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October 25th, 2006

01:49 am - "Come on, Detroit, 'cause The Blues is still number one." On May 26th, 1995, I was introduced to the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion by a fifteen-year-old Iraqi girl, although to be fair she was a dual citizen. She'd been introduced to the group by her big brother. He studied law at Oakland University and was a music snob. His little sister and I aspired to be like him, though we were both well on our way. It was a Friday night and we were on our way to see Johnny Mnemonic at the Novi Town Center, about forty-five minutes from our houses. We were idling at the intersection of Union Lake Road and Richardson, right where the old drive-in once stood. Last time I was back in town, I believe I saw the old sign still standing. Anyway, we were there. It was about seven in the evening. And she told her cousin, who was behind the wheel, to put *Orange* in. BAM! BAM! Followed by those taught strings, just hanging there, wavering, then Judah Bauer's leads came in, and then Spencer starts doing his slow-mo, Jerry Lee Lewis on Presley-strength meds. . . And with only the first minute of "Bellbottoms," I knew I'd stepped over and through a threshold. I uttered some foul-mouthed expression of awe and she told me the song wasn't even a quarter over. The hairs on my neck stood on end, my toes went alight, neural synapses started popping off, there was a Chinese wedding going on in my Floyd soaked brainpan. I felt like I'd just crested the first hill of the Mean Streak. The physiological responses I enjoyed at the introduction of novelty goes a long way in explaining the size of my record collection and my library. ( Turn your stereo up! ) Tags: army green, no nawiat, the language of god

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