All over

"I feel not necessarily nostalgic (punk was and is decidedly anti-nostalgia, and if ever a band kicked against the pricks of preservation societies like books and halls of fame it was these guys), but I admit that I feel a need to know if any of it mattered, or if it even happened."

That's a quote from the introduction to Jim Walsh's book about The Replacements. It's funny that a book that is all about reminiscing about a bygone era and talking about how great it was includes a disclaimer that it's maker is not nostalgic about the subject. What are you talkin' about? This book is 100% nostalgia. Why deny it or apologize?

One of the great things about Paul Westerberg's songs is the romance and nostalgia they contain and project. Songs like 'Heyday' and 'Talent Show' (among many others) are about being aware of yourself in time. They are about instant nostalgia, about catching yourself existing outside the moment you're in and reflecting on that. They are about feeling the past in the present and contending with it.

Where is my friend?

In keeping with the classic punk theme of the week ...

Mick Jones and Tony James have a band that I just heard about. On the band's website blog Tony James answers a question that has come up for them a lot since the release of their first record. They've been posting mp3s for free download on their site for 4 years, so why release a record? The funny thing is his answer jives with my experience of discovering the band. They only hit my radar after the CD was released and they did interviews and TV to promote it. So the CD is still the motivation for people who control media to write about a band and for record companies to promote a band. They aren't really promoting the band, just the record. I had never thought about that fact before - that the band and the record are different things in the eyes of the sales people.

On this day in history

Is it you?

1. Anxiety about death.
2. Indifference to living.
3. Mistrust of seeming perfection.
4. Mistrust of Institutions and Authority.
5. Empathy for the seemingly pathetic.
6. Tendency to take the blame for bad events.
7. Prefer anonymity in the face of success.
8. Acceptance of the unexplained/Appreciation for the obscure.
9. Tendency to be overwhelmed by emotion.
10. Ability to laugh out loud at themselves.
11. Seem to live by the motto: If it scares you, laugh at it.

What does contemporary look like?

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Red velvet

>> The legend

>> The debunking

>> The thorough examination with one error

>> The vegan version with guilt and self-pity

In the wake of Andy