Talented Crap

Gary Louris
Vagabonds






I listen to a lot of new music. perhaps by long established artist but new none the less in that most of it is previously unreleased. If you look at the Diner Review for these reviews you would see for the most part that the reviews are favorable.
This is for two reasons:

1. I tend to buy things from artists I already know and like; and
2. It is hard to review crap because i listen to it once and never again, filijng it in the rack of shame in my basement, never to see the light of day again. I do not even attempt to re-sell these CD’s used because it seems wrong to put them back into circulation. Someone else might buy them.

Gary Louris is an extremely talented guy. With Mark Olsen in the 90s they fronted one of my favorite all time bands “The Jayhawks” whose CD “Hollywood Town Hall” is likely on my desert island list of the the CD’s I would have with me under that ever increasingly likely circumstance brought about by global warming. Even after Olsen left the band to record awful, truly awful music by himself and to marry and divorce the open wound known as singer/songwriter Victoria Williams, Louris kept the Jayhawks going and put out some great pop and alt-country CD’s.

The Jayhawks were his band and it puzzled my why he would want to release solo. Was the band limiting him? Did he want the fame? The answers were all too obvious when I played the solo CD. It is pretentious, wan, smug, pretty, pretentious, effeminate, preachy, trite and pretentious. This si the worst CD of 2008. He put together a very competent little band highlighted by bassist/multi instrumentalist Jonathan Wilson and steel guitar guru Josh Grange and a band of his L.A. pals “The Laurel Canyon Family Choir” (me making gagging sound). A lot of people and recording artists have been ruined by California. Add him to the list.

I went to his website after listening to this piece of shit 10 times because I was so dumbfounded by how bad it is. And it is consistently bad. There is not one song on here that you would remember for anything other then utter insipdness. The website fortunately explains it all and I urge you to check it out.

www.garylourismusic.com. I did not have the heart or the stomach to look at his My Space page.
Seriously? This is a guy who has written a lot of fun music and been in a lot of fun situations with the Jayhawks and tghe alt country super band Golden Smog. And he gives us this Connor Oberst (without the talent) mope? My life is too short.

“Strip it down to what you can rescue.
Pass it on, what is right and true blue”.

Seriously? That line is from the cleverly named “True Blue” and is emblematic of the simple truths he so annoyingly conveys. We get it Gary. You reached middle life. You find life confusing but beautiful. You have absolutely nothing interesting to say about it but want to anyway.

Sample of annoying song titles:

“Meandering”
“We’ll Get By”
“To Die A Happhy Man”
From the epochal “Meandering”:
Laying Down Among The Dogwood
In The Corners of my mind
Seems the faster I’m running
The further I get behind”

I honestly started to make me angry to listen to this bad, recycled Dan Fogelberg album. If i were a moody, misguided, introspective, unhappy 13 year old boy I might be deluded enough to think that sensitive songs like this would make girls find me attractive and get me laid. I would be missing the point that they would also be vomiting and/or laughing at me and the music. It is at best a cyst upon the music scene and if he makes another solo album it could blossom into a cancer. Avoid it like you would a leper. You have been warned. lets hope he either records no more or goes back with the Jayhawks and views this as a learning experience. And for God’s sake, move back to Minneapolis Gary...SAVE YOURSELF!
0 Sliders (for the first time ever) on a ten scale.

Other Views:

Paste Magazine:

Former Jayhawks frontman releases first-ever solo album
Gary Louris is one of the unsung heroes of contemporary roots music. His band The Jayhawks made one of alt.country’s landmark albums, 1992’s stately Hollywood Town Hall, and since then he has collaborated with a range of artists including Jeff Tweedy, Rhett Miller, The Sadies and the Dixie Chicks. Strangely, Vagabonds is his first solo album, shuffling onto shelves some 20 years into his career and three years since the (permanent?) dissolution of The Jayhawks. All of the Louris hallmarks are present: the low-key choruses on “Omaha Nights” and “D.C. Blues”; the dusty harmonies of “True Blue” and “Meandering”; the country-rock hooks of “She Only Calls Me On Sundays” and the title track. Certainly, Vagabonds sounds warmly familiar, but over 10 tracks, the album settles into a genial lull that even the punchy “I Wanna Get High” can’t rouse. Too low-key to rival his best work, the album nevertheless serves as a reminder of Louris’ continued relevance.
See the Slant Review at:
http://www.slantmagazine.com/music/music_review.asp?ID=1295

Mizzou Over KU: Rock Chalk... they suck

We take a break in our coverage of the Becker family vacation to say a words regarding the Mizzou Tigers. First of all.... what kind of topsy turvy mixed up world has Missouri and Kansas playing for the nations number one ranking this late in November? I mean... what the hell? Is this one of the signs of the apocalypse. I am 45. I actually saw Missouri play in an Orange Bowl. They were not playing for the national championship or anything like that but it was still exciting. There were plenty years of Liberty Bowl appearances and Independence Bowl and the like. The were many dark and long suffering years between Al Onofrio and Gary Pinkel. Nebraska and Oklahoma dominated the Big 8 and there were of course some very dark years where K-State had a team (sick and unnatural). The Big Twelve did not change things much accept now we had Texas and Texas A.M. to kick us around.

Pinkel came as a savior but we have seen so many saviors... Warren Powers, Woody Woodenhoffer to name just two and they all led us no where. Pinkel came in quietly and began to install a system but we had heard these excuses before. There was Brad Smith who he attempted to turn into a West Coast Offense drop back quarterback and almost lost his job. I actually thought he should have lost his job. I am of course, as we have said before... an idiot.

Last year they finished strong but once again we had seen that before too and although expectations were that we should be good, no one was talking about this. Sitting in my family room in front of a fire with my wife (we have no friends) watching Mizzou score twice and then watching KU miss a field goal starts me salivating about Sunday’s rankings but I still want to sit back and savor it as it is being played. On the second touchdown Chase Daniel ran about 40 yards before throwing the touchdown pass. What a great showcase to finally put him in the Heisman spotlight where he belongs.

KU’s Coach Mangino is a grotesque caricature of a man. He looks like he is 5 foot nothing and about 400 pounds. Seriously, the guy just looks ludicrous. How could this guy inspire a team to 11-0? He looks like an oompa loompa at best. Frightening and the pictures of him during the game made me laugh. A joke my brother in law told me.

Kansas City has a highway 435 serving as an outer-belt. Coach mangino has to pull off and get out of the car at a gas station to get direction and he asks, “Can you tell me how I get to 435?” The gas station attendent looks him up and down and says “How about just eating a fucking salad for lunch.” Made me laugh.

We went to a bar for the second half to watch with some friends who were Mizzou grads. The bar was packed and it looked like it would be a Mizzou blow out but KU stayed in the game even as Missouri racked up penalty after penalty. The game appeared questionably officiated but the point was slammed home when I added it up at the end and saw that Mizzou was penalized for 141 yards to KU’s 26. That is... quite a gap. The other thing to worry about going forward other then penalties was that KU never punted in the second half. They scored or turned it over every series. Mizzou will have to do a little better then that against the Sooners.
KU had problems getting into the end-zone but their poor kicker Scott Webb missed tow field goals in the first half, both make-able that frankly ended up being the difference. Still, KU played a good second half and made some touchdowns of their own but they just could not stop Mizzou’s offense. Still the game was touch and go into the last 2 minutes but Mizzou got a final sack to ice the whole thing. It was a sad image at the end to see their much beleaguered quarterback with turf sticking out of his helmet at the end. Priceless, Final score 36-28.

BCS Standings
 1. Missouri 11-1
 2. West Virginia 10-1
 3. Ohio State 11-1
 4. Georgia 10-2
 5. Kansas 11-1
 6. Virginia Tech 10-2
 7. LSU 10-2
 8. USC 9-2
 9. Oklahoma 10-2
10. Florida 9-3
Life is good! On to the Big 12 Championship and the Oklahoma game and whatever happens happens but what a great year. A gift to the whole state.