Great piece, Glenn. And, as always, amazing photos. I enjoyed listening to him being interviewed by Marc Maron on WTF last year. He talked a lot about how painting has been his passion for the last while, less so music. Did he share anything about his art? It is funny how much he pop-poos nostalgia in both interviews and song yet this sounded like a pretty nostalgic show. I mean performance.
Thanks, Steve. I heard the same interview before the show. Several large prints of his work were available in the lobby, separate from the music merch booth. Cool stuff. I think he's really smart about nostalgia and threads the needle well. It was really entertaining.
Sounds like a great show. That's great that he had his prints there. I find artists that work in multiple mediums (like you!) tend to have longer, more creatively-rich careers.
I noticed that too. I can see how it’s possible to make an anti-nostalgic performance out of 30-40-year-old songs, but I want to know more about how he did it.
For my part, I’m mystified by the people who say (about any artist) “I never pay attention to the lyrics.” I know it’s music and not a poetry reading, but—the guy is talking to you! You have no interest in knowing what he’s saying?
He's not trying to recreate the songs as they were recorded, for the most part, and he leans into the changes in his voice rather than trying to disguise them. And the commentary on aging (from the clips, to the Woodward narration, to the choice to do Jack and Diane as an acoustic quartet rather than in the full on version) served as a reminder that those times everyone wants to relive are long since past.
I don't understand why others fail to pay attention to the lyrics, but they do. We live in such a soundbite society that a lengthy chorus is beyond many attention spans.
Great piece, Glenn. And, as always, amazing photos. I enjoyed listening to him being interviewed by Marc Maron on WTF last year. He talked a lot about how painting has been his passion for the last while, less so music. Did he share anything about his art? It is funny how much he pop-poos nostalgia in both interviews and song yet this sounded like a pretty nostalgic show. I mean performance.
Thanks, Steve. I heard the same interview before the show. Several large prints of his work were available in the lobby, separate from the music merch booth. Cool stuff. I think he's really smart about nostalgia and threads the needle well. It was really entertaining.
Sounds like a great show. That's great that he had his prints there. I find artists that work in multiple mediums (like you!) tend to have longer, more creatively-rich careers.
I noticed that too. I can see how it’s possible to make an anti-nostalgic performance out of 30-40-year-old songs, but I want to know more about how he did it.
For my part, I’m mystified by the people who say (about any artist) “I never pay attention to the lyrics.” I know it’s music and not a poetry reading, but—the guy is talking to you! You have no interest in knowing what he’s saying?
He's not trying to recreate the songs as they were recorded, for the most part, and he leans into the changes in his voice rather than trying to disguise them. And the commentary on aging (from the clips, to the Woodward narration, to the choice to do Jack and Diane as an acoustic quartet rather than in the full on version) served as a reminder that those times everyone wants to relive are long since past.
I don't understand why others fail to pay attention to the lyrics, but they do. We live in such a soundbite society that a lengthy chorus is beyond many attention spans.