from City Winery -with the bAnd Dinah Shore Jr. (Alex Nolen, Amanda Ruzza, Catlin Kalafus)
Over the last couple of years, for some reason, I’ve been searching out old records, comic books, toys, and kitsch from my childhood. I’ve been watching movies from the 70s and 80s and old TV shows. I have been trying to find old boyfriends/ girlfriends on Facebook. I went through my mom’s collection of all my 90s “Jill Sobule” memorabilia: the booklet from Radio City where I opened up for Joe Jackson, the VHS tapes of when I hosted MTV 120 Minutes, my Tonight Show appearance where I sat between crazy James Woods and David Dukovany, and the picture of when I was on stage with…James Brown, James Taylor, Carol King, Brian Wilson, Neil Diamond and friggin Sir Paul McCartney. Yes I was. The glory years. Is this just innocent nostalgia, or is this what old people start doing? Am I becoming my Lawrence Welk loving grandparents? Have I forsaken new adventures, new sounds, new possibilities for a rickety old time machine?
It’s time to move on. But I still may have to watch Columbo?
By the way, my very first boyfriend messaged me on Facebook this year. He asked me to go steady in 6th grade, then one week later broke with me. I hadn’t seen him since Jr. High. He wrote a cute letter, saying that he had followed my career and was proud of me. He added, “ I hope you’re still not mad at me”. I wrote back, saying in my head with my best Talulah Bankhead, always knew one day you’d come crawling back”.
If you don't have this record, you can get at my store my store. Come on!
I got NK via the bottle drive but one of these days need to get the LP. That pro shot, full band, full show from City Winery is bitchin'. I like physical media, and would love a DVD of it (maybe on a 2 DVD set with a reissue of Club Cafe).
Speaking of Nostalgia Kills: I’m reading Alright, Alright, Alright: The Oral History of Dazed and Confused, and there’s a quote from Richard Linklater: “People are nostalgic for times that never fucking happened. When you think about the past, you have to try to remember what was really going on. When people say, “Oh, those were the good times!’ I always have to remind them, ‘No, those times *sucked*.’”
Not sure if the whole book is your cup of tea, but I thought you’d appreciate the quote.
I am glad to be part of the list, but the emails from Jill Sobule with the subject of ‘Notification from jillsobule...
Maybe it’s the after effects of so many somber and alarming headlines of the COVID-19 and late Trump era, but the neutral announcement gets my heart beats faster with minor alarm: Everything OK? I hope California didn’t fall into the sea
In short, perhaps update the subject to something softly reassuring and upbeat? Something that immediately confirms that Jill and, maybe life on the whole, is active and well?