I've Been Away So Long

Since the last post consisted of nothing but groveling and apologizing, I will not repeat myself. We both know that I am a bad blogger and do not attend to this site very consistently. Slap my hand. Ow! We cool? Okay, now that we have that out of the way lets catch up.

I recently went to Pitchfork Music Fest in Chicago with Tom Kemmer, Chris Hennen, and a dude named Connor who I had not met before but turned out to be a really cool chap. All in all good times were had, great music (along with some mediocre music) was heard, and old working stiff Neil had a four-day-weekend. Oh, and did I mention that it was a road-trip? Oh yeah. It's six and a half hours minimum from Minneapolis to Chicago. That may not startle many of you, but you have to remember that I am an old, broken down man. Though there was a time when I could drive in a small van for 24 hours in one shot and be no worse for wear, things have changed for me. I have come to enjoy the basic comforts of life. And with that, my old back can't handle that kind of confinement. Luckily, this was the worst part of the trip.

In Chicago we stayed with Jim Zespy, an old friend of ours from Fargo. I have a number of both endearing and incriminating stories about Jim that I will not share with you now. Suffice it to say that this man is a character in the most positive sense of the word. Jim works for a prominent indie record label in some kind of managerial capacity (the exact nature of which I am not exactly certain) and actually lives in a large apartment above the Chicago office/warehouse. It is the perfect spot for visiting musicians due to it's size and capacity for people. There are 5 bedrooms, a large kitchen, living room, bathroom, and a "chillin' room" filled with the most extensive record collection I have every seen (including record stores.) One of my favorite activities on the trip was having Jim play dj and spin us a variety of obscure and unique albums at the end of the night. Thanks Jim!

The show itself wasn't all that bad either. Highlights included seeing performances by classic music icons like Public Enemy, Sebadoh, and the o.g. Dinosaur Jr. Of the newer crew, I thoroughly enjoyed Fleet Foxes and the Do Dos. There were also a few surprises like King Khan and the Shrines, who I've never heard of before, but almost literally kicked ass. Les Savy Fav "killed it" too. They are a band whose name was familiar, though their music was not. Tom referred to them as "this generation's Jesus Lizard." I agree with him to a point. They are definitely the archetype of that classic recipe consisting of a solid band mixed with a crazy extrovert front man somewhere between G.G. Allen and Preston Olson. Needless to say, they really blew me away. I missed a lot of bands that I had wanted to see, like Hawk and a Handsaw and the Dirty Projectors to name just a few. You can't do it all.

Tom took a number of pictures, some of which I would like to post at some point. I'll keep you posted.

At any rate, I am back now and plan to be more dedicated to this blog. As a token of my appreciation to you the reader I have a crusty, blown-out demo.

More coming soon . . .
Neil