Next stop: Sudoku!
Return to hot chicken
On this day in 2006, we each strapped an Ace Tone to our back and hopped a freighter, destination Nashville, where upon our arrival we commenced with the recording of I Am Not Afraid of You and I Will Beat Your Ass. Speaking of Music City, one of their finest pickers, William Tyler, is accompanying us on our spinning wheel tour of 2011, today’s stop being Carrboro’s famed Cat’s Cradle (he joined us on “My Heart’s Reflection” and “Satellite”).
Science gone too far
Rusty from Alexandria VA reminisces about where he was three years ago today: “I see Yo La Tengo for the 5th time and become the second person to ever spin The Wheel at the 9:30 Club to the tune of 1000 people chanting my name. It seems I’ve lost video evidence, but here’s a photo!” And in the process, Rusty identifies a design flaw in our spinning wheel. (Do I need remind you that in 2011 we toured with a wheel, the spin of which would select among eight possible formats our first set of the evening?) As it turned out, Rusty was not only the second person to spin the wheel, he was also the second spinner to land on The Sounds of Science Part 2. Following the show, a team of NASA engineers dismantled and reassembled the wheel, restoring full random integrity in time for our next date in North Carolina.
Voyage to the bottom of the line
In case you were still buying popcorn when the credits rolled, we are counting down the days to December 2, which will mark 30 years of YLT. Today is the silver anniversary of our opening for the Feelies at New York’s Bottom Line. I’ve done my best to block out the memory of those four shows (also January 21, two per night). Consequently all I can tell you is that Jonathan Demme was in the audience (because I remember that) and that the Feelies were great (because they have never been anything else).
Weekend update
On January 18, 2012 we finished mixing “I Saw the Light” for Michael Shelley‘s Superhits of the Seventies (later included in various editions of Fade). Six years ago we performed in Memphis, last year we were in Seattle, and yesterday I forgot to post. Today is the anniversary of shows in Springfield MO (2008) and San Francisco (2013). And not that this is a competition, but nevertheless best of all, Katie from Northampton writes: January 19, 2013 – I’m 7 months pregnant and it’s the night before our movers come to move us to our new 2-bedroom apartment. I’ve spent the last week packing and listening to all of ‘Fade’ over and over, excited and terrified about the ways our lives are about to change. . . .
Ain’t no place I’d rather be
Freewheeling around the south on this date in 2008, we arrive in Nashville, hometown of our partner in travel, Kurt Wagner, and among our very favorite cities. Kurt sang “Theöne” and we sang “A Satisfied Mind” for a little local color. Last year, we were in Hollywood, at Amoeba Records–we played “Time Fades Away” and “I’m a Bug” for a little local color, and I picked up the Miles Davis 65-68 box and an Amboy Dukes 45.
