De-lurking again for this. My thoughts as they happened:

The announcer is calling it midwestern cabaret. Ooh, it's starting.

Track 1. I Don't Wanna Waste Your Time.
Oh, horns. Horns.
"I don't wanna waste your time with music you don't need."
"I love to laugh but I'm more than just your alcoholic clown."
More horns. Horns!
Oh my gosh, I'm going to see them live and intimate in New Mexico. Will they have horns? Please?

Track 2. Trouble.
Don't look now: Karin is drunk and moonlit.
Oh. My oh my. That piano has a knife.
"If you came to make trouble, better make it good."
"Love will not be outdated. Maybe placated--but it's got to be good."
Oh. Strings. Strings? Strings.

Track 3. I'm On a Roll.
"You provide the rhythm, babe, and I'll provide the soul."
It appears they are on a roll. A joke?
Yes. It is. She has just rhymed "enchilada" with "lah de dah dah de dah dah".

Track 4. Nothing Is Innocent Now.
Can a slide guitar duet with an orchestra? Yes.
Should the phrase "political songwriting" ever be preceded by anything but "ambiguously"? No.
Can it end like the Diagnosis Murder theme song? Or did the Diagnosis Murder theme song end like this?

Track 5. The Trumpet Child.
Oh. This is the one, just like Latter Days and Jesus In New Orleans and Firefly. I can already tell.
"With Gabriel's power and Satchmo's grace, he will surprise the human race."
Oh. What did I say?
Oh! It's called, "The Trumpet Child!"

Track 6. Entertaining Thoughts.
Films for Radio knock-off, except with horns.
Sigh. Am I spoiled? Yes. She rhymes "delirious" with "furious" with "mysterious" and I check my watch.
Ooh, she just took it up. I don't know what that means, but it's called taking it up. Ah, it won me over at the buzzer.

Track 7. Who'm I Kiddin' But Me?
The title gets an initial vote of confidence.
Don't look now: Karin is wearing a potato sack and beating on a trash can lid.
"You smell like sweet magnolias
And Pentecostal residue
I’d like to get to know ya
And shake the holy fire right out of you"
Hey! Who let the wurlitzer taste beer?

Track 8. Let's Spend the Day In Bed.
And no religion, too?
Their four-poster has just alighted and is flying over Ohio.
"Look!" they point at nothing in particular.
The sky has just turned rainbow and psychadelic.
"Let's get stoned on love." Are you serious?
Mother Mary calls to who?

Track 9. Desperate For Love.
Karin just said, "Bling bling."
"Just a tiny little minute, but eternity will be in it if you turn me on."
They are doing the Charleston on Stella's grave.
My. Oh my oh. That clarinet is wearing fishnets.
Whose clothes are those?

Track 10. Don't Wait For Tom.
Oh, I just got the title, because they are playing the kitchen!
What are they building in there?
Oh! Oh! Linford is rapping! Linford is rapping!
Linford is going out West! Linford has hair on his chest!
What the hell are they building in there?
Oh! There is a chorus of Linfords!
"The sun's coming up, you got your wipers on: are you tryna make it rain again?"
"He reads a dirty joke out of an old Baptist hymnal."
This song would make Amsterdamn proud.
This song must win a pullet surprise.
Don't wait for Tom. He's already here.

Track 11. If a Song Could Be President.
No. No. The album closes with this? No way.
Can "political songwriting" ever be preceded by anything but "ambiguously"? Yes.
"Steve Earle would anchor the news."
Can they make a video game called Couplet Hero?
"We'd make Neil Young a senator, even though he came from Canada. Emmylou would be ambassador: world leaders would listen to her."
"John Prine would run the FBI. All the prisoners would laugh and cry, if a song could be President."
The end.

Remember when the last lyrics of Films for Radio were "Will it make a difference when I go?" They no longer care, and neither do I.

I think Patty Griffin and Over the Rhine pace themselves against each other. They both make fun albums in 2007? I'll take it, and make mine a double.

Thanks for that stream-of.



Appreciated mucho.

Very nice. Thank you!

"that clarinet is wearing fishnets"

YOU just made my day!! I'll never play my clarinet the same! )