Some notes from Summerfest:We saw Paul Simon on Saturday night, who performed "The Only Living Boy in New York," a semi-obscure song off Side Two of the Bridge over Troubled Waters record. I used to listen to Side Two over and over again on my Sears hi-fi system in my bedroom, when I was 12 or so and just beginning to understand depth in pop music. It recently turned up on the soundtrack to the (recommended) movie Garden State, which is apparently why it's turned up in Simon's setlist.
Surprise, by the way, is a good record. Though it's not quite Ryhthm of the Saints or Graceland, it's a darn site better than You're The One or Capeman. Certainly, Brian Eno's contributions are interesting and worthwhile.
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Last Thursday, we saw (or mostly heard, and kind of saw) Elvis Costello and the Impostors, with guests Allen Toussaint and the Crescent City Horns. Because of the horn section, Costello played several songs which -- like Simon's "Only Living Boy..." -- I would never have expected to hear live. "Clown Strike," for example, is from 1994's quite excellent Brutal Youth, but I'd never much cared for that track until last Thursday. Though I've yet to hear it, the many performances of songs from the recent Costello/Toussaint record sounded very promising. One of their final songs, "Sharpest Thorn," has really stuck with me, as has the unparalleled FUN of dancing on picnic tables, whereby the wooden planks flex and rebound beneath one's feet. Particularly recommended following several weiss beers, a corn dog, and the "popcorn crawfish" from Heaven City/Q BBQ.
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Hey, Literati: Snakes on a M*th*rf*ck*n' Novelization!
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