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Despite living in London for the last four years, I'd never seen Billy Bragg before. I've been a fan since about 1991, but opportunities to see Billy in the southern US are few and far between, and I haven't had a lot of concert money in the last 20 years or so. ;-)
How did a girl from South Carolina become a Billy Bragg fan? Well, it happened like this.
In 1991, when my first husband and I broke up, I moved to Alabama to live with my mother, and I took at job at Kinko's in Auburn, Alabama. I worked at the separate Lasertype location, which was really just a desktop publishing shop with some Mac SEs for rent for students and community people who really needed to use a computer but didn't have one of their own. We were in a little indoor shopping centre, with a hairdresser, a used record shop, a comic book shop, a little shipping store, and a kiosk that sold Hawiian shaved ice in various flavours. That was good stuff in Alabama in the summer. But anyway.
Directly across the hall from my store was Wildman Steve's Used Record Store. He doesn't have the store anymore, but that link is definitely to Wildman Steve. He catered to all kinds of alternative tastes, would only buy so many Madonna albums a month, and did the usual buy, sell, trade business that a used record store usually does. He found out I was interested in music, and when the shop was quiet, we'd banter about this and that.
One day, we had a conversation about politics. I figured Wildman Steve was safe to discuss politics with, and so I talked, one day, about my opposition to the first gulf war and the big lies of corporate power and lockstep patriotism.
"You know what you need?" Wildman Steve said. "You need you some Billy Bragg." He produced five or six CDs, and he put on Worker's Playtime. Wow! I was hooked. "You buy this one first, and then you come back if you want more," he said. "These don't move fast in Auburn, Alabama; I can tell you that."
It must have been sometime in August or September of 1991. I had a CD player in my car for the first time ever, and my commute to and from work was nearly an hour on Alabama back roads. I went back for more.
One of the things that should have alerted me to my basic incompatibility with my second husband, aside from his admission that he could not stand the Beatles, was his dislike for Billy Bragg. "I don't know how you can listen to that stuff," he said. Bragg's accent really got to him, and I'm sure the politics weren't a big hit either-- assuming he ever got around to listening to the lyrics. ;-)
Last night, Otis Gibbs opened for Billy, and we were late to that, since I have an appointment on Monday evenings. He was fun, and his "American, but not an asshole" attitude went over very well with the Empire audience.
Billy came on right at 9:00. He opened up with "To Have and Have Not", which is one of my favourites. It was a standing crowd, and I happily stood for three hours to get the privilege of seeing him perform a straight-up two hour set with no breaks. Other stuff he did that I have been waiting to see live for years: Sexuality (ha,![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
ktnboo!), Greetings to the New Brunette, Levi Stubbs' Tears, The Milkman of Human Kindness (big audience singalong on that one), Must I Paint You a Picture, Waiting for the Great Leap Forward, and of course A New England. Yes, delchi, he's still singing new lyrics to Waiting for the Great Leap Forward. I understand why he changed it, but like you I love the old lyrics. He also performed his electric cover of Leon Rosselson's The World Turned Upside Down. Two special treats: Badly Drawn Boy Damon Gough showed up to play Walk Away Renee (Billy changed the lyrics on the last line to "She voted Tory"). And Kate Nash appeared to sing a Shangri Las song.
All in all, it was a good evening. We got home late, and my feet hurt, but wow and lovely wow, it was good to finally get to see Billy Bragg.
How did a girl from South Carolina become a Billy Bragg fan? Well, it happened like this.
In 1991, when my first husband and I broke up, I moved to Alabama to live with my mother, and I took at job at Kinko's in Auburn, Alabama. I worked at the separate Lasertype location, which was really just a desktop publishing shop with some Mac SEs for rent for students and community people who really needed to use a computer but didn't have one of their own. We were in a little indoor shopping centre, with a hairdresser, a used record shop, a comic book shop, a little shipping store, and a kiosk that sold Hawiian shaved ice in various flavours. That was good stuff in Alabama in the summer. But anyway.
Directly across the hall from my store was Wildman Steve's Used Record Store. He doesn't have the store anymore, but that link is definitely to Wildman Steve. He catered to all kinds of alternative tastes, would only buy so many Madonna albums a month, and did the usual buy, sell, trade business that a used record store usually does. He found out I was interested in music, and when the shop was quiet, we'd banter about this and that.
One day, we had a conversation about politics. I figured Wildman Steve was safe to discuss politics with, and so I talked, one day, about my opposition to the first gulf war and the big lies of corporate power and lockstep patriotism.
"You know what you need?" Wildman Steve said. "You need you some Billy Bragg." He produced five or six CDs, and he put on Worker's Playtime. Wow! I was hooked. "You buy this one first, and then you come back if you want more," he said. "These don't move fast in Auburn, Alabama; I can tell you that."
It must have been sometime in August or September of 1991. I had a CD player in my car for the first time ever, and my commute to and from work was nearly an hour on Alabama back roads. I went back for more.
One of the things that should have alerted me to my basic incompatibility with my second husband, aside from his admission that he could not stand the Beatles, was his dislike for Billy Bragg. "I don't know how you can listen to that stuff," he said. Bragg's accent really got to him, and I'm sure the politics weren't a big hit either-- assuming he ever got around to listening to the lyrics. ;-)
Last night, Otis Gibbs opened for Billy, and we were late to that, since I have an appointment on Monday evenings. He was fun, and his "American, but not an asshole" attitude went over very well with the Empire audience.
Billy came on right at 9:00. He opened up with "To Have and Have Not", which is one of my favourites. It was a standing crowd, and I happily stood for three hours to get the privilege of seeing him perform a straight-up two hour set with no breaks. Other stuff he did that I have been waiting to see live for years: Sexuality (ha,
ktnboo!), Greetings to the New Brunette, Levi Stubbs' Tears, The Milkman of Human Kindness (big audience singalong on that one), Must I Paint You a Picture, Waiting for the Great Leap Forward, and of course A New England. Yes, delchi, he's still singing new lyrics to Waiting for the Great Leap Forward. I understand why he changed it, but like you I love the old lyrics. He also performed his electric cover of Leon Rosselson's The World Turned Upside Down. Two special treats: Badly Drawn Boy Damon Gough showed up to play Walk Away Renee (Billy changed the lyrics on the last line to "She voted Tory"). And Kate Nash appeared to sing a Shangri Las song. All in all, it was a good evening. We got home late, and my feet hurt, but wow and lovely wow, it was good to finally get to see Billy Bragg.
