The Rock Town Hall Mailbag has been left unattended for too long, but following are a few messages of particular interest.
Josh Wilker, author of Cardboard Gods, who recently took time to chat with us about baseball cards and rock ‘n roll, took to heart a Townsperson’s subsequent pince nez regarding a reference to “the first album by the Band” when Wilker obviously meant to refer to their second album! He wrote me offlist and asked that I share his mea culpa.
Man, I cannot believe I referred in the interview to the Band’s second album as “the first album by the Band.” I deserve to be, to quote a line from the actual first album, “tarred and feathered.” It is a deeply troubling comment on my frazzled mental state and deteriorating cognitive faculties that I would make this mistake. I don’t know why it happened. I must be turning much sooner than scheduled into a version of my beloved grandfather near his end, when he walked into rooms carrying his oxygen tank and, with widening eyes, said, “Now, damnit, why in the Sam Hill did I come in here?” I am a huge fan of The Band, who have been an intimate part of my life since even before I collected baseball cards. I’ve leaned on their music all my life, read whatever I can get my hands on about them (“Across the Great Divide” and “This Wheel’s on Fire” and “Invisible Republic”), had the luck to see Garth Hudson play at the Bottom Line, detoured on a rare trip back east to try to see Levon in his Midnight Ramble (it got cancelled at the last minute, unfortunately), blah blah blah—and now I realize I’m sounding even more like some blowhard poser trying to defend his legitimacy. Fuck! It is as if I misspelled Yastrzemski. I can’t believe I did that. I may need to go away for awhile to “rest.” If you see fit to share this moaning with the Rock Town Hall community, that’d be okay with me—maybe it’d even convince a fellow Band fan or two that I’m a fumbling dolt rather than a dispassionately superficial douche.
Anyway, thanks for listening, and thanks again for the interview!
– Josh
Don’t sweat it, Josh. This happens to the most obsessive of us. You are a better man for this experience.
Townsman chergeuvara sent in the following links for my enjoyment and education. These may be of interest to you, as well, but caution punk rockers: some myths are about to be exploded.
First, here’s Bo Diddley talking about his experience opening for The Clash.
Then there’s the softer side of Sid Vicious.
A couple more mailbag entries of note: Long, lost Townsman kpdexter resurfaced with a new shipment of Robert Pollard releases from the label he runs with Bob. One of the new CDs is the one Pollard did with Friend of the Hall Gary Waleik! Stay tuned for an airing of some of these tracks on the next Saturday Night Shut-In.
Also, I’ve been keeping in touch with family members of our friend and partner in crime sammymaudlin, even speaking to sammy briefly last week (with another call planned for tomorrow). He continues to make progress in his recovery, but there’s a long road ahead. Townspeople in the Philadelphia area may want to SAVE THE DATE on Saturday, June 4, for a fundraising initiative that I’ll announce in the coming week.
I love Cardboard Gods. Ouch.