After Consultation With A Blind Fashion Maven
Oh, this one is a treasure. My assumption is that is was right around 1997, which would be the very height of the Tar Hut years and also the height of my alt-country music obsession. I do feel like I have to clarify this – not commercial country music like you hear on the radio, but alt-country. You see, back in the 1990’s there was a movement of sorts where many young bands were getting inspired by the Gram Parsons-Byrds-Uncle Tupelo thing and playing a lot of rootsy rock. It was an interesting movement, mostly because there were so many bands doing it, but nobody was successful at it, as we proved easily at Tar Hut. Anyway, this picture was taken at my parents house in Lancaster, MA. Myself and a group of friends from Rounder Records (where I worked) all took a trek out to my parents house one weekend to just hang out, swim in the pool, grill and have some beers. If I remember correctly, my sister took this picture, but I can’t 100% sure about that. I only know this – I was at the height of my cowboy hat-wearing days and the Buddy Holly glasses were a mainstay for most of the decade. I wore that hat quite a few places, too. I was also a bit heavier in this picture – probably still working off that college weight, but not doing a great job at it, evidenced by the beer in my hand. I wonder what kind of beer that is?
In the background there is my 1986 Subaru GL, the one that took me 11,000+ miles across the country over a seven week span in 1995. It was a good car. Got me back and forth to Kent State a few times and it was in that car where I set my personal record for fastest drive from Kent, OH to Lancaster, MA – 9 hours and 42 minutes. At the end of it’s life there were also some humorous moments, such as the period of time where, if I beeped the horn, the whole car would occasionally just shut down. Turned out to be a fuse issue. Finally, you can barely make out (in the very top right corner) the bottom power line of what was about 8 power lines right next to our house. We had an enormous power-line structure (kinda like this) about 30 feet next to our house. I’m still waiting for the sudden, inescapable and permanent brain damage to come……
Extra credit to anyone who knows the subject line (without Googling).