Friday Fives – playing LaCrosse

What brand of clothing from the past would the current generation have never heard of?

Izod, aka LaCrosse.  Had this little alligator patch over the breast.  It was expensive clothing in like 6th grade (around 1982… give or take 5 years) and showed you were cool and your parents were rich.  Now, I was far from poor.  We were upper middle class white folk in the suburbs with everything.  But… it’s not like we had ‘izod’ money.   I mean… we weren’t the Rockefellers.

Do you have a TV show you could binge over and over again?

I’ve said it before, but with technology we are now able to easily go back and watch the shows we watched growing up.  I’ve also said few hold up over time.  The 80s was a time of intense overacting.  NOTHING was allowed to breathe, and there was no subtext.  If a character was morose… it wasn’t done with minor keyed music and muted colors while the lead says little.  No sir, ALL acting was “I’m sad, can’t you see that?”  I hate when you can see acting.  It’s why I feel I could be a great actor.  I’m not going to force anything.  Say a line, take a beat… let the audience infer the info they need, and make it their own.

With all that complaining, for pure entertainment… the Fall Guy and CHIPs absolutely hold up and I watch them if they come on anywhere.   Even on Youtube/

Oh, and the State.  My absolutely favorite sketch comedy troupe of all time.  By light years.

Jason Isbell calls Taylor Swift a genius and perhaps the biggest songwriter ever.

What do you guys think?

Yes, she is a genius.  As for her songwriting, I can’t say.  I don’t know a single Taylor song.  However, I can’t think of a bad thing to say about her.  She is such an amazing roll model on every level.  And she writes her own songs.  Know what other pop star does that?  NO ONE!   Well, Gaga certainly is a talent and writes most or all of her own stuff.  Taylor is the SHIT!  She takes no guff, is happy and kind to everyone, and stands up for musicians everywhere.  She uses her frighteningly monster clout for total good.  She is a saint, and a mensch.  Obviously, she is a heck of a songwriter, too.  You don’t fill a catalog like that if you don’t have talent.  

What song makes you emotional, no matter how often you hear it?

Footsteps.  Very specifically this version.  Also, Seasons***  and Like Suicide (again, it has to be this version).  The amount of vocal control and passion in the delivery knocks my socks off, every time.  Plus, they remind me a great era… early college when I first lived on my own.

Name an album where you can listen to every song from the beginning to the end and not have the urge to skip a song.

Pearl Jam – Yield.  Ok, maybe I would skip Brain of J.  Nirvana – Nevermind.  Smashing Pumpkins – Siamese Dream and Gish.  Siamese Dream is so fucking good that even the songs which are clear filler (Sweet Sweet, Luna) are absolutely terrific.  That album is easily the single most impactful record of my life.  It’s like Zeppelin 4.  I’ve heard it so many times… thousands… I can’t even listen any more.  Like, I don’t need to.  It’s hardwired into me.

• *** the reason why these Cornell songs are so important to me isn’t just because they are amazing and perfect songs.  Or some of the best vocal work I can think of in rock… it’s because those were the first time I heard Chris Cornell sing.  I’d been a Soundgarden fan, and even see them live.  Had never once heard Cornell sing.  No sir, for his first 20 years he just screamed in falsetto.  Getting to hear his lower range, like we got to in Temple of the Dog was a game changer for me.