This photo is only marginally related to this post, but I still like it.
I’ve been using the word “crap” a lot. I blame Strong Bad.
So, REM is in town, and apparently they were hanging out last night at Orange County Social Club. Sure, it would have been fun to see them drinking in one of my locals, but you can see plenty of great musicians getting shitfaced there on any given Tuesday. However, today Ryan tells me this:
When they left the Social Club, Mike Mills, Peter Buck and Scott McCaughey went to The Cave, and played an impromptu set with Jon Wurster on drums. Ken Stringfellow and Pete Yorn also sat in. The set list “god, I love the Internet” included The Ballad of John and Yoko, Hang On Sloopy, and a medley of Bang a Gong, Mr. Soul and Sweet Jane.
At The Cave. “It’s slightly larger than my kitchen, only with a lower ceiling. It’s cleaner, too.” The first time I saw REM was in 1983 at the Concert for African Relief at Meredith College in Raleigh. It was a smallish show, and I met Peter Buck and Mike Mills afterwards. The next time I saw them was at the Dean Dome on the UNC campus six years later, when they had Gone Major, and it was nowhere near as much fun.
I know I live in Chapel Hill and we’re supposed to be blasé about rock stars and stuff, and I’ve missed plenty of “must see” shows. “When people ask me if I was at “that Archers show” or “that Superchunk show,” I usually just say yes. Maybe I was, maybe I wasn’t. I’m sure this statement will brand me as a philistine for many, but unless somebody spontaneously combusted onstage, only a handful of shows stand out after five years.” But damn. I wish I had been there last night.
Tonight I am going to Raleigh to see Bellefea, The Rosebuds, et al. I’m sure that while I’m gone, REM will come to my house and make pancakes.