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Entry date: 6-19-2024 – First Day of Vacation – Letters to My Friends

Dear Friends,

 

I guess today is really the first day of vacation. I’ll be running errands most of the day then bowling. I’m also going to play some golf, too. I’m doing that right now, actually. Early bird tee time to try and avoid the killer heat.

 

I haven’t played in a while, but I hope to, at very least, have a good time. I remember how to do it, I think. We shall see, though.

 

Yesterday was a good day. I didn’t get what I wanted, but it was okay. I wanted to be let out of summer camp so I could attend a training and it seemed like it was a typical teacher training for the last half that I did get to see. The ending of summer camp was uneventful and literally none of those bitches said goodbye to me.

 

Rude.

 

I was kind of like, “Gee, I must be a total asshole.” Maybe I kind of was, to be honest. I put very little effort into summer camp because, well, there wasn’t a whole lot for me to do. I’ll happily take the pay, though, because even though I took advantage of all the down time and did my lessons planning for the first week of school and such, I made sure the kids were safe and on task.

 

Oh well. It is over. I am happy about that, too.

 

I’m excited for the trip and will be checking in from the road as always. This will be a new route, so I plan on sharing as much as I can. I’ll even try and take some pictures, too.

 

*****

 

It’s funny, but the first line below kind of makes me a little sick considering some news my mom shared with me yesterday. I have a family member that sucks buttermilk. I’m not going to lose any sleep over it, but I feel like I’m a pretty decent person compared to him.

 

*****

 

When you grow up without a lot of disposable income but a desire to grow your record collection, you get creative. I would go to Zia Records and look for the orange tags. This meant the records were used and you could usually get them for $2.99 back in the 80s. Often, they were in great shape, and you just had to carefully peel off that annoying sticker if you wanted to pretend you paid full price.

 

I would scour the bins in the mid-80s looking for bands I knew or albums that looked like they might be weird or punk or both. This led me to a lot of cool things and if you looked through all the bins, you might even find used records people had stashed thinking they would come back when they had the cash and snag them.

 

My memory wants to say that I found today’s record that way, looking through a completely different letter in the alphabet, but it was almost forty years ago when I bought Three-Way Tie (For Last) by the Minutemen for $2.99. I can’t say for sure, but I remember being really surprised to find what was a pretty new record at the time in late 1985 or early 1986. I had heard how great they were, but I hadn’t really heard them yet. It was a win-win.

 

There is an anticipation that comes from putting the needle on a record for the first time. I get very excited about it, even when I have a pretty good idea of what is going to come out of the speakers. With the Minutemen, I didn’t have a clue. I just knew that people I knew who had good taste liked them a lot.

 

Three-Way Tie (For Last) doesn’t have an A or B side or even a side 1 or 2. It has Side D. and Side Mike. There are four songs by D. Boon on the record, five by Watt, four covers, and four songs by Mike Watt and Kira Roessler. 

 

“The Price Of Paradise” is not a typical punk rock song, but then again, the Minutemen are not a typical punk rock band. I was pretty taken aback by the sound of “The Price Of Paradise,” but I liked it. It is a pretty protest song, and I would quickly come to realize that Boon, who had just died when I got the record, was a man with a lot to say.

 

Of all the Minutemen records, Three-Way Tie (For Last) is probably brought up the least. I can understand why. I have other favorites from them, for sure, but being this is the one that introduced me to them, I have a special place in my heart for it that goes beyond nostalgia.

 

There are some great covers on the record, for one, that make it almost instantly familiar no matter how long you go between listens. The cover of “Lost” is cool and interesting (thanks to the pauses), but back in the day I was not privy to the mutual love and affection felt between Watt and Cris Kirkwood. Now I listen to that cover, and it impacts me very differently.

 

Side D., if you take away the “Lost” cover and the “Have You Ever Seen the Rain?” cover, is super political, which I love. “The Big Stick” is a fantastic, as is the third D. Boon song, “Courage.” I also like the Watt/Roessler song, “Political Nightmare,” too.

 

“Courage” has this great acoustic break down that D. Boon played over this cool, twisty bassline by Watt. What a tremendous loss it was when Boon died in that accident in the Arizona desert. Something tells me that had D. Boon lived, there would be about 30 more Minutemen records.

 

“The Red and The Black” is a blistering cover of Blue Oyster Cult’s song from 1973’s Tyranny and Mutation that kicks off side 2. While it sounds like the Minutemen, they stay pretty true to the original. It’s a scorcher, though, and one of my favorites.

 

Much of Side Mike is pretty damn rockin’, actually. “No One” lets Boon and Watt get a little heavy and funky over George Hurley’s typically excellent backbeat. Hurley doesn’t get nearly enough credit in many circles when it comes to Minutemen songs. He’s not super flashy, but he’s solid as hell and can bang with the best of them.

 

“Stories” is short and sweet and beautiful. This one is another Watt/Roessler collaboration and the middle of a nice little troika of songs by the one-time married couple on side Mike. “Ack Ack Ack” by the Urinals comes next before the record closes out with a couple more Watt songs, a Boon song, and a Roky Erickson cover (“Bermuda”).

 

Most of side Mike is pretty short and sweet so it tends to just fly by when you listen to it. The pleasant passing of the songs is pretty nice, actually, and the Minutemen have been welcome company the last few weeks as I work on tiling the shower in our bathroom.

 

I’m so glad I took a chance on this record. It opened the door for a lot more great music from both the Minutemen and Mike Watt. I’ve been very fortunate when it comes to Watt. I have stories to tell. Good ones.

 

*****

 

See you tomorrow.



AI for the weird (win) today.

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