The Luck of The Draw

She lived in Christchurch, I was in Wellington.

We wrote letters, traded tapes – I made a Suzanne Vega compilation, we travelled to Auckland for that ill-fated Sweetwaters reunion, saw Paul Kelly and Elvis Costello and the Melvins and so many other great acts. Paul Ubana Jones having his usual blinder, Chris Knox doing his wonderful thing.

We started emailing too, but the old-fashioned letters kept up for a while, as books and CDs and tapes were shared, returned.

We took in a Sam Hunt reading here, a Warratahs performance there.

She introduced me to Grant Lee Buffalo.

I loaned her my then-so-special, favourite Charles Bukowski anthology; that and William S. Burroughs’ The Cat Inside.

When we were in the same island we’d drive around, windows down, cigarettes glowing, marvelling at how Fuzzy perfectly followed Jupiter and Teardrop, and how Wish You Well perfectly followed Fuzzy; but Lone Star Song was such a good opener on that other record!

And how could you go past Mockingbirds.

She had introduced me to my new favourite band.

We shared a lot of memories around those two albums, around seeing that band perform – they were also on the bill at Sweetwaters.

Maybe it was only me that was excited to spot Greg Leisz’s pedal steel on Mighty Joe Moon, and that Robyn Hitchcock and Michael Stipe contributed backing vocals on the Jubilee album. And maybe she had stories around discovering that music first that I would never know.

But every few years I can dig out a Grant Lee Buffalo album – especially those first two – and play it right through, having both the best kind of nostalgia and feeling like I’m listening to one of the very best and underrated bands, well, is underrated even the right word? Probably not. They had fans, they even went down the eventual road to reunion, Grant-Lee Phillips has, presumably, carved out enough of a career and good as that rhythm section was – and they really were/are great, great players – it was always about Grant-Lee Phillips, the songs, his voice.

There was a lot going on around it, sure. Particularly in the shaping and production ideas from bassist/producer Paul Kimble but I’m sure the real reason people listen to Grant Lee Buffalo is because of the main man. Maybe it’s in the almost-shared name. But it’s his band.

Anyway, the band had its fans.

It’s music that I always get a kick out of – and a kick from.

And it’s nice to be reminded. Great, great band.

I have it on good authority that my friend – the ‘She’  in this story –  will wake up and hear Mockingbirds and declare she’d rather be in bed all day listening to that album, rather than traipsing off to work.

I know this because I sometimes play Mighty Joe Moon at 6 or 7am, usually having blasted Fuzzy late the night before. (Or it’s around the other way).

And she hears it in the morning because we have been together for nearly two decades now, married for most of it.

“It’s the luck of the draw…”

Happy Birthday to my darling Katy.

And for anyone not too interested in Grant Lee Buffalo, there’s always something else on a Friday. (But also, how dare you! Please listen to Fuzzy and/or Mighty Joe Moon – either for the first or umpteenth times).

Anyway, this week’s playlist. Volume 82 of A Little Something For The Weekend…Sounds Good!

A happy weekend to you all.