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December 22, 2002
December 22, 2002
The boys are back in town...
I think I'm rested up enough to handle the post X-mas onslaught...
It seems like 2002 was a blur of 3, 5, and 7 day spans between RK shows... from NYC to Bandera, The Mucky, Shady Grove, Gruene, Trees, Satellite, Firehouse, The Lab, some free show at a BBQ joint in San Antonio (hey TK! What was it called?) etc, etc, etc.
I met so many groovy, groovy people and have made, what I think will be life long friendships. I am lucky and I know that and I thank those who have allowed me into their lives and vice versa. You are a huge bright spot in my existence.
Wow... Ain't I just chock full of Shoebox Greetings cliched drivel? But in a good way.
Well so?
Its true... I think I might have even been around long enought by now to not make our resident twang banging hick rockers roll there eyes and scatter when they see me coming!
And my God the music that has made it into my collection due to all the (and I wince every time I use this term) Alt-Country that Recked types have heaped praise on over the last 5-6 years and in 2002 it's like being a kid in a candy store. Pure unadulterated jonesing... but that doesn't mean I have joined the "Texas Music Revolution."
I want every one to be perfectly clear on my stance on the resurgence of "Texas Music" of late... I have a great deal of respect for the effort that it takes to get where the likes of Pat Green, Cross Canadian Ragweed, Cory Morrow, Jason Boland, Kevin Fowler, Harris & Ryden etc... pretty much any artist that you can link to off of Pat's web site.
Some of these guys are getting to that cookie cutter stage and I for one fear for their longevity. I have been in the crowd for almost every one of the artists that I have mentioned and have seen them (in some cases an almost mercurial) rise to near super stardom with all the Texas style trappings i.e. Live at Billy Bob's, truck commercials, beer sponsorship, national tours with the kings/queens of Hat ax,
Hey, good for them...
I have in the last 3-4 month's started to climb up on stage and try my hand at all this..IT IS SCARY LIKE YOU READ ABOUT...
So its really not my place to hop up on the " Pat Green sucks" bandwagon...
I'd be lying if i didn't get a huge kick out of playing a song I wrote and hearing my guitar and my (lackluster at best) voice blasting out of the monitors and having at least like 3-4 people's attention while I talk about my music... (OK that was really fun to type - my music. I might be grinning...)
Anyhoo, like I was saying I am not really at a point to start pointing fingers, but I think that what sets apart our choices as far as fandom is concerned is that being a fan of RK is not a bandwagon choice. It really goes against the flow. It means peering back through the looking glass and seeking out music and artists that were way off the beaten path in their heyday and whose most influential records were not part of any kind of hit making formula. It is, I think, a life choice. I hope some of you can relate to the "where were you when?"... spin.
For instance...
hearing "Gimme Shelter" by the Stones for the 1st time.
Not some thing that can be taken lightly... it might be the first truly cinematic song i ever heard... it paints such an amazing picture.
Likewise for:
"Into the Mystic" by Van Morrison...
or records like Almost Blue by Elvis Costello
The Joshua Tree by U2
Sweethearts of the Rodeo by The Byrds
Zeppelin 3
OK Computer by Radiohead
Train acomin' by Steve Earle
Living with the Law by Chris Whitley
London Calling by the Clash
Acadie by Daniel Lanois
You know I can go on and on but I think all of you know what I mean!
These are records that you may be intent on playing as background music but have an uncanny way of kind of stealing you from the soul up for its entirety.
(if any of you have a musical moment(s) like that... drop me a line.)
Do I think that its entirely possible that the new RK record has that?
Man... you know? I do... I really do.
I have told a few people that I didn't listen to Townes Van Zandt or to Tom Waits or Bob Dylan or Patti Griffith for a long time because I wasn't emotionally prepared for what it might do to me... It goes back to my "staring at the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel and a welding torch at the same time" comment I made about David's playing.
How do you deal with what you hear from songwriters like that?
too much beauty...
Even when the subject is ugly, or painful, or made up or autobiographical... I find solace in the words like so many people before me but at the same time the torture is there too...
I think it might be the universal thread that links us all... I am not knocking the songs of any other Texas artist but I think that when a group of us (reckers) gets together and the subject turns to what makes these boys so damn righteous the conversation gets cinematic... personal history lessons... momentary lapses of reason... the "6 degrees of separation" that each of us have as far as new music or reexamination of past greatness that we may have overlooked.
Trust me being naive in this day and age has its benefits! No preconceptions or biases just simple thoughts like "Hmm... RK plays this song by this artist I think ill check it out..." I know I know it seems a little "dum de dum-ish" but it really is that simple to expand our horizons past the "Shiner Bock/Southbound 35/Lukenbach/tubing the Guadalupe/Red Wings/Abercrombie" mentality that is all good and fun... but about as deep as a Gap ad... (except for the Willie/Ryan Adams one which, of course, is brilliant)
And I'm sure it will, without fail, line the pockets of many a record exec's pocket and will always be available at Wal-Mart in the County bin and will feature prominently at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo... (don't even get me started ON THAT).
All that being said...
2002 has shaped up as a really great precursor to what I expect will be an exciting 2003 with the ups and downs that make it all worth while...
what a mystic sound...
I DO LOVE ALL OF YA...
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Posted by reh at 10:27 PM | Comments (0)