First day of Winter 2016: Let there be music

The first evening of winter (meteorologically speaking….a story for another day) was pretty special this Dec. 1, 2016: the Bottle Rockets at Lindberg’s…a Great band at the oldest tavern in Springfield. Several friends in attendance to share the evening with made it an even more special night.

Marshall Crenshaw was there too, but the evening belonged to a band that has been together for over 23 years.

Sadly, I only discovered them within the last year. Man, have I been missing out….Bigly!! And if you’re someone who only listened to the band in it’s early days, you are missing out too. Their recent releases are excellent.

Their albums from the 90’s are pretty awesome stuff. If you’ve never heard “Wave that flag” you need to do it now….seriously. Whether you know the song or not, you owe it to yourself to read this piece about the song.

This is truly an AWESOME song:

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The title cut from the 2006 album “Zoysia” makes me feel the way that this guy did when he wrote a note and left it on the band’s ride after Thursday night’s show:

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I’ve been back to MO for over 5 years, never expecting to live in the midwest again. Here in Springfield, MO in “the buckle of the bible belt” the first four lines of “Zoysia” accurately describes a lot of these United States:

“In my neck of the woods, the town where I live
It’s out in the sticks and conservative.
Got lots of churches, we’ve got lots of bars
And the kids round here, they fight our wars.”

Overall the song is optimistic…especially in 2016! Listen to it. Then listen to it again.

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Bottle Rockets most recent album (“South Broadway Athletic Club”) was released in 2015. Seriously good stuff. I don’t know if I can pick a favorite song from the 11, but I do have a favorite lyric from the album. The winning song is simply titled “Dog.” Sometimes it really is just that simple….

The lyric:
“I love this song
It’s my song
If you don’t love this song
That’s okay
I don’t want you to
This isn’t about you
It’s about my dog…”

“This isn’t about you…..” I LOVE that line, especially in these narcissistic times.