Former Friday

Today's selection provides a bit more gristle to chew, more grist for the mill. Friday's cut is Tiny Town by the Dead Milkmen. It's two minutes of emphatically played guitar and enthusiastic if snide vocals with the shout along chorus of "This is a tiny town! And we don't want you comin' 'round!" When I was young, I thought I lived in a tiny town, a quiet undisturbed backwater where nothing really happened and people lived in quiet ignorant bliss. Later I discovered that I lived in a tiny *college* town, where nothing new really happens and everything repeats every four years. Kids skateboarded at the park until cops came along and yelled at them. No cool bands ever came to town, except like the Crazy 8s or something. We would sit quietly and dream of being in a big city like Portland or maybe Eugene, although Eugene was full of hippies. But at least they had Grateful Dead concerts. I got to see them once, with Robert Cray and Jimmy Cliff in an all day hot sun and smoked meat extravaganza, which was world expanding. Also lots of topless girls. So I was a fan of the Big City, even after spending time in Los Angeles.