Tuesday, October 24, 2006

the fire's what keeps us warm when winter rolls around.

My Monday began and ended in very different ways, but the start and the close had one biting thing in common. Two completely separate harbingers of happiness in my life offered almost identical commentary on my life. I'm sparing you almost all the details of my personal life and it's recent elemental dramatic nature, but the bookends of my Monday, which were nearly nineteen hours apart, are of fundamental relevance to this very website.

October 23, 2006, 7:03am: "I find comfort in knowing that in a couple years, [he will be] sitting alone in his downtown loft with only the company of his records and computer screen..."

October 24th, 2006, approximately 1:30am: "I like music on the radio, like country..." (It is important to note that this was stated somberly toward the top of a list of factors potentially working against a vital friendship)

These instances, especially given their proximity to each other, have worn on me severely today. In all honesty, I intended on simply typing those two summaries of the flaws inherent in my adoration of music, followed by Ben Folds' cover of Dre's "Bitches Ain't Shit," released today on his supersunnyspeedgraphic collection. But I dragged myself out to pick up The Walkmen's Harry Nilsson tribute, Pussy Cats, and wound up finding several things that abstractly happy about music. One find, in particular, absolutely redeemed my faith in mankind. Of course, with that kind of introduction, it could be Sufjan Stevens releasing a song for song remake of Pet Sounds with Devendra Banhart and Jenny Lewis accompanying him, and you'll be let down.
In November, Southern Records will release six mighty songs as one EP (CD/10"), bearing the title Hallways of Always. This is a collaboration between Erase Errata singer Jenny Hoyston and underground folk-blues powerhouse William Elliott Whitmore.
Recall the first time you saw William Elliott Whitmore live - and if you still haven't, for shame - after the silent awe breaks (which lasts until his last breath on stage), the hand-shaking subsides, and drinks are shared, imagine Whitmore returning to the stage with a mysterious and equally worn-looking woman (his former roommate). It's now a party, and Jenny and William don't mind if you're drinking and talking and carrying on. They play to you.
Try to keep up with Jenny Hoyston's many endeavors through her MySpace, and make sure you track down the closest Whitmore show on his tour with Rocky Votolato and Lucero.

Music is my life. I may be merely a listener, but I couldn't be more content with who I am. In the words of the great Aesop Rock, "I'm not an asshole, I'm just a little confused."



Jenny Hoyston & William Elliott Whitmore's "Feast Of A Thousand Beasts"
from Hallways of Always



IT'S TWO MONTHS UNTIL CHRISTMAS EVE
Brian Wilson's "Christmasey"

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