Okay, so that’s a bit of an exaggeration…but I just learned that the Delgados are calling it quits. I generally respond to news of beloved bands breaking up calmly, but I only started listening to the Delgados a couple of years ago, and only became totally passionate about them last year. So this is hitting me really hard.
It doesn’t help that I’m having the worst week I’ve had in a while…
- I’ve been battling bronchitis for about a week—feeling steadily better each day, but I had another health problem a few weeks ago, so overall I’m still feeling weak and physically awful. And I’m a real wimp about not feeling well.
- It’s been a particularly wretched week at work; each day that I’m here seems to add a new layer of people who get to tell me what to do, and subtracts another chunk of my self-esteem. My job is just…demeaning, soul-sucking, belittling. For the past three or four weeks, I’ve been able to mostly ignore that fact because I’ve been doing some consulting work for the company that I fervently hope is going to hire me…but in the past couple of days, they’ve suddenly stopped calling me, and I’m all anxious and worried that the whole job prospect is going to come crashing down. I think I must have jinxed it by talking about it too much to too many people, and by allowing myself to think that it was all but a done deal. Suddenly, I feel very pessimistic about the prospects of it actually happening.
- Our house, which is always a pigsty, has become almost intolerable to me, which makes it hard to feel like I have a safe haven anywhere. I’m overwhelmed by the mess and the clutter and dirt (and mice! in the garage and in the basement ceiling), not to mention the fact that I estimate it will take at least $30K to make our house liveable and sellable, and I’m disgusted with myself for not having the energy to do more about it. I’ll work on it when I graduate, I keep telling myself.
- But I’m behind on schoolwork, so who knows if I’ll graduate in May like I’m supposed to?
And that ain’t all, but I’m sick of hearing myself complain; I’m really just mentioning the above to illustrate the fact that the LAST FRIGGIN’ THING I needed to hear today was that the Delgados are breaking up.
I’ll eulogize them when I’m feeling calmer. Right now, I think I need to write a separate post about something positive so that I don’t sink into total musical despair.
Well at least you didn’t discover them after they were already DEAD, as I did my latest favorite: Elliott Smith–don’t ask me how I managed NEVER to hear him before James got “from a basement on the hill”–but now I’m obsessed and, well, there’s only a finite amount of stuff out there and no possiblity of seeing him (a)live. On the upside, at least I’m finally hearing something new (to me) that really gets me. Sadly, this is the sort of music I almost always get hooked on (the melancholy kind, not the kind where the artist is already dead).
Hope you feel better soon.
This will be extremely small comfort, but there’s a fine (California-based?) band called Earlimart whose members were friends with Elliott, and their most recent record, Treble and Tremble, is sort of their way of paying tribute to him. It’s not self-consciously imitative, but I’m pretty certain that if you love his stuff, you’ll love that album (and possibly some of their earlier stuff) too. I think you can stream the whole thing through their Flash site, which you can get to from here.
(Besides, I didn’t discover Nick Drake till he’d been dead for several years, so I can relate. Of course, neither did most of the rest of the world…)
Thanks. The Earlimart album sounds great; I will be adding it to my collection. I don’t, as a rule, like web sites done entirely in Flash, but they sure have some very nice illustration on theirs.
Not terribly uncommon to learn about an artist after his or her passing I guess, but there’s something especially maddening about how recently deceased Elliott is–I just don’t know how I missed hearing him before now! I mean, I knew who he was, but I didn’t know, you know? Thanks again for the recommendation.
“…not to mention the fact that I estimate it will take at least $30K to make our house liveable and sellable, and Iâ??m disgusted with myself for not having the energy to do more about it.”
Whoo boy, do I know how you feel!
Sorry you’ve had such a crappy week, Amy.
Well, here’s my first proof that I do read your blog. Anyway, on the Delgados thing, and I don’t know anything more than I read on p’card, but it was just the bass player that wanted to quit. Isn’t it still possible that all the others will continue together under a different name. While it wouldn’t be exactly the same, it wouldn’t be a complete disappearance. Just saying there’s still hope it won’t be as awful as it seems now.
Hope you’re feeling better (physically and emotionally) soon.
Heather—re. the Delgados continuing without the bass player, unfortunately it’s not going to happen. The four core members started out as a group of friends first and foremost (the three guys have been friends since childhood, and Emma met them over a decade ago), then started the record label and the band. Their friendship has been integral to keeping the band going in the face of widespread indifference from almost everyone, even the UK press. (Why they aren’t huge there is a complete mystery to me, but they aren’t, and sadly never have been.) I’m trying to find a good analogy, and the only one I can come up with off the top of my head is the Mekons: Mekons have come and gone in vast numbers throughout the years, but if Jon Langford or Tom Greenhalgh left, it wouldn’t be the Mekons anymore. Even though Stuart doesn’t sing or (usually) write songs, the band wouldn’t be the band without him. It’s possible that Alun and Emma will continue writing songs together, and I sure as hell hope they do. And Emma and Paul (the drummer) are married, so they’ll still be a unit. But I’m not expecting to hear anything further from them. I hope I’m wrong, but I fear I’m not.
Oh, and…thanks to all of you for the commiseration and good wishes. I am feeling a little better physically and a whole freakin’ lot better mentally…details to come.
Amy, I hope things are looking up for you and I’m thinking good thoughts for you and Bill, and for Emma, Alun and Paul.
Elliott Smith was a songwriter who moved me deeply, too, to the point where I even mustered up the courage to speak to him briefly. It must have been around 1998 or so, a while after his incongruous but perversely delighting appearance on the Oscar telecast. I was in the Boston airport heading home from a business meeting and saw him in a waiting area. He was friendly and kind, if a bit embarrased and ill-at-ease to be approached by some older guy in suit and tie who’d seem to be a rather unlikely fan.
My teenage daughter is also a big fan, also after the fact. She also thinks that it’s incredibly cool that there’s a connection between Elliott and Ted Leo, another of her favorites that she’s picked up from me. While Ted sounds nothing like Elliott’s solo record (though maybe a bit like Heatmiser at times), he’s a similarly smart and passionate songwriter. Anyway, Ted told this story on his website shortly after Elliott died:
From Ted Leo’s site:
October 22, 2003
“Almost ten years ago, my old band, Chisel, was on our first full US tour. Nothing west of Chicago was particularly well attended, but that never really gets me down — I try to keep hopes up but expectations low. Anyway, what was getting me down, was a certain lack of respect I was often feeling from people in a lot of places, which reached a real boiling point in Portland, Or., at a place called the “O,” where we were being treated less than kindly by the promoter. It was summer, and very very hot inside the place. We attracted about 20 people that night, and played a pretty ripping set, if I remember correctly, during which I asked the promoter if I could have one of the 7-Ups he was selling for a quarter each from a cooler at the back of the room. He said, “For a quarter!” I thought he was joking, but he wasn’t. I sputtered through the sweat dripping down my face and across my mouth, “Well… Can’t I pay you after we’re done playing? Can’t you take it out of our pay?” He just stared at me, then made some quip about, “What pay?” Which, since we’d only drawn 20 people, was a legitimate question, granted, but I was kind of dumbfounded — I couldn’t believe that he was going to not only NOT offer me a soda for busting my ass on stage, but was going to embarrass me in this way in front of an audience that was actually there to see us as well. I had a serious existential crisis at that moment. What the fuck am I doing here? Why am I giving it up in this way every night? Why are people so petty in their power struggles? Is this all there is? Just then, a person stepped out from the 20 person crowd, put a quarter in the promoter’s hand, and walked the soda up to me on stage.
It’s largely due to that small gesture that I’m still playing music today, and in years to come, I got to know that person better, and count him as a friend. That person was Eliott Smith. And though I know he’s now free from the very real demons that were gnawing at him… Man, I think I’m going to miss him very very much. My love to his other friends and family, and my love to you all. Spare a thought for Eliott today.”
Sorry to ramble on. Amy must be rubbing off on me.
Tom