Monday, December 22, 2008

December 22, 2008: Guided By Voices - "A Salty Salute"

I have many memories of this wonderful song, but two stand out the most.

1) I can not remember if it was St. Olaf or Carlton, but one of those Northfield schools had GBV headlining their "Spring Fling" outdoor festival one year. I remember standing by the side of the stage in the blinding sun as the bass player consumed whiskey by the gallon and frontman Robert Pollard flung Budweisers to the crowd from the on-stage cooler. They got so hammered that they played "A Salty Salute" twice. Glorious.

2) Rudie's Ska Cafe in St. Paul. It may have been different and more ska-like during the day, but when Rudie's opened around 1996, the regular barista Ray played a healthy dose of indie rock. It was so great that I would drive from my parents' house in Plymouth, pit-stop at Augsburg College and/or Middlebrook Hall on the University of Minnesota's West Bank to pick up my college-going friends, and continue deep into St. Paul to spend the evening drinking coffee and playing board games, and nerding out about music. Each night, the time would come for Ray to put GBV's Alien Lanes on the stereo. As soon as the opening bassline for "A Salty Salute" began, so did our night.

http://www.gbv.com/

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