Punk legend/super fan Henry Rollins interviews the band prior to the performance:
Being a quiet band of introverts who prefer to make loud sounds with their instruments, Henry did the majority of the talking.
Onto the music. After a couple of warmup tracks, they ripped into Freak Scene:
Midway through the set and Budge:
And finishing off with their classic cover of Just Like Heaven by The Cure:
This time I wisely brought my earplugs along. So nice to feel the music without feeling pain in my ears from the sheer volume of the three guys pounding out the music onstage.
Hailing from the Saint Paul, Minnesota it's quite natural for a band to have a winter-themed song. With long, dark and bitterly-cold winters, the Twin Cities, as well as other cities that have cold or miserable-weather have long been fertile ground for bands. What else are you going to do? Sacked in and bored, you sequester yourself to the basement and pick up some instruments and bang out music. Or drink. Or, in the case of Hüsker Dü, do both, and do both well.
From Flip Your Wig, the Hüsker's fourth studio album, as well as their second stellar release of 1985, is Flexible Flyer.
Down on my Flexible Flyer
To the bottom how fast I would go
Just waiting for me under the tree
And out in the snow
A cowboy, a nurse or a fireman
There's so many things that you can be
You can set bigger goals, but set your soul
Yeah, set your soul free
Times, places and situations
Lead to an early grave
When we get there we see
Just what did we save?
If your heart is a flame burning brightly
You'll have light and you'll never be cold
And soon you will know that you just grow
You're not growing old
If the wheels of your wagon are rusty
You can paint them until they are new
You can roll down a hill, but if you can't
Then I pity you
(and the video - which sadly has nothing at all to do with sleds or winter):
Growing up in the Midwest I always had a Flexible Flyer as part of my winter arsenal of sledding devices. Sure, aluminum saucers were fun and erratic (you'd often end up facing the wrong way, speeding backwards and out of control down the hill), while molded plastic sleds always had interesting novelty gadgets like (shudder) brakes. But once the snow became packed down enough, generally after a couple of good snowfalls, coupled with a freeze/thaw cycle or two, Flexible Flyers were my go-to sleds.
I'd fastidiously file the rust off the runners and then apply whatever wax I could find, generally rubbing an old candle along the now-smooth rails. Yes, as a 10 year-old, I lived in a Swix-free home.
With our neighborhood adjacent to a local country club, there were plenty of moderately-steep and long hills to descend. But the best sledding tracks were always made on the steep, curving and shaded closed-for-the-season boat launch at a nearby lake. My friends and I spent hours in the snow packing and shaping the most-perfect track this side of Lillehammer. Wipeouts were inevitable, as was losing a glove or moon boot when one launched off-track and into the dormant brush. And while we would always end up cold and nearly-frostbitten, we'd return the next day (or evening if school was in session), repair the track and attack it again.
Nowdays this is the only Flexible Flyer I still own, a small ornament that was made by one-time employer Pacific Cycle when they owned the brand:
Spotted at the annual Campagnolo Toy Ride (and not hard to miss - especially for a car dork like myself) was this 1960 International Harvester Metro.
Owned by Velo Hangar in Solana Beach, it was purchased in Denver and trucked out to the San Diego area where it received the sweet retro-inspired paint before being put into service.
I imagine urban areas had swarms of these vans on the streets in the years prior to my birth. Now they're a rare sight.
Drive with the slider open while perched in the belt-less driver's seat. Just don't take right turns too quickly.
I have the sudden urge to eat a Creamsicle®
I imagine these chunky rear snow tires don't ride all-that well. But they sure look cool (sans-excessive gloss)
Reflective, intimate and
somewhat plaintive, Robyn Hitchcock’s Winter
Love comes from his primarily-acoustic1984 release I Often Dream of
Trains. Showcasing a quieter side of the eccentric songwriter, the track
title alone should be a good tipoff that it’s a fine winter song.
Robyn Hitchcock – Winter Love
It's the darkest time
of year
Crystal branches everywhere
As the colours drain away
You alone are far away
Leaves of frost upon the trees
Lovers falling on their knees
Curtains parting in the night
Let me in your sweet delight
Where the garden used to be
Now a different world I see
For one second all I know
Everything is made of snow
First from white and then to blue
Pink to purple lost to view
It's the darkest time of year
Winter love is almost here
This song’s simple acoustic guitar
strumming introduction is enough to make the hair on the back of my neck stand
on end. And once the lovely Ms. Case’s siren-like vocals kick in I’m lost in
the song. It’s clearly one of the standout tracks from her breakthrough 2002
record Blacklisted that saw her move beyond the simple alt-country stylings of
her earlier efforts and into a darker, deeper, haunted, Judy
Garland-as-channeled-by-David-Lynch type of vibe. (Did I use enough
descriptions there?) Well-suited to late night winter drives when abundant snow
flurries whip past the windshield on lonely two-lane country roads, her velvet voice
and the rich production and arrangement keeping my soul warm.
(horrible fan-made video since she never made one for the song):
Neko Case – Stinging Velvet
Rain falls, I fix my eyes
Let go of the focus and I blur out all the lines
Just to remember, remember
Crying 'cause it's not my fault
Water through my lashes look just like Christmas lights
And I still remember, remember
Cold and shivering
Cold and shivering
Cold and shivering warm
Sing please, rock me to sleep
Quiet as a canyon up under heaven's eaves
I surrender, surrender
Downstairs the furnace swells
Safe from all the horrors in your stinging velvet arms
And I surrender, surrender
