The Big Green House

Thursday, October 09, 2003

 

My (possibly unfair, certainly sleep-deprived) opinion

I�m in a variably cranky place today. My dog woke me up at 8:30 this morning by barking at some invisible thing outside, and the neighbor�s dog barked continuously from 11AM to 1PM while I was trying to nap. Now, anybody who knows me knows how much I love dogs, but I�m just enough behind on my sleep that I�m beginning to suspect some sort of canine conspiracy. It�s all a horrible plot to weaken me. They�ll keep it up until I fall over on the kitchen floor in exhaustion, see. Then they�ll climb atop my prostrate body so they can get at all the dog snacks stashed away in the cupboard. And then they�ll drink all my liquor and steal the car so they can drive around menacing cats and squirrels� I can see it all. They�re just looking for a sign of my vulnerability, and then it�s �See ya later, sucker, and thanks for all the walkies!�

What were we talking about?

Oh yeah, I�m tired and cranky. Anything I say should probably be read in light of that fact.

So, anyway� I keep hearing all kinds of praise for My Morning Jacket. I�ve heard them on a few magazine compilations, and on the radio every now and again. I even saw them* on Conan O�Brien a week or two ago. I�d have to say that my MMJ experience was summed up nicely today as I was driving to work: I heard �One Big Holiday� on the radio and found myself wondering when they were gonna segue into �Green Grass & High Tides�.

Which is my roundabout way of saying that I don�t see what the big deal is. I don�t think that they�re awful or anything.** I just don�t get why everybody is so all-fired het up about these guys. Admittedly, I�m basing my reaction on a fairly small sampling of their work, so it could just be that I haven�t heard the good stuff yet. I�m not in any hurry to run out and buy the album, though.

*In a world where so many men are bald or losing their hair, it seems somehow unfair that these guys should have so damn much of it.

**There is a tiny part of me, way deep down in some dark squishy place, that still kinda likes �Green Grass & High Tides�. I don�t seek it out, but if I happen to hear it on the radio once every couple of years I�m not gonna fall over myself trying to switch the station.

bmarkey 10/09/2003 08:23:00 PM