doing it, and doing it, and doing it well...

so everyone's tired of me yammerin on about these guys (i've seen the blank looks). please forgive me, i spent the better part of my day fighting for 5 dollar cashmere & hand drawn t-shirts at the fashion farm that pays my bills. this stuff is going down nicely tonight. more objectively though - this release must be noted. there are those rare occassions when an artist creates ridiculous expectations very early on & then proceeds to elevate their game with astounding style. they are sharing the aformentioned achievement on their myspace page. when was the last time you tracked a record release? and you thought i was goofy for reppin' em when they put out books and shit. dig it now before the grammy award & hype burns off the pleasures that a listen provides.

i swear i saw him

i swear i saw billy bragg walking down high st sunday night from a table near the window at barleys. it was a brief encounter, but i saw enough. maybe it was the numerous ESB's that i had consumed. maybe it was the association created by my company at the time (2 english IT folks in town for a project). damn it, i know what i saw. i almost broke into a union song i was so excited. here's a couple of that new box set (i always preferred the love songs over the polemical stuff).
new england
milkman of human kindness

a few quality minutes from 1980-84

everyone has probably done this already (based on all of the stuff your read and hear about youtube's usage these days) but damn if ain't addictive. i'm having flashbacks to my inability to turn off the tv - only now i can pick what i want to see! enjoy it while it lasts....

intro
2
3
4
break
fünf
5
6
7
end

"got myself a brand new oakland scarf right here"

i bought "Fair Warning" on 8 track the week it was released. a few months later mtv arrived along with 3 live videos from a show in Oakland (unchained - so this is love - hear about it later). hard to believe the obscurity of these considering their importance at the time (you would've had been a regular viewer from 1981-82). bootlegs of the show have been around forever, but i've heard that VH plans to release it in some kind of box this year (a cue from led zeppelin probably). these are low-fi, roth is.. roth, and one cuts out prematurely, but they effectively capture one of the most powerful and popular live rock bands ever.