Today there was a storm here at the beach in San Diego. I walked home from the Vine at around eight, and the light over the ocean was the color of turquoise. The palm trees were blowing, and the air was warm and smelled of fish and sulphur, but in a good way. How I love living here. I leave the crowd at the bar, one kind of heaven, and step out into warm salt, another kind of heaven. Anyway.

I have been spending a lot of time at the Vine recently. I can’t help it. It’s so awesome there, sort of like a family with Brian, Hannah and baby Emma and Bob & Margaret, and the regulars like Andy and Keith who I knew before but now are like extensions on either side of me half the time. Seriously, sometimes I go there thinking I will just stay an hour, just to get out of the house, but then the great divide opens and I fall into the black hole. I am not complaining – I love it. I love that there is this remarkable new gathering place right down the street and I love that I am a part of it. Now when I think about moving away I am like, how can I? How could I move away from the Vine?

Crazy, I know.

So, last night, uh, at THE VINE, I hooked up with this guy Tyler who had burned me a copy of his recording of Spoon’s show at Canes. I found his recording on archive.org and I wrote to him, begging him to burn it for me. Long story short and a few months later we met last night and he handed over said disk, in return for two bottles of wine that he probably didn’t expect but hey, gratitude knows no bounds, at least with me. Mark was there, and after just a few minutes, we all realized that Tyler was standing RIGHT BEHIND ME at that show. The reason we all remember is, we were all there, waiting patiently though American Music Club’s set, and right before Spoon came on these two big frat dudes came up and barrelled their way right in front of Tyler. And I was like, “dude, push your way in front of those dudes (dickheads.)” Tyler was really mellow and he did not want to push. I would have pushed, also kicked them and pulled out their hair, because I was on a mission that night, but whateves. In the long run we all remember each other, which is weird, and he was recording the fucking show right behind me, and I now have that show playing in my living room. Which is also weird. Also hella cool.

So now, listening to that night that I was part of, being like, three feet away from those tiny speakers hidden inside of a beanie, worn by some kid that I had no idea that I would ever meet, I am suddenly stricken with a new bout of the Spoon disease. Meaning I can’t stop listening, meaning there is no world besides the world that Britt Daniel sings in. It is all encompassing, and a wonderful place to be – obsessed. Obsession is the key to enlightenment. Seriously, it is better than sex. I am in love with listening. That, and bathing in Taleggio cheese sauce.

So. Listen to some of the songs that Tyler has got there on archive.org. In a perfect world, you would listen to the whole show, but if you decide to choose just a few tunes, check out Small Stakes (high energy Spoon at their finest) then Vittorio D (one of the best ballads ever and this live version has a one of those Britt playing with his guitar moments that I adore) followed by They Never Got You (totally, completely brilliant, especially live.) I am in total awe. To be in love, and to have a song go on and on, like They Never Got You does… well. It doesn’t get much better than that. I know I was in a complete and total heaven that night, all wrapped up in Britt and the music. Now I have a record of it. Thanks Tyler.

I love, love, love it. From Vittorio D:

I took a river and the river was long
I want you to stay course I want you to go
I took a river and the river was long and goes on

I will never go. I am a junkie.

This entry was posted on Friday, April 14th, 2006 at 8:30 pm and is filed under Adventures in Rock and Roll. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.