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Lousy Robot
I just spent a considerable chunk of my Saturday night listening to my very first podcast ever. I never really understood what a podcast was until tonight – apparently it’s a blog you listen to, and there seems to be thousands out there. I also didn’t know how to download the podcast to my iPod, so I stared at the Quicktime movie player on an otherwise blank browser page the whole time, that little bubble inching its way across the buffering 
line. Anyway, the podcast was an interview with Lousy Robot, a band out of Albuquerque, though the interview took place in a coffee shop in Dallas. One of my oldest friends, JP, is the lead singer and guitarist for the band. He’s also the one who does the most talking, he’s the chattiest quiet man I’ve ever come across. I listened to this hours long interview because he told me he mentioned me during it, and what could be cooler than that? I finally found it about three-fourths of the way through Part II of the interview. It turns out he wrote a song about me, The Day We Lied And Didn't Mind, from their last CD, The Strange And True Story of Your Life. It’s the tale of one of his trips back to Memphis, a time when he was going through a rough patch in his life and he came in to the Tobacco Bowl to talk about it. It was an awkward conversation because, of all the conversations we’d had over the years we’d known each other, he’d never been one to just open up, yet here he was pouring his heart out to me. Or maybe it was awkward because we were both sober whereas in college we rarely were. Either way, I was uncomfortable and never felt right about it because I didn’t react properly, didn’t comfort and didn’t offer any advice. And now it’s all out there with music.
Most regular customers to the Tobacco Bowl know of my love of jazz, but what most may not know about is my penchant for pure power pop of the likes of Elvis Costello, U2, The Replacements, The Velvet Underground, etc. Lousy Robot is a really good band and you can listen to and buy their album here. When in Memphis, JP fronted a band called Judge Crater and I spent many drunken nights listening to them at The Antenna Club, The Pyramid Club and in my living room at their once-a-week practices. Those were good times. It sounds like he’s having a good time now, too, and that this band has the chance of breaking out and going someplace. I hope they do.
But anyway…
Posted by Richard Alley at November 20, 2005 12:19 AM
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