Hi!

I found a new place to get coffee in the morning. After one day, the moustachioed man knew how I took it: “Hey howareya Large Black To Go.” This morning, the girl at the cash register said, “baby, you want some sugar,” at which I fumbled with a few pre-lingual sounds before she said “for your coffee.”

Anyway, I got to see the Mountain Goats at the Knitting Factory in New York last night, and I loved it- which I expected. Stylus colleague Bryan Berge wrote in March about the joy of seeing them; for fans, anticipating a John Darnielle performance kind of makes all cynicisms and fears temporarily disappear, which is rather amazing and overwhelming. His banter is pretty much always great, and he’s so gracious for a live performer, which makes the experience a lot nicer, at one point saying something to the effect of “I hope everyone in this room is able, at some point in their lives, to feel as good as I feel right now,” to which the crowd responded by, well, probably making him feel even better. He was joined by John Vanderslice and a couple guys from Shearwater (one of the openers, featured members of Okkervill River, closed with a cover of Talk Talk’s “The Rainbow” that pretty much slayed), making for some unusually full-sounding performances, including a volatile “International Small Arms Traffic Blues” that broke my mortal heart for a minute. I could talk for longer, but let’s just say it made my day and you should see them if they’re coming around your area.

Also, read Can’t Stop Won’t Stop by Jeff Chang. Like anything on this earth, it has its problems, which I won’t go into now (if you want to comment, comment away, I’ll respond), but its best strength is the fact that it takes music as an integral part of culture as the damn premise (which it should be), linking it to a history of political activism and concerns of a sociological kind; it’s kind of textbook-y in that way, but it draws all kinds of fantastic links and is, above all, a history that’s been marginalized and could use some light. I know I’m echoing what’s been basically unanimous praise (so far as I know), but for me- someone who isn’t a “hip-hop guy” per se- it was fascinating and got me more interested in both the music and the politics.

Also, and this is something I should’ve said a while ago, I saw Jandek on Corwood. I don’t have anything particularly analytical to say about it (what a relief!), but it made me a whole lot more interested than I already was. There’s something about his specificity that makes a whole movie dedicated to him seem so appropriate; he has the kind of aesthetic/story that is best recieved, in my opinion, through total immersion.

And a good Friday to you all.