Very happy about the Mountain Goats mix.

I was playing Tallahassee for JZ on the computer this weekend and she was falling for it hard and wanting the background scoop.

I shared the the liner notes with my friend S who is a big Darnielle fan. His reply included:

This is all great stuff. I would be remiss if I did not mention the following tracks...:

1. "Night of the Mules" -- from the Chile de Arbol 7", the first MG record I ever owned, which I bought at the now-defunct (I think) Mod Lang Records in Berkeley CA. Early on, some MG songs would feature a Casio keyboard instead of an acoustic guitar. This is my favorite of those. (Alternate: "Song for Tura Santana," from Zopilote Machine)

2. "Cubs in Five" -- from Nine Black Poppies. This choice depends on how sad or moving you find the lines "The Chicago Cubs will beat every team in the league/And the Tampa Bay Bucs will take it all the way to January/And I will love you again like I used to."

3. "Color in Your Cheeks" -- My pick for slept-on deep album cut from All Hail West Texas.

4. "Jaipur" -- From The Coroner's Gambit, minor work by any accounting. It's my favorite "rocking" tape-recorder era MG song.

I am a big dork.

I am noticing a theme here.

Rawk pw received. Thank you Susan!

You're welcome, Jon!

Tina, you should tell S. that there were people up front at the Halloween show with a big Cubs foam hand with five fingers. Didn't change the set list, though. (Too bad, because I would've enjoyed singing along to "And Bill Gates will single-handedly spearhead the Hazy Fantazey revival!")

"Color in Your Cheeks" -- My pick for slept-on deep album cut from All Hail West Texas.

Ooh, yes. Tina, point your friend to the 6/23/05 show on LMA. There's a great audience sing-along to Color In Your Cheeks, which ends with him getting the crowd to cheer John Vanderslice to the stage ("Who's my producer?" "JOHN VANDERSLICE!")

Plus, it was actually during a slowed-down and contemplative version of that song near the start of last Friday's show that I thought "who taught him how to sing?" .

And "Jaipur," yes! "I came to the gates of the fabled pink city, hungry and tired and mad as all hell." Your friend is my kind of dork.

Corwood, I'd love that track -- he does something similar for "Pet Politics" on the Believer music issue CD (which also has a fanTAStic Devendra Banhart take on Fistful of Love, done like it was a Joe Cocker number). Who else is on that tribute?

which I bought at the now-defunct (I think) Mod Lang Records in Berkeley CA.

Mod Lang is not defunct by any means.

Who else is on that tribute?

Six Organs of Admittance have a wonderful contribution, Tweedy has a so-so one, and I can't recall offhand anyone else of whom I had prior knowledge.

I passed along pointers to bootlegs, MG audience anecdotes, shared dorkishness and news of Mod Lang's continued open-ness to S. He is now officially curious about my cross-coastal blinvisible friends. Ooops.

On the recent Jandek tribute, Darnielle's contribution was pretty much the best, combining a love of the original material with a brave attempt to make it more accessible. I'd be happy to post that to buffistarawk for the interested.

Please!

I'm on it, this evening.

He is now officially curious about my cross-coastal blinvisible friends. Ooops.

Tell him I spent Way Too Much Money on a CD single at Mod Lang of the Tindersticks cover of Townes Van Zandt's "Kathleen."