Surely James' 3 singles from Gold Mother - Come Home, How Was It for You and , most of all, Sit Down got at least serious college play in 89-90? They were the biggest student anthems of that year over here.

Hey, folks! Just wanted to pass a belated happy birthday to Jon.

All's well here. Baby Abe's been a bit colicky, but we finally figured out that he needs a bit of formula to supplement the breastmilk, because he's getting a bit shy of what he needs to maintain his weight through the boobie.

And to bring things on-topic, let me heartily recommend Sigur Ros - especially the album () - to anyone with a fussy newborn. Abe usually falls into either deep sleep or wide-eyed wonder by the 2nd song.

Surely James' 3 singles from Gold Mother - Come Home, How Was It for You and , most of all, Sit Down got at least serious college play in 89-90? They were the biggest student anthems of that year over here.

I was 11 in 1989, so I'm not the person to ask. But "Sit Down" is the only title on that list that rings a bell. If the other songs were played, they were forgotten by the time "Laid" happened.

Surely James' 3 singles from Gold Mother - Come Home, How Was It for You and , most of all, Sit Down got at least serious college play in 89-90?

I was too busy playing those early Sub Pop and Pavement singles.

Thanks for the belated b'day greetings all.

Hayden -- you ought to get those Raymond Scott "Soothing Sounds For Baby" CDs. Great minimalist stuff!

Alicia K,

insent to your profile addr

Yeah, but you were always too cool for school, Jon.

Jon's way wicked cool.

I quite like James, but only in small doses. Tim Booth's voice grates after a while. Actually, I think I'm safe in saying I only like their uptempo songs, and can't really stand their ballads.

Love "Sometimes," "Sit Down," "Born of Frustration," "Seven" and "Just Like Fred Astaire" off their little-known (?) album "Millionaires."

Tim Booth also did an album with Angelo Badalamenti called "Booth and the Bad Angel." I can't remember if it's good or not, but it's got a lovely song called "Hands In the Rain."

I used to date a guy who was a HUGE James fan. So there you go.

From Salon's Audiofile column (Hayden especially will be interested in this):

Next month I'll be headed to South by Southwest, the huge annual music festival in Austin, Texas, and reporting back daily on Audiofile. I've never been to SXSW before, but one look at the schedule, posted earlier today, makes it obvious that I'll be able to take in only a fraction of the action. I've already started getting invitations to showcases, but I'd also like to get reader recommendations. If there are any particular showcases or events that you'd like me to report back on, e-mail me with subject line "SXSW picks." I may not get to all of them, but I'll squeeze in as many as I can.

There are MP3s scattered across the SXSW site, but not collected onto any one page. Another nice place to start exploring this year's lineup: See You in the Pit, an MP3 blog devoted solely to artists appearing at the festival.

Check out the column's section about Tonic, too. I went to the Smokey and Miho/Chocolate Genius and Marc Ribot show & it was excellent. (That would be Miho Hatori of Cibo Matto, who played the Bronze -- or at least were playing at the Bronze; maybe Sean Lennon was headlining -- in "When She Was Bad".) And speaking of Sean Lennon... I knew one of the Tonic benefits was Sean and Yoko, and I knew that Vincent Gallo was doing one too, but I had no idea that VG appeared with Sean & Yoko until reading the column! Yoko "War Is Over If You Want It" Ono and Vincent "I'm a militant Conservative Republican, including the war war and culture war parts, the hardcore porn in my last movie notwithstanding" Gallo on the same bill? Now that's weird. Who says art can't bring us all together?

Heh. Somebody discovers the dBs for the first time.