I just realized this:
Perhaps in being such a huge nerd about this band, I've lost a lot of what the meanings behind these songs are. Not so much in the fact that the actual meaning in Jim's mind, but I've kind of abused the ability to listen to them a lot to the point where the songs have kind of stopped moving me the way they once did. Don't get me wrong, this band is easily my favorite, but I think I need to rekindle my love, you know?
So here's my idea. And it's drastic and it sucks, and I don't know how in the hell I'll be able to pull it off, but after this weekend (since I'm taking a roadtrip and need these guys to keep me awake) I'm not going to listen to the Jacket til they come to the Ryman.
That'll be just a little over a month away from these guys. And seeing them at the Ryman, it'd be like being away from your wife for a month, and you come back home and she's even more gorgeous than you ever remembered. that's what I'm hoping. We'll see if I can actually do it, but I think I'm almost certain I can, and I know the show will be aboslutely incredible either way.
But I definitely want to hear this band with fresh ears again. And I think it's time to go ahead and do that.
You won't last a week. ;)
I do that. I will listen to something over and over again, put it down and come back to it and it moves me the same as before.
I did that with Z. I put it down for a month or so and came back to it.
(I give 'em 4 days)
And Tom, I'd appreciate you not making references about you being away from my wife and me coming home and shit like that. Pretty weird, but I sort of followed you...
I'm gonna bet four days, as well.
haha, the hardest part will be avoiding Lay Low when it starts really feeling like fall. That song is fall, for me. But when I finally do bust it out, it's going to be incredible. Even if it doesn't last a month, I'm not gonna give in in a week.
I totally understand. I'm about to make a roadtrip from California to Kentucky and will definitely need MMJ to get me through, but after that I'm gonna minimize listening to them until the Knoxville show. I don't want to get to the point where the music just doesn't elicit the same emotion for me.
i have no idea how you can do this, especially since okonokos just came out!!!
Quotei have no idea how you can do this, especially since okonokos just came out!!!
Yeah Tom.......did you even BUY it? What's at the bottom of Page 4 in the booklet? Ha-ha.....just kidding. I know what you mean tho.....the more you listen, the more you can tend to sometimes go on auto-pilot, unless you're really concentrating on the sounds and lyrics. I played It Still Moves the other night for the first time in a few months, and it was totally fresh.......unbelievable album.
oh i know. i put on ISM on vinyl the other night and was blown away by it again. but i feel like right now i'm just digging for bootlegs like trying to uncover more little unlocked facets of this band. and it's just because i need to scale back on my listening and "get it" again. like, actually really want to listen to The Tennessee Fire and make it all the way through and have it do for me what it hasn't in a very long time. I want to "get" I Think I'm Going To Hell again like it did for the first time. and I just kind of need to renew myself to it.
and robonoko, i couldn't tell you whats at the bottom of page four. i haven't bought the CD. i had to kidn of choose between that and the vinyl this week. so i pre-ordered the vinyl instead.
lame? maybe...but i wanna hear this sucker on vinyl. and loud.
i totally hear you, Tom. although most of those "fall in love again" moments have happened naturally. it happened with the Pixies not long ago. but there's nothing like hearing somethng again for the "first" time.
good luck! in fact, i think i'm going to do this with you! i think i'll put down the Jacket until they return to Philly in December. or at least till a few weeks before the show.
u-n-i-t-y....that spells unity!!!!
Quotelame? maybe...but i wanna hear this sucker on vinyl. and loud.
Not lame at all... I decided to do the same thing. I already have the CD from the listening party, I'm getting the DVD - and I'm buying the vinyl.
so you're going to get the vinyl and keep it in the plastic? I don't think you have it in ya.
p.s. I totally agree about laylow
Actually, I just realized that I will have to break this on October 30th, as they're having a screening of Okonokos here in Nashville. So I'm going to do my best to not listen until then. I think I can do it, though I'm going to seriously miss Lay Low for the month of October.
Dang! I guess it'll make it all the sweeter though, eh?
tom i wish you well in this endeavor. i know i couldn't make it. you can write my biopic soundtrack in your mmj down time. ;)
haha, i just need some song titles to start with. i'll write em in my free time. you know, while i'm not writing the greatest album ever written. actually wait, your soundtrack will be the greatest album ever written.
and since I'm already writing you music and everything anways, can we get married while we're at it...?
Quotehaha, i just need some song titles to start with. i'll write em in my free time. you know, while i'm not writing the greatest album ever written. actually wait, your soundtrack will be the greatest album ever written.
and since I'm already writing you music and everything anways, can we get married while we're at it...?
hahaha. name the time and place.
i'll be the one in white.
The Ryman, November 13th.
As good a time and place as any, I'd say.
let's do it as a publicity stunt for the jacket. first forum marriage! my parents will be thrilled. :-X
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v54/timeisanocean/redneck-wedding.jpg)
note to readers: we are both much better looking than this. but i like that cake.
I don't think I could do a month without the Jacket. Especially when I'll be seeing them for the first time ever in just over a month.
Quotehaha, the hardest part will be avoiding Lay Low when it starts really feeling like fall. That song is fall, for me. But when I finally do bust it out, it's going to be incredible. Even if it doesn't last a month, I'm not gonna give in in a week.
Funny you say that I was just saying to someone that Z feels like fall to me...especially Gideon.
Good luck to you on your hiatus.
I need some free crack about now....;D
I do understand Tom. Sometimes I'll listen to a MMJ record without paying full attention to it because I know so well what is going to happen...
Afterwards, I'll regret not being able to feel the same thrill and excitement I felt the first time I heard the record.
i know nothing is going to bring back the feeling of hearing Golden for the first time. But a hiatus would certainly bring that feeling closer again.
That being said, I won't be able to avoid listening to MMj for even a week.
Live experiences are better than a hiatus, and they have the same effect!
You know, I feel pressured sometimes to give it a rest for a second too. Sometimes by myself, but mostly from some of
my co-workers, and family saying: "Jesus Christ Mike, you have had the same cd in for 6 months now" or something of that nature.
I'll put other stuff in periodically through out the day, but I always come back to the jacket. And that's exactly it, you will always come back to the jacket for the way it makes you feel when you have it on.
On another note, works sucks....and I'm only half way through the day!
Cheers,
-MJ
Oh and see that's just the thing. I will come back to the Jacket. There's no doubt about it. I just want to appreciate them for everything they are when I come back. Listen again and hear all the little subtleties. I realized yesterday, if I can make it october 30th, there's a good chance i'll not remember a lot fo little things. kind of forget what Jim's voice is like and all that.
and I don't know. it'll be good to sit down with it again in an atmosphere where I have nothing to pay attention to but the Jacket while watching the Okonokos movie.
But i'm excited to forget about it, if that makes sense. To not take it for granted. I'm also going to start not always having the radio on in the car, so that I can hear myself think a little more when I'm alone. I think there's a lot of good musical change coming up for me. One other thing about the car music deal, I'm realizing more and more that my music begins as imitations of others' works, and i realized this:
we who make music, make music from necessity. if i'm not constantly engulfed in it, i'll begin to need to channel my musical energy more, and by not channeling it through other peoples' music, hopefully i'll begin to start really having my own voice with my work. developing a style. hearing things in the rhythm of everyday life and developing tunes because i've never heard them before.
I'm excited about the prospects of all of this. now if i could only turn some of this discipline toward school...
very good post. i love the idea behind this.. i do this haitus thing with most bands but i havent really been able to with the jacket yet!!
p.s. who needs school when you've got MMJ!
It's like getting back your virginity.
I wish you good luck :-* ;)
I'm gonna try this too...here we go...no Jacket for a while...
I'm out!
Seriously though Tom, when you get the LP, how are you going to keep that sucker under wraps? I couldn't keep myself from getting the CD even though the vinyl is (hopefully) on the way soon. At least I got the email from Dylan at Badman telling me they'll send me one. Good luck!
Haha, oh trust me, I'll be all over the album art. I'll just wait until I've seen the movie to re-listen (I already have listened to it once all the way through while hosting my listening party). Hopefully, since I won't be listening until after I've seen Okonokos, all the songs will correspond with the movie, and it'll hold an even deeper awesomeness. I hope.
Damn you aMd. i broke it for Hot Legs, and Hot Legs only.
just to clarify, it's still on. but after waiting for hot legs this long, i kind of had to.
okay, i forgot about Lay Low until reading my initial post. Fall is about to rock. I'm gonna finish this hiatus off right now with this nifty KCRW live set and then rock some fuckin Z. it's been too damn long.