nothing but flowers

I don't know which stage of a cold is the worst.

Stage 1: Oh, crap, I'm getting sick. At this point I drink lots of juice and water and take vitamin C, even though I bet that by the time I have symptoms I can't avoid getting sick.

Stage 2: SLEEP. ACHE! SNIFFLE. This one's not so bad, because I can sleep anywhere, anytime, and for an insomniac like me that's a luxury even with the achiness and sniffles.

Stage 3: Fine from the neck down, bud dalkin lik dis frum neck ub.

Stage 4, the one I'm in right now: Fine from the neck down, but sneezing every 5 seconds and leaking just about everywhere from the neck up as the fluids of sickness try to escape. The stage in which you blow your nose and both your ears make noises like unto imminent apocalypse.

***

I dreamed again that I was married to Kevin Whelan.

He'd better get a move on if he wants those three kids.

Today's song in heavy rotation is "I Guess We're Done," by The Wrens.

A link to the MP3 on the record company's site can be found here (click the "Hear MP3" button next to Abbott 1135). My goal is to get you all so hooked that you want to hand these guys lots of money.

This song is a lovely little slice of all the reasons I love The Wrens. It wanders around for a few seconds finding its bearings, and flares into this absolutely gorgeous, chimey tune with mouth-watering harmonies that wouldn't be out of place as the last slow dance at prom. It detours through dissonance, of course, with swooping guitars like jets landing, because these boys are nothing if not tricksy, but there is an undeniable swoony teen-idol quality happening here.

Note that I am not employed by the band. However, should they wish to compensate me for the plugging, I have a sliding scale worked out that runs from "please send me a copy of the Secaucus liner notes" all the way up to "please send me your bassist." :)

OMFG THE WRENS

They were incredible.

Kevin (singer/bassist) looks like he could be Mal Reynolds's brother, which is quite the nice bonus. Also he is a spaz and flings himself about onstage with no regard for his personal wellbeing and I would have his babies, honestly. But they're just generally adorable. When Kevin was thanking the three bands that played before them, he started off "And the sexiest fucking Texans we've ever known..." and looked over at Charles (guitarist stage left), who was supposed to say the name there, but held up his hands in a little "ta da!" gesture and said "The... wrens?" :-) (It was Okkervil River, who were also really good.)

The slow build that "Happy" does is even more amazing live. They saved my favorite song ("She Sends Kisses") for last and started all staticky and fuzzed out and when the melody kicked in, the hair on the back of my neck stood on end; it was that good.

And I have a real live physical copy of Secaucus now, which is insanely hard to find, so I only had it in MP3 form.

Here is me dribbling incoherently onto my keyboard from the LOVE and the SQUEE. aiowrgyhpioewrh

Here is their website.

ETA: found photos online:
Kevin in all his Mal-ish goodness. He's singing with Jerry, the drummer, who sold me a stack of CDs last night for less than he should have charged me, possibly because I was visibly still all aglow with the love.
A nice shot that shows everybody.

They collectively have more duct tape on their instruments than any other band I have ever seen. :-)