Friday, September 23, 2011

It was Fun While It Lasted

It's the end of the world as we know it: R.E.M. calls it quits after three decades.


2 comments:

Peter I said...

Shrevie: Ok, now ask me what's on the flip side.
Beth: Why?
Shrevie: Just, just ask me what's on the flip side, OK?
Beth: What is on the flip side?
Shrevie: Hey, Hey, Hey, 1958. Specialty Records.
[Beth nods blankly]
Shrevie: See? You don't ask me things like that, do you? No! You never ask me what's on the flip side.
Beth: No! Because I don't give a shit. Shrevie, who cares about what's on the flip side of the record?
Shrevie: I do! Every one of my records means something! The label, the producer, the year it was made. Who was copying whose style... who's expanding on that, don't you understand? When I listen to my records they take me back to certain points in my life, OK? Just don't touch my records, ever! You! The first time I met you? Modell's sister's high school graduation party, right? 1955. And Ain't That A Shame was playing when I walked into the door!

For me, REM is Haiti. We only brought a select few casette tapes with us to Haiti and Automatic For the People made the cut. So I listened to it quite a lot particularly when I was travelling around the country and staying in little hotels. I would lie in the dark heat with earphones on hugging my little battery powered casette player. REM, for some reason I associate particularly with a place outside of Miragoane. I was in a small windowless room with a ceiling fan detached somewhat from the ceiling. I got up in the middle of the night and a fan blade chopped into my forehead - more surprise than pain. The next morning it rained -- the only time I remember it raining in the morning in Haiti. That night while dining al fresco I heard my first Christmas carol on the radio. It was probably October.

Big Myk said...

Bob once told me the story of when he was in the army stationed at Ft. Benning, Georgia. The weather was miserable and raining, and he was feeling pretty low and alone, and what comes on the radio but Brook Benton's recently released "Rainy Night In Georgia." It captured perfectly the location, the weather and the way Bob felt.

A rainy night in Georgia, such a rainy night in Georgia
Lord, I believe it's rainin' all over the world
I feel like it's rainin' all over the world