It's 33 degrees F in Atlanta today and I feel like I am going to freeze. In fact, I am kinda angry at the Atlanta December weather as it's not supposed to be this cold at least until late December, early January.
And then I look at the Winnipeg weather: Its 16 degrees F, with a low of -4F.
Enough about that.
A friend once called me from a Weakerthans show in DC that I was supposed to be at and left me voicemails of the concert. I was at a music festival in Atlanta and when I realized what it was I had to leave and go down the street to a quite place so that I could focus the smallest bones of my inner ear on the voicemail message. Through all the distortion of a mobile to mobile transmission I could hear this song below. I'll be honest. Listening to it made that little place in my throat swell up and hurt, like it does sometimes. Not only was it one of my all time favorite songs but someone had been standing at the show and thought of me.
It is one of my favorite Weakerthans moments and I was not even there.
This video is a little shaky but a gem -- a rare performance of Elegy for Gump Worsley precedes the song.
'Pamphleteer' is so simple but powerful. I once read an interview where JKS said that he was asked to write a song about a guy who handed out fliers on a city street. What he said he came up with was a story about a guy who kinda lost it and started handing out pamphlets about his own life instead. This must be why the song speaks to so many.
Thanks to Scott for pointing out that my last post was about not taking photos and videos at shows and then I posted this live video from an audience member. Ha. Indeed Scott, those are contradictory views. I agree. And I agree with both of them. Not sure if that makes me a hypocrite or just very agreeable.
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