Crack, crack, crack, oooomph, awwww. Yahoo. I've just broken through the
ice that's been encasing SE Ohio for the past week. It's nice to see
everybody -- can anyone tell me where the nearest sanitarium is? I've been
ice- and snowbound at home with the family, as a result of so-called
"Level Three Snow Emergencies," and I love them and everything, but, god,
I need a breather.
Anyhow, I finally caught that Austin City Limits show with Old 97s and
Whiskeytown. The first time around, our PBS station pre-empted it with a
pledge drive, so they never showed it till now. This was my first time
seeing either band live, so it was quite a treat. I'm assuming that most
of Whiskeytown's lineup, with the exception of Caitlin, have been replaced
by now? And, this may mark me as an irredeemable old fogey, but what's the
deal with the hair? Is this an alt/rock thing, you gotta have a bunch of
greasy hair hanging down in front of your face. Both Ryan Adams and Rhett
Miller don't own faces, as far as I could tell from the show. Isn't that
annoying to have hair hanging in your face while you're trying to look at
your guitar? Anyway, it seems f**ing stupid and masochistically
pretentious, but what do I know? They're both good enough songwriters to
compensate for just about any other failing. -- Terry Smith
ps does anyone know whether Roger Miller's 1971-72 country record -- where
he re-did a lot of his own songs with honky-tonk arrangements -- is
available on CD. Those four or five songs on the boxed set are some of my
favorites. "Half a Mind" is such an incredible song, as is "Invitation to
the Blues."
