Towards the conclusion of Half Japanese’s mindwarping cover of “Tangled Up in Blue,” Jad Fair tells us “Sometimes I don’t get Bob Dylan.” Jad, we know the feeling because sometimes I don’t get Yo La Tengo. Four years after new wave karaoke, we decide that a March 1, 1997 one-off at Vassar College is the perfect moment to renew our acquaintance with “Warm Leatherette.” I asked James if he had any memory of what we were thinking, and he said that all he remembered of that night was sitting in our dressing room, watching Bob & David performing from the Aspen Comedy Festival. And it all came back to me (not “Warm Leatherette”–that’s one for the ages). To this day, I still hear in my head our soundman, Peter Walsh, repeating “Are you ready for the magazines!”
