Today I’ll be nice and ramble about music because I don’t feel like being otherwise
I have so many things to say lately I’m not even sure where to start. They range from the crazy/borderline unbelievable (like, you know, someone sending an ex-boyfriend, one who hasn’t spoken to her in years because she’s kind of crazy and who he broke up with over half a decade ago, a friend request on Facebook the week she found out he and his wife are having marital problems (from, you know, his wife’s blog or some kind of shady/delusional mutual “friend”). So quirky and CLASSY! (I may discuss this soon, but I kind of feel good just typing that) to the brilliant and also almost unbelievable (I saw Chris Robinson with Kim on the first and it was INCREDIBLE), so I’m going to focus on the good for now, because I’ve been playing with my child all morning and I’m in a pretty good mood. AND MAN, look at those run-on sentences!
SO CHRIS ROBINSON.
My relationship with Chris Robinson doesn’t go as far back as some, but I discovered him (via his marriage to Kate Hudson, no shame. You can imagine my sheer glee when they had their son on my birthday a few years later.) in high school. I saw Almost Famous, found out she was married to Chris, and bought Lions. The rest is psychedelic love history — I fell hard for The Black Crowes, even harder for New Earth Mud, and now hardest for the Chris Robinson Brotherhood. I spent one summer following The Black Crowes around Alabama and subsequently saw them three or four very happy times. They opened with “Soul Singing” in Montgomery that year, and it made what is generally a dreary city (in my experience) into a beautiful supernova wonderland for the absolutely magical seven or eight minutes they jammed. Kim and I saw them the summer or two after, in Birmingham, and it was quite seriously one of the saddest performance I’ve ever seen. They closed with a particularly wrenching cover of “Yer Blues” and as we exited with scores of fans muttering about “how shitty that was,” I was all “Man, something’s up with their marriage.”
Lo and behold, Kate and Chris announced their separation like a week later. Sean and I saw the Crowes again a year or so after that (I forget the timeline), and they were all in better spirits and being absolutely delightful.
In between Crowes sightings, Chris released two solo albums under New Earth Mud (self-titled New Earth Mud and This Magnificent Distance). These albums define very core pieces of my soul, and as such are insanely important to me. I have listened to these songs during every single major and minor event in my life since they came out. There are some people associated with certain songs that I can’t shake; others have seasons. In fact, I usually listen to This Magnificent Distance in the fall and winter, and New Earth Mud in the spring and summer. Sometimes they flip, sometimes they criss-cross and intersect, because it’s all fluid and delicious.
Some time ago, the Black Crowes briefly reunited, released Before The Frost…Until The Freeze which I couldn’t love more. Then they broke up (again), and Chris started up the Chris Robinson Brotherhood, which is what he was performing under when we saw him a few days ago in Birmingham. I had no idea what to expect, barely knew any of the CRB songs (the album’s not out yet, I’m not a fan of bootlegged YouTube videos unless I already know the songs), but I knew I’d love it.
In fact, I loved it more than I could imagine — even with the dude standing next to me who happened to pour beer down my right side and who then tried to apologize? I think? By wrapping his arm around my waist. That was the low, maybe, except Kim also had beer spilled on her and received a dirty look from the girlfriend of the offending beer spiller (which still makes no sense). DESPITE THOSE MOMENTS, the concert was brilliant. I was so happy just to… be in the same room with this man. He’s a poet. He’s the best thing that’s happening right now in my particular brand of music and life, and I just love him.
SO CHRIS ROBINSON.
My relationship with Chris Robinson doesn’t go as far back as some, but I discovered him (via his marriage to Kate Hudson, no shame. You can imagine my sheer glee when they had their son on my birthday a few years later.) in high school. I saw Almost Famous, found out she was married to Chris, and bought Lions. The rest is psychedelic love history — I fell hard for The Black Crowes, even harder for New Earth Mud, and now hardest for the Chris Robinson Brotherhood. I spent one summer following The Black Crowes around Alabama and subsequently saw them three or four very happy times. They opened with “Soul Singing” in Montgomery that year, and it made what is generally a dreary city (in my experience) into a beautiful supernova wonderland for the absolutely magical seven or eight minutes they jammed. Kim and I saw them the summer or two after, in Birmingham, and it was quite seriously one of the saddest performance I’ve ever seen. They closed with a particularly wrenching cover of “Yer Blues” and as we exited with scores of fans muttering about “how shitty that was,” I was all “Man, something’s up with their marriage.”
Lo and behold, Kate and Chris announced their separation like a week later. Sean and I saw the Crowes again a year or so after that (I forget the timeline), and they were all in better spirits and being absolutely delightful.
In between Crowes sightings, Chris released two solo albums under New Earth Mud (self-titled New Earth Mud and This Magnificent Distance). These albums define very core pieces of my soul, and as such are insanely important to me. I have listened to these songs during every single major and minor event in my life since they came out. There are some people associated with certain songs that I can’t shake; others have seasons. In fact, I usually listen to This Magnificent Distance in the fall and winter, and New Earth Mud in the spring and summer. Sometimes they flip, sometimes they criss-cross and intersect, because it’s all fluid and delicious.
Some time ago, the Black Crowes briefly reunited, released Before The Frost…Until The Freeze which I couldn’t love more. Then they broke up (again), and Chris started up the Chris Robinson Brotherhood, which is what he was performing under when we saw him a few days ago in Birmingham. I had no idea what to expect, barely knew any of the CRB songs (the album’s not out yet, I’m not a fan of bootlegged YouTube videos unless I already know the songs), but I knew I’d love it.
In fact, I loved it more than I could imagine — even with the dude standing next to me who happened to pour beer down my right side and who then tried to apologize? I think? By wrapping his arm around my waist. That was the low, maybe, except Kim also had beer spilled on her and received a dirty look from the girlfriend of the offending beer spiller (which still makes no sense). DESPITE THOSE MOMENTS, the concert was brilliant. I was so happy just to… be in the same room with this man. He’s a poet. He’s the best thing that’s happening right now in my particular brand of music and life, and I just love him.
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