Author: Ira

Let’s all raise a glass and toast Chubby Checker on his 72nd birthday.  Such an auspicious occasion calls for an equally special libation.  Luckily, the good people at Big Star have just the elixir.  For a limited time, thirsty customers can order the well-named Blue Line Swinger: Rittenhouse Rye, Amaro Nardini, Dolin Blanc Vermouth, and coffee bitters, garnished with an orange peel.  One sip is sure to have you exclaiming “patterns of sound are my bag right now.” And nobody with a conscience will want to stop at one, because the proceeds from the Blue Line Swinger are being donated to the Lynn Sage Foundation supporting the fight against breast cancer.  Bottom’s up.

Greetings from Detroit.  Joe and Mark took in last night’s Tigers-Mariners game, but we had no time for such frivolity.   Not with everything that’s going on between now and the end of the year.   The three shows at the Bell House we announced yesterday are already sold out, so we’ve added one more, on December 16.  Two sets by us, no opener.  Meanwhile, we’re putting the finishing touches on two new releases.  First, a 7-inch of “Super Kiwi,” recorded during last summer’s Fade sessions b/w a cover of the  Beach Boys’ “A Day in the Life of a Tree.”  Lovely art work by Stephen Hunking (see below) and Jim Woodring (you’ll just have to wait for that one) too.  Secondly, a deluxe version of Fade including a bonus CD with all the stuff we’ve put out in the last year, which turns out to be quite a lot, including a few previously unreleased songs (available individually for download).  That’s not even the end of it, though it is the end of this post.

Following a week with Belle & Sebastian and before heading over to the UK for Latitude, we popped in at home to water the plants and see Steve Coogan in The Look of Love.  Pleasantly surprised first to say hi to Marshall Allen at Newark Airport’s otherwise pleasure-challenged Terminal A, and then shake hands with Joel Grey on Bleecker Street.  Good to be back, however briefly.

Sentimentalists to the end, we bid our too-fond-for-words farewell to Maxwell’s last night with a set by the Condo Fucks.  Which means we need a new home base, and we’re not ruling anything out.  Correspondents Gabriel and José think they may have found the right place in Murcia, Spain.  The down side is it’s a shoe store, but it does have a certain no lo sé.

Do you like stories? If not just skip to the end.

The year was 1996. Georgia, James, and I–accompanied by our young ward, Bruce Bennett–travel to East Orange, NJ, and in return for pledges to WFMU attempt, emphasis attempt, to play your requests. Did it go well? Historians and grammarians have worked round the clock ever since, trying in vain to answer that question. Meanwhile, Yo La Tengo have participated in every WFMU marathon–one year a cancelled flight stranded Bruce in Austin; another year a brutal case of the flu put Georgia on the DL.

Cut to: present day. Station Manager Ken Freedman inexplicably does not consult with us about our touring schedule, and consequently the 2013 WFMU Marathon is taking place in its entirety while we are touring Europe. Unless, in fact, Ken did this explicitly to keep us from our annual appearance. In which case, the joke’s on him (not to mention the WFMU listener).

Ladies and gentlemen, live from Berlin, Yo La Tengo and cub reporter Bruce Bennett will be taking your requests in return for your generous pledge to the Only Radio Station that Matters. Thursday at 9 a.m. EDT (or thereabouts), we will occupy the Hello Children program with your host Faye and your co-host Gaylord Fields. Go here right now and make your pledge and make your request. Fear not, your requests will remain hermetically sealed until airtime. Fulsome apologies in advance, and thank you for supporting WFMU!