Whither Los Angeles?

It's so easy!  I'm moving to Los Angeles in a couple of weeks, & so I'm doing a show about Los Angeles.  Duh!  It'll be on for the very last time on 88.1 fm WRFL here in Lexington, & it'll be online at wrfl dot fm at the same time.  Seven till nine a.m.  That's 7-9am.  If you're not up early enough, I'll archive it on the Self Help Radio website some time tomorrow.  I hope I don't cry during the show.

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I want to say a couple of things.  The fellow I wrote about here, John, his memorial service is tomorrow.  I don't think I'll go.  My wife will go.  I'm not sure I can take it.  I think that makes me a flawed person.

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Also, I went to Louisville last night - probably the last time I'll ever be in Louisville - to see Peter Hook & The Light.  It was subtitled "A Celebration Of Joy Division," & I was happy the audience had youngsters & old fucks like me.  I was genuinely thrilled to see Peter Hook, though he came out in washes of synth music & promptly did a New Order song I don't much care for ("Thieves Like Us").  I didn't realize there was an "opening New Order set," as it says on his website; I had heard he was going to do Unknown Pleasures & Closer in order, so that confused me.

Peter Hook does not do a good Bernard Sumner.  Except for "Ceremony," which of course Ian Curtis co-wrote, & sang first, most of the songs sounded off.  & too long!

The crowd didn't care.  They were happy.  They ate it up.  My wife very much enjoyed herself.

By far the strangest thing is that Peter Hook came onstage with a bass guitar & played it from time-to-time - but there was another bassist on stage, & he kept playing when Hook stopped.  It seems pretty obvious that Hook, who hasn't really fronted a band before or, if you count Revenge, not for two decades, can't sing & play bass at the same time.  Luckily the music was really loud - he occasionally seemed to remember he had to project his voice into the microphone to be heard.

After a break, the band returned to do Joy Division songs.  But something had been broken in me.  Yes, I know Hook sang when Ian Curtis was ill on some Joy Division dates.  Yes, I know he sang on Movement (although none of those songs were played last night).  But he's not a strong vocalist.  I sat through "Atrocity Exhibition," "Isolation," "Colony," a few more, but I came to feel like I wasn't seeing a show with one of the founders of a band that means a lot to me (Joy Division, not New Order), but that I was at a very loud Joy Division karaoke night & that one old guy in a football jersey was hogging the mic.

It also didn't help that I didn't want to force my way to the front, & was therefore around the chatty people with the giant Bud Light cans who were there socially.  But I was so disappointed.  It was such a let down.  I wanted to get home - it's an hour drive - where my pets were waiting to be fed.  The wife was sympathetic, so we took off.

Later I read Hook's Twitter feed & saw so many people had a great time.  Some seemed so moved by it.  Some just felt grateful they could experience it at all.  I kinda wish I had decided not to go.  Then I could feel I had missed something great, instead of being as bummed by the experience as I was.

Is it because there's something sacred to me about Joy Division?  That the music has just meant so much to me for so long?  I hate to feel this icky, & I also hate to be this negative.  But I did need to get it off my chest.

Sigh.