It's Friday, and I think E says it best when it comes to the weather in our nation's capital. Oh, and Alex Semin learned how to score in the playoffs and the Caps are up 1-0 against the Blueshirts. Whatever, I'm still too nervous to write anything analytical about that now.
Also, I have no time. I'm just going to plug a few things really quick here.
First up, I'm going to be a guest on Brandon Wetherbee's brilliant live podcast recording/talk show "You, Me, Them, Everybody!" on Monday night at the Looking Glass Lounge (right by the Petworth Metro). I haven't been on a live talk show in a few years,
and I'd like to think I've accumulated a few reasonable stories since then, so come out. It's free!
Also, Episode
3 of The Big Takeover should be coming out next week! The guest will be so awesome I feel like I can't even type his name
without opening up some Pandora's Box where I start spieling about how awesome and influential his work has been (take, for
example, my use of the word "spiel." It's not a coincidence). Get ready for it.
When Simon Reynolds wrote the definitive book on the post-punk movement (ca. 78-84) and why it may possibly have been the greatest, most inventive time in rock n’
roll history (period), he really didn’t have to go much farther for a title than the chorus line from Orange Juice’s
1982 hit, “Rip It Up and Start Again."
The man behind Orange Juice, Edwyn Collins, had been there from day 2 of punk, which may as well have been day zero as far as Glasgow was concerned. He started the
Nu-Sonics, which became Orange Juice in the late 70’s, and in direct contradiction to the clichés of punk rock
(Edwyn would spend the next 30+ years making beautiful art out of contradictions), they played funky, jangly, and completely
fucking classic pop songs that swirled in and out of the mainstream until 1994, when his solo single “A Girl Like You”
made him an international star.
In 2005, Edwyn suffered a massive stroke, which left him unable to walk, talk,
draw, or sing. In a feat of ridiculously inspirational strength, he learned to do all of those things again, despite having
little motor activity on the right side of his body. Amazingly, he’s released two albums of new material since the stroke,
and last year, Domino released an exhaustive 6-CD O.J. discography. Last month, Edwyn, now 51, along with his son Will (who also joined us in the interview) , his wife Grace Maxwell, made
their long-awaited return to the states. I sat down with Edwyn and Will moments before Ed and his band hit the stage for his
sold-out show at Brooklyn’s Rock Shop, his first US performance since before his stroke. Enjoy!!
A bit
of background. Here is Orange Juice’s first, incredibly bizarre appearance on Top of the Pops that Ed and Will talk
about. The bassist David McClymont’s infraction that got the band into a lot of trouble starts around 2:20.
In case you ever wanted to see what perseverance (and a pretty awesome family)
looks like, here is a great BBC documentary about Edwyn’s recovery.
First up, I'm going to be a guest on Brandon Wetherbee's brilliant live podcast recording/talk show 
