The Days of Lore

Glen with one ‘n’

Thursday, February 26th, 2009 | musiX, pdX | 3 Comments

“What kind of music do you listen to?”

That question came early on in the day, the day I worked with Glen. And from that point on, music was all we talked about. Glen is 41. Has a wife and a 3-year-old kid. Owns 1,500 CDs. Has seen the Ramones three times. Slayer twice. Alice In Chains is his favorite Seattle band. And he claims emphatically that 1970 was the greatest year for music.

Glen and I stock ice cream. It’s the first job I was able to get since moving to Portland five months ago. He’s been doing it for almost two years. We go from store to store slapping Eskimo Pies and Rocky Road (invented by Dreyer’s in 1929 and named with the Great Depression in mind) on to the shelves. No thinking involved, just talking about rock ‘n’ roll. When a song would come on over the intercom, he would call out the artist and the year it came out. “Julian Lennon (the less cool Lennon), 1984,” he said while “Too Late For Goodbyes” rang through the store’s tinny speaker system. “Foreigner, 1984,” when we heard “I Want To Know What Love Is.” One time I thought Glen was working a few doors down the aisle, when I heard out of nowhere: “Bob Seger, 1976.” It was “Still the Same.” And it was awesome.

Later that day we had to drive a ways to get to some of stores located in these podunks outside of Portland, so we carpooled. Wet gloves lined Glen’s dashboard, drying over the heater vents, which smelled like a mixture of wet dog, dirty socks, dreadlocks and cookies ‘n’ cream. There was music, of course. He’d made a mix that pulled one song from each of his Top 30 albums … no easy feat. The rest of the afternoon we listened to Bob Dylan and The Doors, the Dead Kennedys and the Ramones, Neil Young and The Who, from albums like Highway 61Revisited, Leave Home and Live at Leeds, which Glen proclaimed as the greatest live album ever. I couldn’t argue. I was glad to discover that Glen was a smart person, even if he looked at me funny when I told him I didn’t own Live at Leeds. “I should make you walk!” he threatened.

Glen told me that he asks everyone he meets what they listen to. And when they give the stock reply, “I listen to everything” he’ll follow up with “Do you listen to Slayer? Do you listen to the Carpenters?” I probably redeemed myself by answering yes to both. Of all the songs I heard that day it was “Ramble Tamble” from Creedence Clearwater Revival’s Cosmo’s Factory record that slayed me … released, of course, in 1970. Here’s to Glen, a true music freak. Here’s to the underrated CCR, who’s influenced every band worth a damn. And here’s to the fact that I didn’t have to sit in a (slightly) smelly car listening to stinky FM radio.

“Ramble Tamble” - Creedence Clearwater Revival

Tags: Bob Dylan, Bob Seger, Carpenters, Cosmo's Factory, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Dead Kennedys, Foreigner, Julian Lennon, Live at Leeds, Neil Young, Ramones, Slayer, The Doors, The Who

Barroom blitz

Friday, October 31st, 2008 | musiX, pdX | No Comments

Blitzen Trapper might have the best logo I’ve seen in years. However, if you were to judge a band by its album cover you might think the Portland, Ore., sextet was a throwback to when rockers dressed like women and women liked that sort of thing. But there’s nary a gimmick here. Blitzen Trapper hearkens back to American roots music of the late-’60s early-’70s in the vein of Neil Young and The Band—it’s the kind of music I’ve been listening to for years without actually having listened to Blitzen Trapper. How could this happen?!

The band has been kicking around since 2003, but it wasn’t until the release of 2007’s Wild Mountain Nation that these guys began their journey to becoming household names in the hovels of music dweebs across the country. Blitzen Trapper has appeared in Rolling Stone, received the elusive “Pitchfork bump” and has been blogged about by everyone and their mothers (hi mom!).

With the recent release of Furr (their first for Sub Pop), the members of Blitzen Trapper are doing it all over again. Rave reviews, big shows (they’ve already played with Fleet Foxes and Stephen Malkmus and have gigs lined up with Iron & Wine and a Nov. 17 performance on Late Night with Conan O’Brien). Why not? Smart lyrics, pop hooks, sweet harmonies. Just the right amount of twang and rawk. Fits well in a smoky bar or a big stage. You’d be silly not to like it. Does this mean it’s acceptable for critics to officially bring back the term “alt-country”? Didn’t think so.

“Gold For Bread” - Blitzen Trapper

Tags: Blitzen Trapper, Fleet Foxes, Furr, Iron & Wine, Neil Young, Pitchfork, Rolling Stone, Stephen Malkmus, Sub Pop, The Band, Wild Mountain nation