[Granite-and-tumble] A sparkled shiny diner was a home for wayward miner....

[Bill Hub]

So, I am driving back from a Gypsy Shiny Diner just east of Chapel Hill
listening to Richard Buckner's Impasse, when a familiar truth revisits me,
enjoyment of music depends so much on your state of mind and place in time.
It is always strange when an idea you know empirically to be true strikes
you with profound meaning in the current context.

Quickly digressing, I was thinking back to a concert in 1993 that I saw at
the Palace in Dayton, OH with a number of my dearest friends, including my
now wife.   The show was Rodan opening for Sebadoh.    We were there to see
Sebadoh, but went to enjoy all the acts.    Well lets just say we all
thought Rodan was beyond shit, we went into another room to shoot pool, and
proceeded to complain, "Can't those fuckers turn that shit down, they don't
even know how to play the instruments their holding."   It is amusing to me
now, considering I not only Rusty, but I also own the Rachel's Sea and the
Bells, the Shipping News' Very Soon, and in Pleasant Company, and Retsin's
Egg Fusion.   The connection some may ask, all bands built from the ashes of
Rodan.    Not that Rusty, Rodan's one and only album, is one of my
favorites; I certainly still do not like it nearly as much all the indie
rock critics, but I still own it and listen to it on occasion.

The reason for the digression, I recall a now similar experience, going to a
concert in 1997 at Schubas in Chicago.   My dearly departed Uncle Tupelo had
disbanded but Max Johnston the instrument extraordinaire from UT was now
playing with Freakwater.   My good friend David Dooling was a big fan of
Freakwater and he had previously turned me on to some of favorite music.
David interestingly was also with me at the Sebadoh show in 1993, on a side
note so was Bob Pollard (the GBV Legend), who after the show was hitting on
a girl friend of ours, but now I have seriously digressed.   Anyway, back to
the matters at hand, with Max Johnston in Freakwater now; I wanted to check
them out.   As an added bonus the opening act was a critical darling Richard
Buckner, who must have been touring on his highly acclaimed album, Devotion
and Doubt.   I had not listened to him, but this to me had the makings of a
great show.  If memory serves, Margasak had this as critic's choice.   I
rounded up all kinds of friends to hit the concert, promising them a great
show.   I literally brought no less than 10 people.

The Buckner performance if you can't guess from my earlier story was very
strangely a bomb.   No one really paid attention to Buckner, I don't think
he won any of us over.   In fact, we made fun of his boring sob tunes for
years after that show.   We dismissed the critical acclaim as sheep
following the one critic, who was somehow related to Buckner, that wrote a
kind review for his relative.

A few years later, after a Pedro the Lion show at the Schubas, I picked up
Secretly Canadian's The Unaccompanied Voice:  An A Capella Compilation.
Strangely on this album was non other than Richard Buckner, singing with PW
Long, the outstanding, "Ain't No Grave Can Hold My Body Down"    I loved the
song but still thought, sure he fucking nailed that one but that does not
mean I would like a solo album.   After all I love Edith Frost
accompaniments, but I was never sure about her solo stuff.  (Note to self,
go out and buy, Calling Over Time)

Jump to modern times, last Sunday, I had a typical splurge at Reckless
buying many outstanding records, including the unbelievable find Shrimp Boat
Volume 1 - only a thousand copies made and now I own one.   One of the
pickups, Richard Buckner's Impasse.   For those of you interested, also
purchased were Brokeback's  Look at the Bird, Matt Pond Pa's The Green Fury
& I Thought You were Sleeping, and the Mountain Goats' Tallahassee.

Jump to present, I listen to "Loaded @ the Wrong Door" and I think to
myself; how could I have ever not liked this.   This is quite simply an
amazing song, and I promise yet again to all of you who were at that concert
several long years ago, and to those of you were not; you will love this
song, and this album.   The part that puzzles me the most is how something
that sounds so moving, so pleasing now; passed as ambient sound years
earlier.  Some things are difficult to solve.   I know state of mind and
time in place play an integral part, but I feel I need a better explanation.
Good music could be great music given a better time, but even in a bad time,
it still should be good music.

The only conclusion I can draw from my stories, second, hell third, fourth
chances are well deserved to everyone who gives their life to make music.
I bet if anyone is putting their heart and soul into anything for many
years; there must be a silver lining.    Perhaps Richard has warped my
typical pessimistic viewpoint, but for now the ears are going to re-open.

Bill


P.S.  Don't think I didn't notice that Kevin Coultas was an assistant mixing
engineer on Jason Lowenstein's debut last year.

For those who don't know Kevin Coultas was a founding member of Rodan who
was opening for Jason Lowenstein's Sebadoh back in 1993.

P.P.S  Bob Pollard sings about a shiny diner on Bee Thousand, which was the
name of the diner I ate at this evening, and he also attended the said show
in 1993.

Strange indeed, the stars must be aligned.