“Email me when Vic Chesnutt comes to Baltimore”
i was trying to track down the date that vic chesnutt played with the cowboy junkies at the 930 club… I wanna say 96 or 97… anyhow… when i was looking it up on a “gigography” page they gave me an option request a complimentary email when Vic is coming back to Baltimore. i found this both sad and humorous… dark. anyhow… i was listening to that last album he put out and thinking about where he was coming from, i guess…
i had only about Chesnutt through the sweet relief stuff and was excited to see him open for the cowboy junkies, i spent a year listening to black eyed man one night… before the concert started i was heading to the bathrooms and when i got to the door, it flung open and vic chesnutt roled over my toes.
so i knew that Vic Chesnutt was important… but i guess it wasn’t confirmed for me until i found these lyrics
My earliest memory is of holding up a sparkler
High up to the darkest sky
Some Fourth of July spectacular
I shook it with an urgency
I’ll never ever be able to repeat.
as they say in both Short Timers and The Things They Carried, there it is. a conscious effort to recall a memory with the subconscious weight of a two ton garbage truck sits on my chest when i think about this line… simple contrasts to highlight a darkened, deepened line reminiscing and frustration or resignation, especially on a day where you celebrate your independence.
grimm
