• A recently unemployed journalist who goes back in time
• A musician father in the past
• Time travel that works by just thinking hard about a specific date
• An inability to visit the same date twice
• Being ghost-like and invisible to most people while back in time
• Always traveling to the same “clock time” and location you left from
• A mysterious doctor associated with a creepy hospital
• Chapters named after song titles/lyrics

No, I didn’t reread Timely Persuasion again.  The above bullets also describe Expiration Date by Duane Swierczynski.  But the similarities are both striking and amusing.  Not sure whether I should chalk it up to great minds thinking alike, 100% coincidence or something in between.  This quote from the book summed up my opinion and made me laugh out loud:

“Two events could be a coincidence.  Not all of this.”

Apophenia aside, the two stories are very different beyond the areas where music & time travel particulars intersect.  Expiration Date plays out as a fast paced hardboiled detective novel bouncing back and forth between the 1970s and the present, with cliffhangers at the end of most chapters that leave you longing for more.  I absolutely devoured it, being sucked into the “just one more chapter before bed” trap that hasn’t happened in a long time.  Best book I’ve read in ages, with an ending that was both satisfying and clever.

Highly recommended, even if TP did nothing to inspire it.

The whole exchange got me thinking about that fabled top slot, eventually yielding the realization that only 3 albums have ever held this title:

Nevermind — 1992 – 2000

Skittish — 2000 – 2010

A Love Extreme – 2010 – ?

Seems to be a once in a decade event…

Keep in mind that this is different than “most listened” or “greatest ever recorded” — it’s a personal favorite at one moment in time, with the expectation that it will remain the defending champ until something you’ve never heard before comes along and dethrones it.

Random aside:  I’m not consciously trying to turn this into “A Blog of Benji Hughesuasion” — I just really dig this musician, as evidenced by all the posts and his claiming my current #1 slot from Doughty.  But typing “Hughesuasion” makes me kick myself for not thinking to use “Nelsuasion” as the secret word in Chapter 24 of TP.  Timely Nelsuasion anyone?

(via ChaCha.com)

Bowling Alley Scene (Chapter 2 of TP)

The Creepy Hospital (Chapter 10 of TP)

Meeting the Redheaded Girl at the bar (Chapter 11 of TP)

Breaking Up with the Redheaded Girl (Chapter 18 of TP)

“There Is No Time Travel” On Lost (Blog Post)

I Went With Some Friends To See Benji Hughes (Blog Post)

Paradox Lost (partial short story predating TP)

Finally, I pasted in a snippet from “Replay” by Ken Grimwood to see what happened, and got this:

(Ok, maybe that last part didn’t exactly happen…)

I’ve been dying to see Benji Hughes live since discovering him back in October via an article in The Believer magazine that sat unread on our coffee table for several weeks. By the time I got around to reading it and listening to his album I learned we had just missed a show he did in LA days prior. A few months later we learned of another LA show 3 days after it happened. My wife was actually toying with flying to North Carolina for my birthday to see him play, but that surprise got nixed when I insisted on watching the LOST finale in the comfort of our own home. But now the wait is over, with Benji doing a 4 show residency at Largo throughout July!

Week 1 was nothing like I expected and more than I could have hoped for. The dude is just plain hilarious up there on stage with his big red cape, long hair and sunglasses. He randomly wanders off in between songs (to get “water”), one time sneaking back on stage against the rear red curtain while “camouflaging” himself with the cape. Goofy, but in a good way and highly entertaining.

In some regards it felt like we were watching a rehearsal as the band improvised the setlist — sometimes making song choices that Benji disagreed with but still nailed. (I’m not sure if this was part of the schtick or a real event, but later in the show it was revealed that Benji had accidentally ripped off the bottom half of the setlist while searching for a piece of note paper shortly before taking the stage.)

Jackson Browne was the special guest who jammed with him in the second half. They did a couple of Zevon covers, Benji’s “All You’ve Got to Do Is Fall In Love” (where Benji had to correct Jackson’s melody on the chorus), and one song by guitarist and former Muscadine partner in crime Jonathan Wilson.

Rough, out of order and likely incomplete setlist from memory:

Higher Than Balls
Even If
How Many Birds?
Country Love
Broadway (partial scat cover of the George Benson song)
Love Is A Razor
Books & Magazines
Waiting For An Invitation
So Much Better
Write Me When You’re Famous
Shooting Star (Solo Piano)
Mohammed’s Radio (Warren Zevon cover w/ Jackson Browne)
Play It All Night Long (Warren Zevon w/ Jackson Browne)
All You’ve Got To Do Is Fall In Love (w/ Jackson Browne)
Solo Jackson Browne Song
Solo Jonathan Wilson Song
———–
Girl In The Tower

My only minor gripe is this:  I tend to go into concerts with a mental checklist of songs I hope an artist plays, and then judge the show on how much of my wishlist was covered.  In this case, only the encore song was on my pre-show list.  But it was still awesome regardless.  Can’t wait for next week!

LOST – “Across The Sea”
The recent “Across the Sea” episode of LOST features two nameless main characters.  The only named character in TP is Nelson, the alleged bad guy. But is he really bad?  The only named character in this LOST episode is Jacob, the alleged good guy.  But is he really good?

Carter USM – The Drum Machine Years
On this live concert album by my favorite band, Jim Bob introduces the song “Spoilsports Personality of the Year” by saying “This song goes out to … a younger me.”  Messages from a future self are a recurring theme in TP.  Is Jim trying to reach his 30-something self?

Mike Doughty – Sad Man Happy Man
In the song “Pleasure on Credit” Doughty sings “I’ve got fun fun persuasion, smart girl not the crazy one.”  I have this image in my head of him sitting on his couch while riffing on possible lyrics and noticing his copy of TP lying unread on the coffee table, giving inspiration to these words.  Probably not true, but fun to imagine as a dramatization.

Delusions of reference aside, I do realize that these are all more than likely coincidences.  However, I also know that Damon Lindelof, Jim Bob, and Mike Doughty are all aware of TP — I just don’t know if they’ve actually read it.  So maybe…

You’ll notice no Friday update.  That’s because after 2.5+ hours in traffic we were still miles away from the parking lot and decided to abort until the next day.  So no Perry Farrell, She & Him, The Specials, Them Crooked Vultures, Echo & the Bunnymen, Vampire Weekend, Ceu, Public Image Limited, or Jay Z.  My favorite quote on the situation:  ”Whoever is in charge shouldn’t be allowed to organize dinner for two, much less a festival for 80 (thousand)″

Saturday, 4/17

John Waters
We started our day in the beer garden across from the Mojave stage listening to John Waters tell stories about his films and just rant in general. Hadn’t clicked before sitting down that this was going to be John Waters to director, but it ended up being a pretty cool kickoff.

Zoé
This wasn’t a solo set by Ms. Deschanel from She & Him, but a rockin’ Mexican grunge band.  Singer looked like a cross between Bono and Chris Cornell.  Decent daytime rock on the main stage.

Jason Bentley
Hit the Sahara tent for the only time all weekend to watch the KCRW Music director spin.  But DJs aren’t really my thing, so it was short lived.  Love your show and your station though…

Old Crow Medicine Show
Really fun twangy, old-time alt-country with fiddles and strings who put on a great set.  I was torn at the end with this debate:  If you prominently feature a fiddle, should you or shouldn’t you cover “The Devil Came Down to Georgia” in concert?  They didn’t, but I think if they had it would have been awesome.

Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeroes
One of my favorite albums of last year, and their live show exceeds expectations.

The xx
If I were to retcon my top albums of 2009 list these guys would be near the top, but since I only heard their record for the first time on Xmas eve it needed some time to secure that slot.  Probably the band I was most looking forwards to and they didn’t disappoint.  I hadn’t seen photos of the band before the show, and they ended up looking both not at all and exactly as I’d envisioned them if that makes any sense.

Faith No More
This falls under the “more interesting than good” category, though it was still fun and worth seeing.  They came out in suits and played a very faithful cover of “Reunited” by Peaches & Herb before launching into “From Out of Nowhere.”  Neither the band nor the songs have aged particularly well (Mike Patton kinda resembles Michael Douglas nowadays), though it was still awesome to hear “Midlife Crisis” and “Epic” played live back to back.

Les Claypool
You always pretty much know what you’re gonna get from Mr. Claypool, and it’s always fun.  Highlight for me was “Riddles are Abound Tonight” from the pre-Primus Sausage days.

The Dead Weather
I was pleasantly surprised by this Jack White side project that has him on drums and MC duties.  Heard a few songs here and there previously that were just okay, but live was a different story.

Sia
More upbeat and power-poppy than what I’ve heard of her before, makes me curious about her new record.

Devo
Wow!  They are not men, they are Devo!  Sounded great, and seemed to age a lot better than Faith No More.  Really cool visuals/cartoons in the background too.

Sunday, 4/18

One EskimO
On their recordings I get a bit of a Damien Rice vibe, but no so much live. Still decent and a good mellow start to day 2.

The Middle East
Actually saw these guys open up for Pavement on Thursday before Coachella.  They’re definitely growing on me, especially this one story song that builds to a pretty rocking crescendo by the end.

Babasonicos
Another Spanish band, this one a little more dance-y than rock-y.  Of the two I leaned towards Zoe while my wife preferred these guys.

Local Natives
I was curious to see what the hype was about, and it seems legit.  The crowd overflowed from the Gobi tent for this solid set.

De La Soul
Great hip hop set.   I hadn’t realized these guys had been around since 1987!

Matt & Kim
Tent was so packed I didn’t actually see them, but instead just listened from outside.  This was during the “lightning round” so I only caught 3 songs, but they sold me with a cover of “Rock and Roll Part 2.”

Florence + the Machine
I was excited for this one, but it wasn’t really doing it for me.  Could have been the crowd though, as it was another overflowing tent and we were so far in the back it was tough to see and hear.  My wife says they sound like a cross between Bjork and something else…

Sunny Day Real Estate
Ahh, nostalgia from a misspent youth…

Yo La Tengo
This was probably my favorite find of the festival.  They were so good we broke from the lightning round plan to hear a few extra songs, and have been blazing through their extensive back catalogue since returning.  Good stuff.

Julian Casablancas
He was ok, though I think I prefer full on Strokes.

Charlotte Gainsbourg
Speculation that Beck would be performing with her proved to be false, but she still held her own and delivered a strong set.

Spoon
Only caught the last few songs here since I was sent to the car to get pants, but I loved what I heard and might finally give Spoon another chance to win my musical heart.

Phoenix
Another band that’s growing on me at long last.  The crowd for this one was ridiculously large.  Towards the end of this set my wife and I split up so I could see the beginning of Pavement and she could see the start of Yann Tiersen, and both of those stages were quite sparse with the rest of the world watching Phoenix.

Pavement
As mentioned above I caught the Pavement show in Pomona on Thursday, so I didn’t feel obligated to catch their entire Coachella set.  I stayed for the first 5+ songs (Silence Kid, In the Mouth a Desert, Stereo, Frontwards, Father to a Sister of Thought, Two States) and made it back in time for the last 2 (Unfair and Cut Your Hair), while slipping out in the middle to meet my wife at Yann Tiersen.  My timing couldn’t have been worse, as this worked out to be more or less to the exact second that Phoenix ended.  So I was walking one way while 70,000 other people were coming right at me in the opposite direction…

Yann Tiersen
The most painful conflict of the original schedule was Yann Tiersen overlapping with Gorillaz.  However, one good side effect of Eyjafjallajokull moved Yann into the earlier slot vacated by Gary Numan.  After fighting the crowd and reaching the Mojave tent my ears were blasted with some crazy guitar rocking.  It sounded great, but I was confused.  My previous exposure to Mr. Tiersen was solely from the classical influenced pieces on the Amelie soundtrack, so I thought I was in the wrong tent.  I actually went outside to check the big schedule to make sure.  Confusion aside, he was pretty awesome.  I especially loved how he’d play the violin so vigorously during the rock outs that the bow was visibly fraying on stage.

Atoms For Peace
I know I have a bit of a (deserved) reputation for not liking things on the first listen and then learning to love them later on.  But try as I might, I just can’t get into Thom Yorke.  He’s gotten more chances than I usually dole out, and even though everything in my musical pedigree says I should be a raging Radiohead fan they just don’t do it for me.

Gorillaz
And so we’ve come to the end.  Great set, excellent use of audio visuals and special guests.  ”Feel Good, Inc” with De La Soul stole the show, especially with that classic laugh repeated over and over.  That never gets old.

My only point of confusion is this:  While waiting an hour for this to start we noticed someone climbing a ladder to the lighting rig catwalk above the stage.  At first we thought it was a worker, but then noticed 2 or 3 other people already up there.  Then we saw another person make the ascent, this one in a red sequined leotard and elaborate headgear.  They reached the top, sat on something that resembled a trapeze, then squatted out of sight.  Our first thought was “Gorillaz are going to have some crazy Cirque du Soleil acrobats?  Cool!”  But then the set ended with nary an acrobat to be seen.  Odd, eh?

http://www.dailyom.com/articles/2/2010/22950.html

Should I be flattered? Do I get royalties?

Seriously, it does feel like it could really be a TP reference directed at the narrator in regards to how he handles the sister situation.

And I list the release date of the book (Feb 29) as the “birthday” on MySpace, which would be a Pisces.

And she eyes me like a Pisces when I am weak…

eBook Evolution

In honor of the annual Read an eBook Week celebration I’m offering free copies of Timely Persuasion via Smashwords.com through 3/13/10.

Enter coupon code “RFREE” at checkout on the Smashwords site to pick up your copy in a variety of formats including Kindle, Sony Reader, Palm, etc.

Timely Persuasion @ Smashwords.com

If you do check it out, I’d love to hear your comments (good or bad) via a review, by email, or in the comments of this post.

(And since I’m letting Smashwords handle the promo this time, hopefully we’ll avoid the incident that occurred in my first foray into eBook week back in 2008.  Bob Zonis, this one’s for you…)

Enjoy!