Tristen!

Dear Listeners,

There's so much good music in the world, and I just found some more, and I want to tell you about it. It's Tristen!

Remember when I saw Joe Pug last month? Well, one of the opening acts was this lady, Tristen, and I remember really liking her music, although it bugged me that I couldn't understand her lyrics. But what I understood, I liked. And even when I couldn't decipher the words, I liked the sound of her voice, and I liked the sound of the instruments she and the other guy, Buddy, were playing. And my favorite song of the night was "Wildflowers," a cover of a Dolly Parton song. I've listened to the Dolly Parton version, and I think I like Tristen's cover better than the original. But that usually happens with covers. Usually you like whatever version you hear first. For example, most people like Jimi Hendrix's version of "All Along the Watchtower" more than Bob Dylan's, even though Dylan wrote the thing.

Tristen's kind of country, kind of folk-rock, kind of I-don't-know-what, but you probably won't hear her on the radio because you know how the radio is. Unless you're lucky enough to have satellite radio... or you might hear her on Pandora or something. So far she only has one album, "Charlatans at the Garden Gate," and I just bought it on iTunes. I've listened to the whole album twice now, and I think I love it. It seems to get better the more you listen to it. It's catchy. I wish it had her singing "Wildflowers," on it, but oh well.

I hope this isn't just a passing phase. I hope I won't wake up tomorrow morning with buyer's remorse. But I really don't think I will. I rarely get buyer's remorse when I buy music. The only CDs I wish I wouldn't have bought (that I can think of right now) are the Wood Brothers. I don't know why I don't ever want to listen to the Wood Brothers. They bug me. Especially their song, "Chocolate on my Tongue." I hate that song! Why did I buy both their CDs? I think it was because I heard them on Pandora, and I liked their song "Postcards from Hell," and I was click-happy so I rushed over to iTunes and bought it. Dang.

Maybe I don't like the Wood Brothers because they're from Boulder, Colorado. I don't like that city. I've never been there, but I've met a few people who've been there, and I've come to the conclusion that I don't I want to go. It's ultra-liberal. And yuppie. I think Boulder was a main part of the inspiration for Stuff White People Like.

So the Wood Brothers came from Boulder, and they're trying to sound all folksy, but they're not folk, you know what I'm saying? They grew up with privilege, they didn't grow up picking cotton, like Johnny Cash or Leadbelly. Boulder Colorado is also where Allen Ginsberg taught, and while I like "Howl," I don't like "Howl." It's an exciting poem with lots of interesting things going on in it, but I'm tired of it. It's immoral.

Oh, and Hunter S. Thompson lived in Boulder, too, or at least he hung around there for a while. And while I liked "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas", I don't like "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas."

But back to Tristen... she seems like a nice person. That's important to me.

Here's a video I found on You Tube of her singing that Wildflowers song I was telling you about:



Sincerely,
Telemoonfa