving straight back to Portland after the show – 5 hours – talking and laughing all the way.

This Is The Sound: 2000

So, some backstory.  I graduated high school in 1996, putting me solidly on track for graduating college (DePaul University, Go Blue Demons!) in 2000.  My grades for Fall Quarter 1999 were… less than stellar.  As a result, I did not darken the doors of Schmitt Academic Center or the JTR in the year 2000.  Add to that The Ex getting engaged, and well…

I moved to Portland!  On the first of July, 2ooo, I loaded my mom’s car full of clothes, guitars and CDs and headed west with no job, no expected address, no one known to me there in town.  A lot of good things happened to me in PDX (more on that later), but honestly, this was a pretty dark year.  It was the end of some fun, yet poorly remembered years in Chicago and the uncomfortable beginnings of an attempt at a new life in a new city.

And when I scan the hard drive for the records tagged with 2000, it’s a dark list indeed.   But, here we go:

Ryan Adams / Heartbreaker

Here is an excellent example of the critical and the emotional working together to everyone’s satisfaction.  Not only is ‘Heartbreaker’ a cracking record from top to bottom, but nothing quite sums up the summer of 2000 in a studio apartment in lonely Portland OR, like “Come Pick Me Up“.  I think I bought this on my first trip to Everyday Music on Burnside, and one must wonder whether I would have come running back home without it for support.

Radiohead / Kid A

… and yet, I did go running back, stupidly, to try to reconnect with The Ex that Fall.  The best part was stopping by the Virgin Store on Michigan Ave to pick up this, The Sea and Cake’s ‘Oui’ and Richard Buckner’s ‘The Hill’.  Honestly, what hasn’t been said about what an amazing, paradigm-shifting record this is.  Personally, I can remember playing “How to Disappear Completely” (it was a dark year, I told you) over and over at quite a loud volume.  I was very lucky to live between an 80 year old man and a deaf guy.

Elliott Smith /Figure 8

In truth, without Elliott Smith I would have probably just moved somewhere stupid like Indianapolis or New York.  My sole ambition upon declaring my intentions for Portland sometime that Spring was that I would be a regularly performing singer-songwriter.  And when I walked around town for the first time that summer, it was Figure 8 in my Discman (yes, that takes us all back, eh?).  His story ends more sadly than mine (and the one time I saw him live in PDX makes me cherish my memories of the Chicago shows all the more) but this ornate yet depressing gem is both critically and emotionally central to 2000 for me.

Belle & Sebastian / Fold Your Hands, Child, You Walk Like A Peasant

This record gets slagged by B&S fans as their worst (well, aside from ‘Storytelling’, but we won’t get into that) but I rather prefer it to its more classically twee predecessors.  I find top to bottom it’s a strong listen that I can put on today with no skipping required (come on, ‘The Boy With the Arab Strap’ devotees, you never skip over “A Space Boy Dream”?).  This was the soundtrack to my last few months in Chicago as well as the drive west, and while “Women’s Realm” is attached to no specific memory, it makes me dance every time, and that’s saying something for a record first encountered in 2000.

Josh Rouse / Home

Just a tastefully produced little singer-songwriter record, but it was quite inspiring as a template for when I was trying to accomplish similar things as a writer.  I like all of his records, but this one seems to just fit better top to bottom as a collection of songs.  There’s not an off tune among the ten, and while I don’t come back to it often, that’s probably more due to its relationship to my messy 2000 than its own merits.  “Hey Porcupine” is worth a listen, but the rest of his albums are all worth a listen as well.

Honorable mention:  I also played the crap out of Yo La Tengo’s ‘And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside Out‘.  Morphine’s ‘The Night‘ contains a title track that’s the best introduction to the band that I can recommend, and PJ Harvey’s ‘Stories of The City, Stories of The Sea’ certainly meets all critical benchmarks, but I really only listened to “This Mess We’re In” on repeat that year.  Jim O’Rourke’s ‘Halfway To A Threeway’ is honestly the year 2000 record that I listen to most often today, but it’s just a 4 song EP, so… you know.  Billy Bragg & Wilco’s (& Woody Guthrie’s) “Remember The Mountain Bed” might be the most beautiful song on either ‘Mermaid Avenue’, but the year 2000 second record was definitely the weaker overall.  Oh, and as huge of a Cure fan as I was in February 2000, “Bloodflowers” was largely a disappointment, aside from the first and title tracks.

The top live show would have been from Catherine Wheel’s penultimate US tour, at the Double Door that Spring.  I hadn’t bought their new record at that point, so when they closed the regular set with “Creme Caramel” it hit me like a ton of bricks, especially when Rob Dickinson sang “and your wedding night [i heard 'eyes', though the lyric sheet says 'thighs'] / kept me alive / all through the good times / when passion was ripe”.

… erm, yes, let’s all move on to 2001.

… And,We’re Back

Over a year.  Ouch.  Is this thing on…?

Nobody really thought it would last, and they were mostly right.  I suppose there’s a number of potential blame targets: mostly that having young children takes up so much of your time that it’s pretty hard to blog about them.  Or blog about them and work a regular job, which brings me to my next point.  Meredith always suggested that maybe I just wasn’t cut out to be a library blogger, and 1 post out of 6 proves the numbers never lie.  In her kindness and positivity, she did say that maybe instead I was a music blogger, which brings us to our topic for today.

It has been recently announced that yes, I am now in a band again (those who were there can say whether Cousin Walter counts or not), and my bandmate had an inspired idea on her blog that I now intend to copy in order to resurrect mine.  I”ll let her explain:

Over the next few weeks I’m going to review the music of the last decade – I should say, I’m going to review MY music of MY last decade. It’s probably going to be at least a little embarrassing as I often find I come to things late, but hey.

Now, those that know me will know that I would never be able to publicly announce that I didn’t actually buy _______ record until a year after it came out.  And, when faced with defining a year musically, I’m also torn between my critical inclination and my emotional self, which manifests itself in the ambiguity of the phrase “best of”.  So, which is it?  The high-quality, artistic records that will stand the test of time or the ones that tell the story of my life in that year?  It’d be nice to try to state that I only really spun the high artistic merit records all year, and that therefore all emotional connections are tied to them, but we all know that  ain’t true (sometimes it’s just not possible – the new record by The Antlers is amazing but I don’t know if I want to subject myself to it again – maybe I can listen to it with my hands over my ears, through my fingers).

So I’ll try for a mix of critical successes and personal faves, and also include top songs on otherwise shoddy records and memorable live experiences, though that’s gonna slack off considerably once we hit Vermont in 2007.   After that, well … hey – there goes Elvis!…

Instruction, Year Two

And but so it’s my second week back at work and I’m thrown back into the realm of Freshman English 101 instruction tomorrow.  Three 75 minute sections of EN 101, no less, back to back to back.  Last year, my first here as a “Big L” Librarian here, I enjoyed my immediate exposure to EN 101s and got to really find my groove as a stand-up comic librarian.  I usually had a brief handout, a sketch of what I wanted to show them, and then I took further cues from students and their questions and their topics.  Seat of my pants instruction sometimes, but it worked pretty well for me.  Students came back later at the ref desk, they got to know me, I got good reviews (full disclosure: I threw candy at them) and best of all, faculty told their colleagues and our instruction stats went up.  Hooray.

Now, after a summer’s worth of thought and study and reassignments, we rolled out a new, more active and structured approach to the EN 101 session – while I was out on leave.  So, while I’m finding it a little difficult talking to adults instead of toddlers this past week, my forceful return to libraryland is also including a new program for me to teach within.  Immediately (this is not a bad thing).

In a change from last year’s classes, I did a bunch of prep work for those sessions today.  My colleagues are usually much more formally prepared than I am, and while this is often a strategy that works well for me (performance background, maybe?), new times call for new measures.  So, we’ll see how everything goes on November 4th.  Change is coming.

Hat in hand

I meant to.  Really I did.  It’s just … well,  you know:

• new baby sleep loss
• the desire to get out and enjoy a classic New England autumn
• another epic Cubs collapse (and really, this one hurt like nothing since ‘84 – and I was an impressionable lad of 6 then.  What was most distressing was the TV cameras’ turning Wrigley reaction shots into misery porn – making this solitary VT Cubbie feel even more alone in the wilds of R. Sox Nation)
• constant political despair and unease
• being full time Papi while I still could (and the lack of computer time as a result)
• nagging guilt that I really should be keeping up with Libraryland instead
• cooking delicious soups and stews

Really, all your babies are gorgeous.  And thanks for the gifts.   We’ll send something your way soon – too bad you aren’t close enough to come over for soup.

Please stay tuned – really.  I’m gonna stick with this.

A Salute From The Great Concavity

I can only blame New Parent Syndrome for the fact that it took me this long to hear the news of the death of my favorite contemporary author, David Foster Wallace, who committed suicide last week at the age of 46 (NY Times obit here, an, um, tribute here).

As a librarian, not a lit professor, I won’t even attempt any kind of critical evaluation or celebration for you, nor will you find extensive footnotes below in an attempted tribute.  I will say that the only time I have ever underlined anything in a book (not course-related, obviously) was when I finally hit upon the passage deep in Infinite Jest that seemed to be the keystone to the entire swirling galaxy of plot DFW had constructed.

i admired the clarity of his thinking, the precision of his language, and the depths of intelligence and creativity displayed in his elaborate constructions.  It is both odd and sad to note that he will not be with us in the Year of the Depend Undergarment.

Which treats of the first expeditions from our home

No, the Little Guy hasn’t been out yet, but with my mother in law in town helping out I’ve had both the excuse to hit a destination other than the grocery store or library storytime and also get in some blogging.  So, it feels like we’re finally starting to rejoin the outside world after a much needed new family hibernation.  OK, so a little over two weeks into the life of the young lad… here’s what’s been happening.

The Little Guy sleeps pretty well.  Our main issue has been getting Big Sister to sleep.  She has gone to sleep every night of her 21 months with us, but with the arrival of each night it seems she can’t bear the thought of relaxing and assuming a prone position.  The first few nights after the Little Guy joined us we ended up with me driving her around in the car for an for hour to induce sleepyness, but with gas prices what they are…

That said, I highly recommend to all other dads the following:  when your Baby 2.0 arrives, take at least a few weeks off.  Even if you can’t stay out forever, you’ll need a while for the older one to get acclimated to the new family dynamics.  Big Sister loves and kisses the Little Guy to pieces, but she’s definitely having a rough time with having mama less than 100% totally available to her at all times.  You’d think I’d be good enough, but I am lacking in certain departments.

So yeah, the Little Guy sleeps and eats and poops pretty well – we would be sleeping wonderfully if not for Big Sister’s nightly two hour active time.  This is usually bookended by poop or burp activity from the Little Guy which creates a huge hole in our overnight.  I basically discount the idea of sleep between 1 AM and 5 AM, so the more sleep we get between 9 PM and 1 AM (if Big Sis is asleep by then) the better for everybody.

My main lifeline to the outside world has been Morning Edition on NPR while making breakfast with the Big Sister.  Occasionally I get some online time during her nap but such is usually brief.  I’ve tapped into Bloglines a few times but mostly to catch up on the newest lies from the McCain camp and to check if anyone in the outside world cares yet.  I did get to watch the Bears beat up on Indy to open the American Football season, which basically proved that if we had started Kyle Orton, Bryan Urlacher would have his Super Bowl ring by now.

I wear my Cubs hat everywhere here in Montpelier, as much for loyalty as to stand out in the sea of Red Sox Nation navy.  I’m nervous as always about what could happen but at least the folks here are pretty understanding – they went through basically the same thing until ‘04.  One local caught me off-guard with his comment that he understood Cubbie suffering since he was a New York Jets fan, adding “we haven’t won in my lifetime.”  Dude, we never won in my great-grandmother’s lifetime.  Hopefully Little Guy and Big Sister are just coming to this life at the dawn of a new Cub century – hey, any team can have a bad hundred years.  But, Big Z’s big return last night has us all hopeful again.

I’ll catch up on the last few weeks of events from libraryland in the coming days when things calm down and our new routines become easier on all of us.  And I know I owe you all new photos as well.

Which Treats of the quality and manner of life of the reknowned gentleman Marco Emilio of Montpelier

Your author is proud to announce the arrival yesterday, August 30, 2008 at 1:30 in the afternoon, of one Marco Emilio, otherwise known as Baby 2.0.  He was born at home after a long wait but a short labor, and is in decent spirits all things considered.  He is currently found to be 8 pounds, 10 ounces, and can be stretched to a full 21 inches of height.  More information will follow, but here’s a teaser:

Our little niño, one hour old

The Author’s Preface

You may believe me, gentle reader, that I wish this blog, as my own brainchild, was the most beautiful and ingenious that can be imagined.  But it’s a blog.  I’ve had a taste of the blogging life over the past year in a pinch-hitting role over at ACRLog, and with more gentle prodding from friends and associates I’ve struck out on my own.  I’m also intending this to be a venue for keeping my head involved in the profession while out of the office in familyland for a few months.

By way of a more formal introduction, I’m an academic librarian in Vermont and soon to be the father of two.  I’m from Chicago and take pains to remind all of that fact.  I’m learning Spanish, losing my guitar technique, and trying to keep up with the indie rock scene even though I’m aging and living out in the country.  I should probably read and cook more and spend less time obsessing over politics.  I intend not to let this blog languish but I don’t want it to become Life 2.0.  Oh, and I wash diapers.

But, the main reason why I’m here – and here now – will be arriving shortly.  So, if you’re really just here to get the big announcement, hit the feed above and you’ll be informed soon.  Then the party begins.