Lileks on Donovans Top of the Mark Parties.

“I was never that impressed ……shallow, trend-addled quasi-intellectual”

Well, ok, James was talking about S.F. on the whole. And Donovan’s parties can be fun.   Last night I went to the Cellar instead-- where people smile, even if their picture isn’t being taken.   Had some gin and tonics, played some pool, got mooned?   I owe that girl one.

Walking home I came up with that driving thing below. Cheesy, I know.

Pitchfork sums up Dinosaur Jr. quite nicely here. It’s hard to describe how much I love the album Bug. So I wont even try. I remember buying it for 8 dollars at a used CD store in St. Augustine Florida.  I listened to it going over a bridge to watch the Denver Game at some dusty sports bar.  All I knew about the band was that they got great press, and the Cowboy Junkies covered them.     Well it sounded like a colossal mess to me and it must have sat on my shelf for months. Maybe I listened to Freak Scene and Post a few times, the latter mostly out of morbid curiosity.  

Much later I was completely under the spell of Radiohead’s OK Computer, trying to figure out how to get the damn thing out of my CD player. That was the problem with Radiohead- unlike Nirvana for example- there wasn’t a whole genre waiting to be explored.  It was pretty much Computer, Bends, or Bust, and I was getting a bit antsy having listened to the same CD for over a year.  I don’t remember exactly how it happened, but Bug saved the day.  Saved the year actually.  (People cling tenuously to life in northern Florida, A good CD or hamburger can actually save your life. Otherwise you might just pull over and disappear into the marsh).        The best part about falling in love with Bug was that unlike Radiohead, Dinosaur Jr.  Actually made other music sound better.   It was the perfect palate cleanser after OK Computer’s ‘everything’s in its right place’ obsessiveness. Messy, Loud, and Beautifull.     I heard they're getting back to together?