living_room_concerts nr so far: sarah_slean jeff_tweedy (plus sons spencer and sammy) angel_olsen 200419 ... epitome of incomprehensibility For a few years there's been something called the "Tiny Desk Contest" - the contest is to have the best one-room concert, not to have the tiniest desk - e.g. Charles Turner & Uptown Swing with "Harlem, Harlem, Harlem": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GHZ2DLxCbgs 200420 ... nr i love the Tiny Desk concerts 200421 ... raze i played one of these once. it was at natalie's place in lasalle. she lived on a hobby farm with caleb. she still does. they call it farwest acre. it was me and her and steve. i had all these ideas. we could play "send me on my way" by rusted root. natalie could sing the high harmony that curls out of the chorus. steve could take the low part. then we could do "there, there" by radiohead and "you will become" by glen hansard. i don't care what anyone says about "rhythm and repose" being one of glen's weaker solo albums. that song and "what are we gonna do" and "talking with the wolves" rip me to shreds every time. just listen to him and markéta irglová sing together and tell me those two weren't made to twine their voices into one braided vine. and i say that as someone who's never even seen "once". i thought we could stitch those covers into a quilt of varied originals and make it something really special. but those other two didn't feel like showing up to rehearse. so none of that happened. i found myself in the strange position of performing songs i knew were good and realizing they weren't at all suited to a live setting. in the studio i was able to build them into something larger than themselves. in the living room, stripped of all their layers, they felt small and inadequate. and natalie's piano threw me off. i wasn't expecting a junky old upright to put out so much sound. the only moment of anything like life or levity came when i went off-script and dug into one song on my own. it was a call-and-response piano thing i wrote specifically for the show. "i don't want to get over getting over you". everyone sang along, and for about three minutes all the colour seeped back into the world. then steve sat down beside me and it was gone again. there's a grainy cell phone picture someone took of the three of us that night. there isn't anything resembling a smile fighting to make itself felt on anyone's face. it looks like we're playing at a funeral. not every photograph has a story to tell, contrary to what rod_stewart would have you believe. but that one got it just about right. 251123 what's it to you? who go blather from