ALBUMS

1. Stick— Jim Bob
Easily my favorite solo album by the former Carter USM frontman since 2007’s A Humpty Dumpty Thing (and his most fun record since In A Big Flash Car on a Saturday Night), Stick harkens back to the turn of the millennium when Jim would release a completely unique but still very him sounding solo record nearly every year. I’ve enjoyed his musical comeback after a seven year hiatus as novelist JB Morrison, but Stick is the first time I’ve had that giddy old “oooh…what’s this?” reaction in quite awhile.¹

2. Thank The Lord… It’s the Pink Stones — The Pink Stones
The latest from my current favorite band (I think) takes the cosmic country aspects to the next level while still being its own unique thing. A record so good it inspired some flash fiction in the spaces between the songs. A lot of real sad groovies here. Bring on LP4!

3. Sea Pipes — Sea Pipes
Best debut record by a teenage band² since I Should Coco, and just as infectiously catchy. Can’t believe this was recorded by high school kids; can believe it was embraced by the legendary DJ Nic Harcourt.

4. Last Missouri Exit — Case Oats
Maybe my most anticipated album of the year, and it didn’t disappoint even though I wasn’t 100% sure what to expect. By the time I saw them play SXSW before the release date I knew this would be a treat. (Funny side story: One song had been stuck in my head since the pandemic era Tweedy Show performance circa 2020. When the album tracklist dropped I was disappointed “Diane, Diane” didn’t make the cut since I didn’t remember/realize it was called “Bitter Root Lake.”)

5. The Little Ones — James Felice
A lightly paraphrased one-sided conversation with my wife. “James Felice has a solo album coming out on Valentines Day.” <a few days later> “And it’s really good.” <a few days later> “And he’s playing Antone’s next week opening for Shovels & Rope.” <after the show> “Should we go see him again tomorrow?” To reappropriate the time Ian Felice paraphrased my wife live on stage: “Hear that James? They’re all hits.”

6. Magnifier — Mason Jennings
My favorite Mason album since Wild Dark Metal, which is oddly the polar opposite of this sparse, short, acoustic beauty of a record. Normally I complain about feeling shortchanged by 8 song / < 30 minute releases, but this became the perfect soundtrack to put on right before bed while still being awake for the whole thing before fading off.

7. Big Stage — Jon Lindsay
Smart, sharp songwriting carries this pop-infused album that feels straight out of the late 70s/early 80s in a love-letter sort of way. Sonically a little all over the place yet still has a solid through line if that makes sense.

8. Love Chant — The Lemonheads
I went into this with very low expectations and came out pleasantly surprised. It splits the difference between the early punky songs and the 90s pop perfection. And of course I dig the fun song titles like “58 Second Song” (clocking in at 3 minutes and change) or “Wild Thing” (not a cover, but winkingly not not not³ a cover)

9. Arther Buck 2 — Arthur Buck
Sounds like what I wanted the first Arthur Buck record to sound like, which is basically Monster era R.E.M. crossed with Lonely Astronaut era Joseph Arthur.

10. Songs For Other People’s Weddings— Jens Lekman
This concept album released as a companion to David Levithan’s novel of the same name⁴ features Jens’s classic formula of heartfelt goofy sincerity amped up to almost orchestral musical proportions. (And of course I was intrigued by the concept of a book based on an album featuring characters with single letter names…)

11. is — My Morning Jacket
My favorite MMJ record since Circuital. (For some reason I keep wanting to call this if vs. is.)

12. Automatic — Jim Bob
Released on the same day as my #1 record of the year Stick, I consider this one the fourth album in the comeback record trilogy⁵ that started with 2020’s 7th ranked Pop Up Jim Bob. Still, I realize these subjective ranking exercises are silly and any new Jim Bob record is something to celebrate. Without the juxtaposition of two choices who knows where this would independently rank⁶. “Our Forever Home” might be my favorite Jim Bob ballad since “This Phoney War.”

SONGS

1. “Basic Being Basic” — Djo

2. “Snugglebunny” — Benji Hughes

3. “Bitter Root Lake” — Case Oats

4. “My Other Car” — Jon Lindsay

5. “Space” — Hunter James

6. “I Wrote A Song Called Take The Skinheads Bowling” — David Lowry

7. “Betrayed” — Jeff Tweedy

8. “Didn’t ask what’s on my mind.” — Telemarket

SHOWS

1. Danny Malone (4 shows: 1/17 + 5/10 at Radio East, 7/26 at Wyldewood, 8/1 at Radio South)
Discovery of the year that kept on giving. He opened for Possessed by Paul James at the January show. We knew nothing about him—but the rest of the room joyfully sang every word and screamed “We love you Danny!” after nearly every song. Started seeking him out after this; by the third show we were practically leading the sing-a-longs.

2. Benji Hughes & Jon Lindsay (3 shows⁷in 3 cities!: 3/14⁸at Merdian in Buda, 3/15 at Zilker Brewing during SXSW, 5/16 at The Pour House in Raleigh, NC⁹)
Last year’s jaunt to NC proved unnecessary¹⁰ when my favorite musician came to me in 2025. Later in the year I managed to parlay a work trip into one last side quest for the final show of the duo tour taking it full circle at Jon Lindsay’s record release gig. Got to hear a few unexpected deep cuts (“Longshot”, “Magic Summertime”, “Spirit Guide”), helped¹¹ inflate and/or deflate beach balls & floats for the stage show, and brought a whole parade of Texas people on tour from all sides of my triple life to the Buda gig to join in on the fun.¹²

3. Shurman at the Saxon Pub — 7/24/25
I used to see this band all the time 20+ years ago in LA. This random reunion showed they still got it.

4. Vapors of Morphine at the Continental Club — 9/19/25
Hat tip to Jon Mack for telling me to check this out. Wasn’t sure how Mophine would be with a different singer/bass player, but hearing these songs live was amazing. (The saxophone is arguably more important to the overall Morphine sound than my younger self realized.) Bonus: Encore opened with “Thursday” — my favorite Morphine jam.

5. Wilco AM Tribute at Radio East — 9/20/25
A fun set of Austin all-stars covering Wilco’s under-appreciated debut.¹³

6. Pink Stones at the White Horse (1.5 times) — 3/13 outside & 3/15 inside
The biggest concert going news of the year is I missed more Pink Stones gigs than I attended!
My epic run of consecutive Austin shows in a 3 year span ended with number 16 before the two Benji sets and Nate Pepper’s out of town birthday generated four separate conflicts¹⁴. Bright side was the 3/15 Benji/Pink Stones conflicts were a 2 minute walk apart (thank the lord for SXSW), so I did squeeze in the back half of the unexpectedly extended Pink Stones set¹⁵.

7. LA Exes at Stubb’s — 11/8/25¹⁶
Have wanted to see this band since their debut album ranked second on my 2021 list, and the opening slot for OK GO was a perfect way to do so. Bonus: We got upgraded to VIP/ADA seats and watched from the balcony above the stage.

8. Regina Spektor at The Moody Theater — 8/5/25
Oh, Regina. Hadn’t seen you live for 16 years before this gem. How we’ve missed you.

9. Hayes Carll Grateful For Christmas at the Paramount Theater — 12/11/25
This annual event is fast becoming a December tradition. Oddly light on actual holiday songs this year, though special guest appearances by Ben Kweller and Lyle Lovett (on a duet of “LA Freeway” by Guy Clark!) made up for it.

10. Supergrass at House of Blues Boston — 9/12/25
In which they played all of I Should Coco, not quite in order on the final night of the tour.

11. Pavement at Levitation Fest — 9/28/25
A Pavement reunion will never get old. I sorta wish the setlist had more “hits,” but can’t complain about rare appearances by “We Dance” & “Debris Slide” & “Texas Never Whispers” here.¹⁷

12. Jens Lekman at Mohawk — 11/25/25
Theme of this show was “dress as a song title.” I went as “Cover Me” by Bruce Springsteen wearing a classic Coverville podcast Coca-Cola parody shirt. My wife and her oxygen machine were “The Air That I Breathe” by Albert Hammond. Jens was Jens, as delightful as always.

13. Fingerpistol at ABGB — 7/20/25
See last year’s 11th ranked show for the full “why I dig this band” recap, but “Two Dollar Words” never gets old.

14. Beat Root Revival at the Armadillo Christmas Bazaar — 12/21/25
Hadn’t seen Beat Root in a few years. Had a neat trick where they redid some of their originals with holiday lyrics so they wouldn’t have to completely learn all-new holiday tunes.

XX. Alabama Shakes at the MGM Music Hall at Fenway — 9/14/25
Honorable mention for this the one that got away since I didn’t get to see the show but should have. Went to the Red Sox game and saw Alabama Shakes were playing next door. When the game ended I sprinted out of the ballpark and over to the club. Bought a StubHub ticket for $20 at 9:55pm…and then got an alert my order was cancelled because the event already ended. I WAS STANDING OUTSIDE AND NOBODY WAS LEAVING! A colleague who attended told me they started at 9:15 and played until almost 11pm, so I could’ve been there for a solid 10+ songs.

PICTURES TO PROVE IT¹⁸

FOOTNOTES

1. My rankings for the full Jim Bob solo catalog: 1. A Humpty Dumpty Thing (2007), 2. J.R. (2001), 3. Stick (2025), 4. Goodnight Jim Bob (2003), 5. Pop Up Jim Bob (2020), 6. Big Flash Car on a Saturday Night (2002), 7. School (2006), 8. Thanks For Reaching Out (2023), 9. Angelstrike! (2004), 10. Who Do We Hate Today (2021), 11. Jim’s Super Stereoworld (2001), 12. What I Think About When I Think About You (2013), 13. Automatic (2025), 14. Goffam (2008) ︎
2. Full disclosure: My former boss’s son is the drummer. He sent me their first single and I was surprised it was legit good. Then the algorithm alerted me to the album drop and I had it on repeat with no nepotic nudging. ︎
3. I used a triple negative in an effort to be as charmingly opaque as the song that is and isn’t on this record, plus I liked it was footnote number 3. ︎
4. I haven’t read the book yet, but plan to next year once the paperback is released. (I read in bed, and hardcovers are dangerous if you nod off and drop one on your face.) ︎
5. So long, and thanks for all the fish. ︎
6. “Please enjoy all Jim Bob solo records equally.” — Something my Innie would be told in a Wellness Session. ︎
7. Almost 4 shows this year, but Benji cancelled his appearance at November’s Been There 4 benefit festival due to a conflict. ︎
8. March 14th gets a special SXSW footnote since I managed to see Case Oats at Hotel San Jose, John Doe Folk Trio at C-Boys, Deslondes at Colton House Hotel, Benji at Meridian and almost had a chance to make it back in time to see The Pink Stones close out the night at Continental Club (but Buda proved too far away logistically). Still, what a day! ︎
9. Lily Mars opened the Raleigh show and played a great cover of “Jane Says.” ︎
10. Though of course I’m still glad I went. ︎
11. Poorly, though in my defense you didn’t have to squeeze to inflate when I was a kid! ︎
12. Quote from Nate Pepper: “After seeing Benji live I understand L Extreme a lot more.” ︎
13. I was sort of triple booked this night, deciding between this show / Vapors of Morphine night 2 / Flat Fest 2. I’m happy with my selection. ︎
14. Especially disappointing was I missed shows at Continental Club & Saxon Pub, two of my favorite venues. ︎
15. I thought I’d negotiated my favorite song “Time’s Standing Still” as both the opener and the closer with bass player Adam Wayton so I’d be present for the second instance, but as Hunter Pinkston put it afterwards “Adam’s not in charge of anything” ︎
16. This would have been the day of the 4th Benji gig of the year at Been There 4. Didn’t have to sweat it since he didn’t play, but still went to the fest in the daytime, left for LA Exes, then came back for headliner Ben Kweller. ︎
17. Since this is as good a place as any: I loved Pavements the movie. Best line: “Like being in a hair metal band in 1992, you can’t ruin something that’s already ruined.” ︎
18. I’ve got a whole stack of proof ︎

Traditional (but still accurate) opening aside, this ending was extra tough since it isn’t necessarily the end end. Local Boy Done Gone was supposed to be half of a two volume, read in any order sequel¹. The other half is called Nelsonification and follows Local Boy’s son, Nelson, the old man, and the redhead on adjacent adventures inside the same timeline(s). The simultaneous release got scrapped when life got in the way, but the goal here was to still wrap up one standalone story while setting up another AND playing it in such a way I’d know it was the midpoint for some readers and the end for others. TL;DR: Tall order for a last but not last chapter!

The chapter itself is a redux of chapter 32 with an older/wiser Local Boy taking the reins and pushing the previous daughter saving resolution further to give 27 musicians a happier ending. How? Via “Won One” — the most important song in all timelines.² By “putting won and one” together (get it?³) a good timeline is had by all.

Tidbits:

• The lyrics to the little Schödinger ditty are slightly different / arguably better than they were previously, showing Local Boy’s growth as a songwriter.
• Telling his younger self he shouldn’t know too much about his own future shows Local Boy is starting to become the old man—though we still haven’t definitively determined if the old man is his older self or his son’s older self…
• “Becoming someone else is…“
• The lists of hair/skin/eyes represent the 27 club members from the redhead’s list. (The eyes were the most fun / referential.)

• I ended up with a bit of a BTTF II Jennifer problem where I didn’t want two Local Boys in the back of the van at the end for Nelsonification purposes. Thankfully I’d introduced a leaping-type concept earlier, allowing me to casually pull the Timely Persuasion narrator into the van like it’s no big deal⁴.
• “Jukebotic communication devices” is a tiny nod to Benji Hughes and LILILIL.
• The actual most covered song of all time is “Yesterday” by The Beatles. Having “Won One” take over that title—and be announced on the Coverville podcast by the world’s foremost authority on cover songs Brian Ibbott—was a fun little easter egg setting up a bigger role for a certain archivist in Nelsonification.
• I couldn’t end the book without saying dangerous folk rock appeal one last time.⁵
• Timely Persuasion starts at a bowling alley. The narrator sees a tan van drive away shortly after he gains the ability to time travel. The redhead asks if anyone wants to go bowling before settling into the driver’s seat. Wonder where⁶ she’s taking everyone…
• The final line of Timely Persuasion is “And maybe somebody was.” Finding a way to land on a similar (and rhyming!) line here really excited me.
• It wasn’t until a few months after the book was release I realized how much the ending parallels L Extreme with the (spoiler alert) “play a bunch of songs to save the day” resolution. In LX it’s all the songs on A Love Extreme; here it’s 27 renditions of “Won One,” all done as if they were the original.

Check out Local Boy Done Gone

FOOTNOTES:

1. Sequel isn’t exactly the right word, but isn’t wrong either. It’s simultaneously a prequel/sequel/sidequel. Isn’t time travel fun? I should call it a timequel… ︎
2. Thanks, Bill & Ted! ︎
3. Maybe this one truly is my favorite chapter title. ︎
4. It’s kind of a big deal. ︎
5. Nor this series of commentary blog posts, brimming with dangerous folk rock appeal. ︎
6. The appropriate question is when the hell are they. ︎

January 31, 2025 marked the release of three new Benji Hughes jams via the soundtrack to the film Home Free. Since I spent years mapping out how to work nearly all of his other songs into a story, my mind naturally processed these new additions in the same manner. How would “Go Dancin'” & “Snuggle Bunny” & “Home Free” fit into L Extreme? Listen up & read on…

Go Dancin’
“Make a long list” from the chorus¹ naturally aligns with the repeated list motifs found during Benji & Jessica’s courtship. At the end of “I Went With Some Friends To See The Flaming Lips” the narrator hits us with a long list of L words. Jessica ponders finding someone to dance with on the dock upon her Jamaican arrival, and the verses feel like pickup lines Kenny would try. Mentally, I tie it to “Girl, You Can’t Dance” for obvious reasons.

Snuggle Bunny
The best song on the whole soundtrack by a country mile in my humble opinion, it also has the cleanest fit into the novel. “You used to kiss me and tell me I’m funny / now all you want to do is talk about money” slots perfectly into Benji & L’s deep dive into the finances of their relationship in “Love on a Budget.” Later, “I’ve been working on my magical touch” has echoes of Jessica’s penchant for magic tricks and would be a nice one-liner during the “let’s lay here in the dark together” bit that closes out “Where Do Old Lovers Go?“

Home Free
A nice piano demo with lyrics seemingly playing on the homeless message of the film, I hear some echoes of “Country Love” in the intro verses. “Rolling through the thoughts that keep on rolling through my mind” summarizes Heartman’s contemplative journey along the Vagus nerve. The same line also has a touch of “ladies roll by” from “Waiting for an Invitation.” The “up my sleeve” motif once again circles back to magic tricks. “I don’t care what it costs” could slip into the Jamaican timeshare sales presentation. “Setting everything on fire” invokes Jessica quoting a line from “Burn” by Vincent & Mr. Green. There’s also a great giggle in the middle of the song, reminding me of this:

“I don’t think I can cook with someone who likes wrestling.” Jessica kept a straight face for a couple of beats, but couldn’t hold it and resumed giggling. Benji also laughed. And so did the girl who bagged groceries.

For more:

Check out the full movie soundtrack

Learn more about the film

Read the novel to imagine these Benji songs were included (and understand what the heck I’m talking about in the out of context excerpts above…)

FOOTNOTES

1. UPDATE 7/17/25: The good folks from BeenThere.org who made the film / produced the soundtrack reached out on Instagram to let me know I got this lyric wrong. The path from A Love Extreme to L Extreme was paved in mondegreens so this is nothing new—but somehow the real lyric already had a scene that fits! ︎

Much like the ends of parts 2 & 3, this is a coda chapter designed to ease Local Boy back into his present day with newfound confidence from the future before pulling the rug out. Early readers were mixed on the internal monologue-ness of it (my specialty but an acquired taste), which led to the idea of having his thoughts occur while literally dancin’ around the house with his wife.

“Lyin’ Eyes” was always the chapter title for this one, both being on theme and a callback to the TP narrator saying his appreciation of music came from his parents love of “The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Eagles, The Clash, and The Ramones.” Being the first song on side 2 of the vinyl was a nice bonus.

Tidbits:

• “…”² as the first thing someone “says” was a snarky reaction to feedback saying the scene needed more dialogue earlier, but lit the spark that inspired the dancing structure.
• I was worried “wishy washy” might be anachronistic for the 1970s — and about fell out of my chair learning it originated in the late 1600s.
• For a few drafts the line went “any inkling of clearly thinkling” but I couldn’t leave it there with a straight face. (Auto-correct doesn’t want to let me do it either!) On the Ifsandsorbuts album it’s a very memorable earworm of a lyric.
• I bent my brain in all different directions trying to find a way to allow Sam Cooke to die at 27 but still have Local Boy know “What A Wonderful World” which wouldn’t have been written anymore. The eventual “duh!” solution was to have the redhead already save him by the time this scene rolls around.
• “Think, thank, thunk” is a little bit Dr. Seuss, a little bit Timely Persuasion‘s “Thunk rhymes with drunk…” Two people simultaneously singing different songs with the same title reminded me of Benji Hughes splitting his band in half to perform “All You’ve Got To Do Is Fall In Love” & “So Much Better” simultaneously one night at Largo.
• One of These Nights by The Eagles was released on June 10, 1975. Local Boy gets back on July 5th, hence he hadn’t heard the album yet. He also missed Independence Day. An old draft slipped in the old “we had so many fireworks, we missed the fireworks” line from my Quantum Leap spec script. I dropped it for being too forced.
• The first mail order paternity test debuted in 1921!
• I’ve always known the narrator of Timely Persuasion was named Carter Timmons even though it’s never revealed in the other book. It is in my circa 1999 short story “Paradox Lost” which later became the first chapter of TP in slightly edited form.

• Remember that thing I mentioned I do to get out of writer’s block by riffing on something mundane? Having Local Boy learn how to play all of the song/chapter titles he recognizes from Timely Persuasion is a much less mundane variation on that theme. Speaking of less mundane, check out these annotations!

• Lobo Dogo was the very last change I made before releasing Local Boy Done Gone. A total eleventh hour panic move that L.B. on the list of 27 was too obvious but Lobo Dogo had a better chance of sneaking by a reader undetected.³ It still says L.B. on the back cover artwork of the paperback– originally because I forgot it was there, later retained as an overthunk red herring of a red herring.⁴

Check Out Local Boy Done Gone

FOOTNOTES

1. I wasn’t an Eagle Scout. Neither was Local Boy. Joe Walsh was one of those things, but he also wasn’t yet. ︎
2. If the pronunciation of !!! is chk chk chk, what does an ellipsis sound like? ︎
3. Unless said reader Googles it and finds this page. Spoiler! Spoiler! ︎
4. My slippery logic: If people think he’s on the list from the back cover, when the initials aren’t actually on the list in the main text they’ll think it was just a promo thing and dismiss their own guess early on. ︎

ALBUMS

1. Nobody Loves You More — Kim Deal
   A decade in the making, the first solo record (not counting an album’s worth of solo singles released back in 2013) by the Pixies / Breeders icon delivers in spades. Sonically adventurous while still sounding exactly like you’d expect and want a Kim Deal record to sound like. Quoting Paste Magazine (who ranked this way too low at 43 IMHO): “And then there is her voice—still a fusion of charm, attitude, a choir of angels and fine-grit sandpaper, just as it has been all along.”
2. The Past Is Still Alive — Hurray for the Riff Raff
   Combining their early album folkiness with the autobiographical messages from more recent output, The Past Is Still Alive epitomizes dangerous folk rock appeal. Like the Kim Deal album, it’s exactly what we’ve come to expect from Alynda Segarra. Bonus points from me for the title and how it weaves its way into a few different songs.
3. Roll It Out — The Deslondes
   So much talent in one band, and the records keep getting better and better. That’s the beauty of a supergroup: We showed up to the party via Sam Doores, but stuck around for Riley & Dan & JJ and welcomed new guy Howe with open arms. “Greater than the sum of its parts” may be cliche, but here it’s the whole truth and a ringing endorsement. Deslondes might be Cajun for Voltron.
4. Bandcamp 52 Fridays — Shawn Smith
   Not exactly an album, but I need somewhere to commemorate the 35 posthumous archival songs released on Bandcamp this year of a planned 52 spanning all of Shawn Smith’s musical projects. Some of these were previously released on the old Skeleton Keys compilations¹, but many were new to me. A whole lot of gems from the dearly departed great I miss the most. (Bonus: Since it didn’t start until May, more are coming in 2025!)
5. L.A. Times — Travis
   Easily my favorite Travis record since The Man Who. Continuing the inadvertent theme percolating above, these new songs sound both freshly different yet clearly sound like Travis songs if that makes any sense.
6. Natural Magick — Kula Shaker
   Easily my favorite Kula Shaker record since, well, 2022‘s very good comeback record. Thankfully they ditched the mildly annoying skits between songs with a solid set of groovy, glammy, just plain fun rock songs wearing their psychadelic influences on their sleeves. It is a little top-heavy, but also might be one of my favorite four-song stretches to open any album in recent memory.
7. The Fear of Standing Still — American Aquarium
8. Valley of Abandoned Songs — The Felice Brothers
   I live-tweeted my first listens for both of these, so I’ll let me past self do the talking below.²

SONGS

1. “Mercury on Parade” — The Deslondes
2. “idontwannapaymytaxes” — Kula Shaker
3. “The Living Thing” — Monsters of Folk
4. “Missionary” — Jack White
5. “A Paradigm Never Talked About In Song” — Hunter James
6. “Nobody Dies from Weed” — Hayes & The Heathens
7. “Damn What a Beautiful Man” — Painted Shield
8. “Time Makes Fools of Us All” — Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats
9. “Sweet Talk” — Iron & Wine
10. “Livid” — Wilco

SHOWS

1. The Pink Stones (12³ times at 7 venues!) — 3/13-3/18 & 10/17-10/20/24
   I’ll spare y’all the play by play and group these 2 blocks together as if they were one show. I did a deep dive into the 8 SXSW shows already, and enjoyed their triumphant October return with a 3-night Sagebrush residency + secret show at Sam’s Town Point capper.
2. Soul Coughing at Roadrunner in Boston — 9/29/24
   They said it would never happen, but I’m certainly glad it did. I still get giddy remembering the True Dreams > Collapse > Misinformed triumphant triumvirate mid-set.
3. Benji Hughes at Bourgie Nights in Wilmington, NC — 9/28/24
   My first in-person Benji Hughes live show in 8 years, plus first in his home state and first since L Extreme was released. Still as magically great as the first time.
4. The Nude Party at Sam’s Town Point (live album recording!) — 5/6-5/8/24
   Stop me if you’ve heard this one before. “They’re playing multiple nights. Let’s just go to the first one…” Those worst laid plans always tend to spiral on me. Despite a nearly identical setlist each night, I had a blast with the sweaty honky-tonk singalong. Did my best to scream my usual “Never!” at the end of “Chevrolet Van” each night, but unfortunately didn’t hear it on the live record.⁴
5. American Aquarium at Radio East — 12/7/24
   On a cold and rainy night at an unfamiliar venue I ended up going solo to this show. American Aquarium kept me warm with a mostly blistering set. BJ made it feel worthwhile when he said “These are the kinds of shows that separate the true fans from the casual ones.” And he didn’t even know I skipped the third night of the Wilco residency for it!⁵
6. Wilco at The Moody Theater — 12/5 & 12/6/24
   The shows formerly known as Winderlude hit the road, advertised as “no repeats across nights” vs. the typically implied low likelihood of repeats on one of Wilco’s multi-night stands. Would’ve run the table if not for the American Aquarium conflict (more on that above and below…), but still a heck of a time by one of the few bands who could pull this sort of thing off.⁶
7. Weezer/Flaming Lips/Dinosaur Jr. at Moody Center — 9/27/24
   Already covered in detail (actually, sorta twice), but I can’t wait to see Blue live one more time for the 50th anniversary…
8. The Record Company at Antone’s — 1/17/24
   When the only thing I miss about LA comes to visit it’s always a heck of a time. This was a rollicking set, heavy on the first and fourth records with an old school “Tallahassee Lassie” cover to close things out like just like in the independent good ol’ days.
9. Sam Doores at Sagebrush — 5/10/24
   Since this year’s theme was seeing the same band multiple times, I should technically extend this one to the 6 times I saw The Deslondes as a group (4 with Pink Stones, 2 separately) plus 2 Riley Downing solo sets & 2 Sam Doores solo sets for an even 10 on the year.⁷ Of course every gig was great, but citing Sam’s solo gig here due to it being my wife’s favorite of the bunch, our first time seeing someone on the small side stage at Sagebrush, and because he sound checked with “Clay Pigeons.”
10. America at The Moody Theater — 8/31/24
    In which I met the guy who wrote “A Horse With No Name”
11. Fingerpistol at The ABGB — 12/29/24
    Last but not least starts with a flashback. In December of 2016 we went to a holiday songwriter swap at The ABGB. Musicians rotated through playing 1-2 songs each open mic style. It freezing out and relatively empty—probably a single digit number of non-performing patrons present. One song stood out with a chorus that went “with your two dollar words and your fifty cent mouth, nobody here has any idea what you’re talking about.” I couldn’t remember the name of the group, but recalled the lyrics often. Periodically I’d search the internet to track it down but always came up empty — until I finally found it this summer! Saw they were playing Sunday Best at The ABGB and heard it live again early in the second set. Fitting end to a fabulous musical year.

CONFLICTS

New category this year! With all the concerts I attend you think this would happen more frequently, but 2024 certainly made up for lost time on being double booked and needing to make a difficult choice on who to see (and/or brave the double header…) with great frequency.⁸

Evan Dando vs. Quantum Leap Finale: February 20th
Winner: The Quantum Leap season finale, which unfortunately became the series finale (damn you, NBC!) This was a no brainer being my favorite show, and I took guidance from Evan himself when he sang “What if something’s on tv and it’s never shown again?”

Sabrina Ellis vs. Kelsey Wilson: March 13th
Winner: Sabrina for duration, but I went to both. Best way to resolve a concert conflict? When they are conveniently at the same venue, one on the outside stage and the other inside. Can’t go wrong with the two best vocalists in Austin. I give a slight nod to Sabrina, but when someone else (not me) shared the sentiment with congratulations for their Best Vocalist win at the Austin Music Awards, the reply was “I’m honored, but how can anyone think that with Kelsey Wilson literally singing outside right now?”

Bob Schneider vs. The Deslondes: March 15th
Winner: Bob Schneider. SXSW conflicts shouldn’t really count (even though I’ve listed two of them here), but since I already had a bunch of Deslondes under my belt and yet to come seeing Bob at ABGB with some friends just made sense.

Weezer vs. M. Ward: September 27th
Winner: Weezer. Confession: If it wasn’t the Blue Album in full I definitely would’ve chosen M. Ward over a regular Weezer show.

Benji Hughes vs. Joe Castiglione: September 28/29th
Winner: Benji Hughes. This one was both a no brainer and a painful one. Obviously I’m picking my favorite artist of all time, but missing out on honoring the Red Sox broadcaster whose voice I’ve probably heard more than any other in my life was tough. Technically I could’ve taken an early flight to fit this in before Soul Coughing, but the weekend was already a whirlwind so I opted out.⁹

James vs. Soul Coughing vs: September 29th
Winner: Soul Coughing. It was never going to happen again while James keeps on keepin’ on. (Technically I could also put Joe Castig here since it was the actual day, but instead I’ll just ibid it.)¹⁰

Mason Jennings vs. Soul Asylum vs. The Pink Stones: October 17th
Winner: Both! The rare double header, though I did miss the first hour of the Pink Stones so I guess Mason technically won.

Wilco vs. American Aquarium: December 7th
Winner: American Aquarium. Since I saw Wilco the previous two nights it made sense to share the love for live, original, independent music. Based on the weather I initially wished I picked the alternative (and briefly considered catching the first Wilco set before the set-times made it impractical), but all’s well that ends well.

Hayes & The Heathens vs. Metallica: December 13th
Winner: Hayes & The Heathens — who probably should’ve earned at least an honorable mention on the top shows list for a fun Xmas show including fantastic renditions of “Merry Christmas Baby,” “LA Freeway,” “Miss Ohio,” and a face-melting electric “KMAG YOYO.” (The Metallica show was also in LA and part of my wife’s work holiday party, so since I wasn’t invited this isn’t actually a conflict but whatever.)

(Realizing I should have put this section before SHOWS to avoid spoilers, but I don’t feel like rearranging it. Happy new year!)

FOOTNOTES

1. I only bought 2 of the 7 volumes when Skeleton Keys first surfaced in 2011, mainly for the long lost “So The Heart Can See” unreleased solo album. After Shawn Smith died I wished I’d bought them all, so these new releases were a pleasant surprise of a second chance. ︎
2. I might regret this if/when X/Twitter shuts down, but at least it will be a good excuse to hear these records back to back again. ︎
3. Technically 11.5 times; I missed the first half of the first Sagebrush show due to a conflict with Mason Jennings playing Antone’s the same night. (If thirteen is a baker’s dozen, what would eleven and a half be?) ︎
4. Fun side-story: Hung out with a guy on night three who wanted a spot not directly next to the speaker where his friends were situated, so he joined me close-ish but outside of the invisible sound line. At the encore break we talked about my books and I gave him an L Extreme card as I left to summon a rideshare home. Two minutes later he and his roommate come running out of the venue and find me on the bleachers. He showed her the card and she said “oh, I read that the other day” Long story short, she works at Emo’s and ended up with the copy I left backstage for Caroline Rose after her May 1 gig. She gave it to J Boog when he saw her reading it backstage and wanted a new book to read. ︎
5. American Aquarium is named after a Wilco lyric, adding more layers here. ︎
6. These were my 21st & 22nd Wilco shows! For fun, I made up a setlist for an imaginary fourth night assuming a similar format of mellower first set, heavier second set and still no repeats. ︎
7. If we’re being ultra specific, the best single show of the year was a tie between the Pink Stones opening for Deslondes at The White Horse on 3/14 and the encore of the same at Sam’s Town Point on 10/20. ︎
8. I suppose the uptick in multi-night stands and traveling to other cities this year raised the odds on this happening. ︎
9. I did hear his final innings on the radio from Jon Mack’s house while eating a Town Spa pizza though… ︎
10. Ibid ︎

Keep Tidbittin’

• Even after the wedding tirade against acronyms, Local Boy coins another one when he jokingly calls their piano, guitar and bass trio PGBT. Part of me is wishin’ I reordered it to PBGT and made a PB&J joke, though I’m sure everyone reading this is glad I didn’t. (This idea sent me down a rabbit hole to learn when the acronym PB&J came into vogue. Seems to be in the early 1960s, so at least it would be fittin’…)
• “It wasn’t better or worse, just different” paraphrases my wife’s stock answer when it comes to comparing any two things.
• Namin’ the band Local Three evolved from starin’ at the old LBDG logo and imaginin’ different variations. L3DG looks the same at first glance, in a manner that might fool your future son if he happens to go stumblin’ across the album in another sequel…

• He sat down with a drink at his piano sneaks in a Benji Hughes reference. (Old habits be dyin’ hard, but respectin’ greats never goes out of style the way a dumb apostrophin’ bit does.) It’s also an important clue that he has a drink while this happens, particularly when paired with his personality change ten minutes later.
• The main goal of this scene is to explain how the Nelson’s write songs. It sort of does and sort of doesn’t, but the groundwork is there to be further explored in Nelsonification. The inadvertent to Local Boy but important to the author chapter engage was to lure the redhead back into the fold, which worked like a charm even if Local Boy didn’t realize the cause and effect pairing. (Pairin’? Ok, I’m really done now…)

Check out Local Boy Done Gone

Feeling a little underwhelmed by the 2024 ACL Fest lineup (no offense — I still went Friday), I accidentally built my own 3-city fester the weekend before when the stars magically aligned.

How’d it come to be? Bought tickets to the epic Friday night Weezer Journey to the Blue Planet gig when they went on sale months ago. Also had tix to James & Johnny Marr at Stubb’s on Sunday, but made the half difficult/half no brainer call to skip it in favor of seeing the Soul Coughing reunion in Boston with my high school friends. Literally hours after I booked my flight, a rare Benji Hughes gig was announced on the day in between. Already headed in an easterly direction, on a whim I looked at adding a stop in Wilmington, NC and was pleasantly shocked to see it dropped the price of the plane ticket by ~$150. Clearly a sign to go for it.

The craziest thing is how all of these artists have a deep connection to both my music fandom and my writing. Let’s take a whirlwind trip down memory lane.

Dinosaur Jr.
“Start Choppin” is the defining song of the 90s for me. I know it’s implausible to just pick one track to represent an entire decade, but forced to do so it’s always been my pick. Melodic and discordant, soft and loud, singable and shreddable. It appears as one of the stolen future songs on Local Boy’s setlist in Timely Persuasion, and resurfaces in Local Boy Done Gone with two live performances as a folky girl/boy duet (something I’ve literally dreamed about hearing on and off for years) plus a chapter title nod. In early Done Gone drafts J. Mascis was a listed member of the 27 Club, but I ended up replacing him with a musician we’ll get to in a bit. Loved hearing Choppin’ live for the first time, and was impressed J. can still hit the high notes!

The Flaming Lips
I first saw The Flaming Lips live on the 1993 Bar-B-Q Mitzvah tour with Stone Temple Pilots and Butthole Surfers. (Epic show at a weird venue; perhaps a story for another day.¹) They also have a song on the soundtrack of my second-favorite movie, 1994’s Love & a .45. The 10 year / 4 album run from Zaireeka to At War With The Mystics was a wonder to behold both on the recordings and live–and also includes a stint as Beck’s opening / backing band I sorely regret not attending. Over in JLC land, the Lips get a whole chapter in L Extreme. Unlike the Benji Hughes song set at a real gig, the book version revolves around a DVD of documentary The Fearless Freaks. In hindsight, it also highlights a specific scene where Wayne Coyne mows his lawn in the fall which is something Local Boy also does in both Timely Persuasion & Local Boy Done Gone. TP was written before I knew this lawn mowing movie scene existed; LBDG was later but I didn’t make the connection until now. This gig was the same spectacle as always, similar to the headlining Yoshimi set I saw a few months back but slimmed down as an opener.

Weezer
Including this show, I’ve now (basically) seen Weezer perform The Blue Album in full three times. Other two were on the Memories tour in 2010, and way back in 1994 with Lush & Live where they basically played Blue in order but moved Undone & Surf Wax to the end.² It’s one of my favorite records of all time, and the official soundtrack for late night driving. (“I can stay awake for another hour if we crank Blue and sing along…”) “Only In Dreams” became a key allusion in the climax of Timely Persuasion. An abandoned attempt to write a short story based on “My Name is Jonas” may have indirectly spurred me to try the same with “The Mummy,” spawning L Extreme. “Keep Fishin'” shows up as a chapter title (and stolen song from the future) in Local Boy Done Gone. And can you take a guess at who took J. Mascis’s slot on the time traveler’s 27 Club List?³ I enjoyed the concert theme of “NASA sends Weezer to find a new blue planet” and the opening best of set, including an especially dope version of “Dope Nose.”

Jon Lindsay
Mainly an artist I was always aware of from his Benji Hughes connection, I recall listening to his Escape from Plaza-Midwood record shortly after I discovered Benji and thinking it had a bit of a Minus 5 vibe. (I also always remembered the album title for some reason.) At the gig he covered “Wolves” by American Aquarium, whose singer BJ Barham was briefly on the redhead’s 27 Club list in an older draft of Done Gone. Jon Lindsay also might be the only Benji Hughes collaborator to not get a cameo in L Extreme⁴ — but the omission was unintentional. Originally he was there, but a beta reader commented it wasn’t realistic to have both a Jon & a Jonathan in a list of friends and I took the advice. (There’s plenty of other stuff requiring suspension of disbelief in LX, so it’s sort of funny this was a compromise I made…). No offense intended, other JL! Officially “Jonathan” is both you & Jonathan Wilson rolled into one composite.

Benji Hughes
What’s left to be said about my favorite musician who pops up frequently on this blog and inspired me to write a song by song novelization of his debut double album? Only that his live show is still as magical as ever. The duo format suits the songs well, and there were a fair number of deep cuts (“Kenny,” “Country Love,” “Don’t Outlaw Plants”) alongside almost half of A Love Extreme. Seeing LX on the merch table amongst t-shirts and albums was surreal, as was hearing someone mention they thought Jon Lindsay wrote the book due to the “JL” initials. This was the eighth time I’ve seen Benji live (not counting pandemic era livestreams), but first since the book was released. Can’t hardly wait for the next one, whenever or wherever it might be.

More Benji Hughes setlists

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Soul Coughing
They said this reunion would never happen, so it was a big surprise when announced. It also seemed unlikely to happen again, so I couldn’t pass up the chance to see one of the favorite bands of my youth. Mike Doughty’s handwriting is famously used for Local Boy’s setlists in Timely Persuasion via the awesome Wichita font from Chank Diesel’s rockstar font project. (It also makes an encore reprise in Local Boy Done Gone.) A Love Extreme dethroned Skittish as my favorite all time album about a decade ago. The other work in progress TP sequel has a scene set on 9/29/98, a red letter date remembered by many as the greatest rap album release day ever. For me it’s the day the final Soul Coughing record El Oso was released. Our crew of friends made a pilgrimage to Newbury Comics in Braintree and collectively bought ten copies, rotating whose we’d listen to on the way home and into the night. Show was fantastic, with the highlight being when they played my favorite song from each of their records (“True Dreams of Wichita” > “Collapse” > “Misinformed”) all in a row mid-show.

More Soul Coughing setlists

Thanks for indulging my trip down this musical memory lane! As long as we’re talking about concerts, enter to win a $50 Ticketmaster gift card and an autographed copy of Local Boy Done Gone from Concert Guy Rob!

FOOTNOTES:

1. Quick summary: Someone threw a shoe (which happened a surprising amount in the 90s), STP violently kicked his butt. Later the Butthole Surfers fired a shotgun at beach balls and balloons over the crowd’s head. The whopping was definitely real; to this day I’m still not sure if the shotgun was or wasn’t. ︎
2. My hazy memory thought this was the only change, but Setlist.fm says they also swapped In The Garage / Say it Ain’t So, played Jamie in between (which I vaguely remember in hindsight) and a yet to be released Getchoo (which I do not remember at all). ︎
3. This was actually a little more convoluted. Rivers was going to replace J, but replaced BJ Barham from American Aquarium instead. Later Guigsy from Oasis was the one who got Mr. Mascis off the hook. ︎
4. Benji specifically told me if I did the collaborator cameos he didn’t want anyone left out. Oops! ︎

It’s the beginning of a new tidbits age:

• The opener here is one of my usual song lyric word association free-write exercises designed to get in a groove and break writers block taking on a life of its own and yielding something usable. I dug how it planted some seeds on how Local Boy’s son has it in his blood to become a music critic in a section arguably existing only because his future music critic son paid him a visit. A stretch of a time travel analogy between the two songs didn’t hurt either.
• An image of the tan van coming to a screeching halt on this park road (a callback to the OG TP) was in my loose outline from the start, but I couldn’t work out when to use it. Eventually I decided it should recur multiple times from a few different perspectives even if it wasn’t the exact same scene, setting up a near accident we’ll get to later.
• In the now of this chapter I got quite the adrenaline rush swapping out the time traveling son for the time traveling old man and then deciding I might as well complete the set with the time traveling redhead fishing off the chain.
• This Local Boy lyric is an attempt to invoke Dylan, with maybe a dash of Benji Hughes: Third time is a charm, I won’t sell the farm, or sound the alarm, hope you mean me no harm.
• Rules-wise, the photo can be held by the book since both objects are displaced in time. The fact they aren’t necessarily from the same time doesn’t matter as calamity TP physics go.
• “no more than a circle or a line” could be from Brad or Feist.
• Confession: I went to print with a typo on the 5318008 digits, rendering the old dumb juvenile joke even dumber.
• I had no idea what the redhead would do with the book until she handed it back. Confiscating it was too obvious. Annotating it was nerdily wild and in line with the character.
• Daphne’s handwriting font in the paperback is based on my wife’s actual writing, originally serving as L’s penmanship in L Extreme. Fonts fly forever! (Made with Calligraphr)
• “None of this happened, but all of it is true” is a quote I’ve loved since the first time I read it in the liner notes of a Carter USM album in 1997 and have probably thought of and/or re-quoted at least once a month since then. There’s a surprisingly few number of Google results for it. One is me, none are Carter or Jim Bob. Here’s hoping this sets the record straight on origins.
• A clue: The redhead signs her name as Daphne the 4th (fourth time around?), but this is only the 2nd time we’ve encountered her in the book. It’s like she has a time machine or something…

In TP Local Boy plays a short set for his son, later has a tryst with Nelson’s mom, and much later helplessly observes his son objecting at his daughter’s wedding. Here some of the same events happen in a slightly different order, and I’m hoping readers of the other book suspect a wedding objection is in the cards and are surprised when it comes in a different manner in an unexpected way. Conversely, if you read LBDG first I hope you’re anticipating the past affair getting mentioned at the wedding. So many ways to arrange the building blocks, so many possibilities.

Tidbits:

• The setlist is almost exactly the same as in TP, swapping “Everyday” by Buddy Holly out for “Earth Angel” to keep with the 27 club theme and adding “Won One” for fun fun. I also slightly rearranged the order to work sequentially backwards before closing with “Won One” — though I did go back and forth on whether “Won One” belonged here or not. The song being a focal point of the book made its inclusion more important than letting the past fully harmonize.

• An older draft had the pianist confronting Local Boy playing out in normal sequence instead of in flashback (and might have been in the previous chapter vs. here). Revealing it out of sequence flowed better, fit Local Boy’s forgetful storytelling style, and gives some time travel vibes without actually time traveling. (As the redhead would say, “it’s a memory…”)
• The devotional deviations in the chapter title could also describe the clandestine overtures Nelson’s dad cautions against.
• “Bummer vibes (my words, not his)” are actually words plucked from the Benji Hughes vocabulary, not mine.
• Another echo between books is moving a wedding location from the state park to the Nelson family estate.
• That dream I’ve had for years of a boy girl duet of my favorite Dinosaur Jr. song finally came true at this wedding–and might again sooner than you think…
• The Handoff is an unfinished script I started writing shortly after college while in the midst of moving to LA, a good chunk of which was composed in Nate Pepper’s living room. I drop easter egg refrerences to it from time to time. Here it’s subtle; in a couple of Duty Calls stories it’s an actual in-universe completed film the characters have seen.
• Time travel writing chicken and egg: the passport photo wasn’t solely lost so it could re-appear here, but it worked out nicely. I can’t wait until people learn where the son came from before his re-appearance here and where he goes afterwards. A cryptic hint: Kuco Mist. (If you’re from the future and already know, I hope you dug it.)

Check out Local Boy Done Gone

^{These two paintings have nothing to do with each other, but I didn’t have any relevant visuals prepared for this post and thought the birds staring at each other looked cool.}

Tidbits:

• The chapter title definitely came before Local Boy’s related lyrics. “Abnormally normal, casually formal, I once quit a band ‘cause stealin’s immoral.”
• My non-author life bleeds into the novel with the observation “what people want, what they need, and what they ask for tend to be two or three different things.” Keeping that in mind is the secret to taking feedback from users on product feature suggestions. It’s all about the questions behind the ask, as Local Boy astutely observes.
• Not wanting to introduce the characters of Local Boy’s parents into the plot, I made it a running gag for their trip to Europe to be perpetually extended.
• I’d totally hire a service called Lawn Boy Does Grass to mow my lawn. Wouldn’t you?
• Every now and then someone who read Timely Persuasion will tell me they love how I included a reference to a certain lyric even if I didn’t realize it was a lyric when I wrote it. The phrase “conscientious deflector” here is a good example. I thought it was just a play on words–but almost every Google result is lyrics from a band called Touché Amoré (who do not sound like I expected from their name.)
• Similarly, I thought I was slyly referencing a Yo La Tengo album title with Stuff Like That There, not a song by The King Sisters Local Boy could have awareness of.
• Local Boy’s research project mirrors his future son spending time at the library in search of blinking beacons in the original TP.
• A loose rule I had for names on the list was each had to have a plausible explanation for dying (or not dying) at 27 in an alternate timeline. A few of those are casually explained here as factual. Billie Holiday was warned by the government not to play “Strange Fruit” but continued to do so anyway. Sam Cooke was in a car accident in 1958 with Lou Rawls (and Lou Rawls really was pronounced dead but actually lived.)
• Respect your greats: The songwriting team of Giant, Baum and Kaye wrote over 40 songs for Elvis, including “(You’re The) Devil in Disguise” referenced here in reference to the redhead.
• “A phonographic memory does you no good if the record skips” is a line I still dig as a chapter & part closer.

Check out Local Boy Done Gone