societyfringeplayer

Here's the Society Fringe Podcast denouement for 2021. This line won't leave my head. "The open road might call your name / The sky might burn a crimson hue of lust." 

Look. It was absolutely insane and unexpected when the Raves won their first Super Bowl. I had been traumatized by the Colts leaving in 1984. My brother and I had season tickets. That we (WE!) came out of nowhere and rode off into the sunset as World Champs, in a way, it made me believe that anything was possible. Little stupid Baltimore, nothing since the O's won the World Series in 1983. We didn't even have an NFL team for over a decade! No hoops. No NHL. This was a transformative moment for me. It's odd to be so invested in something over which I have absolutely no control. But, f'real, that's the essence of being a fan.

Another song for and about my wife. It's pretty catchy I think. These songs have a carefree spirit that is unusual for one of my records.

Kass and I went to New Orleans together when we were dating. It was achingly romantic and magical. We stayed at The Frenchman right on the southeast tip of The French Quarter. We befriended a bartender at a place called The Abbey on Decatur Street who had recovered from a stroke brought on by alcoholism. We called him "Strokey." That feels like a very New Orleansy thing. I had proposed to her soon enough after this. The band passed on this song for EUTAW STREET too! Harrumph. So this is "micro" in the parlance of the album SOCIETY FRINGE PLAYER.

Frustrated with Circle 9 and in response to Steve Earle's COPPERHEAD ROAD I wrote SOCIETY FRINGE PLAYER. This is an answer song to "Johnny Come Lately." Yo dig I fuck up the geography pretty badly. I only have a rudimentary understanding of America's involvement in World War II. Mainly it's from Hollywood. It's very very unlikely that Freddie fought at Guadalcanal AND Normandy Beach. I'll worry about the narrative holes never. This shit's done been digitized! The main story, though, is about young men shipped off to war barely having ever even touched a woman. It's the Samwise Gamgee story set in the 1940s. I don't want the gender roles to be rigid, however. It's more about a soldier lucky enough to return home and find love. Musically, as well as Steve Earle, it's a Pogues rip off natch.