27 June 2010
Saturday Nights on Summer Vacation
I’m having a weird week, about which I shall expound more later. Part of the weirdness has resulted in my watching a lot of television, ‘though that really has nothing to do with Saturday night. Beginning at 10:30 on Saturdays, I get SNL, then (often) Soundstage, then (usually) Austin City Limits.
One of the things I love about SNL is the way that on any given night, you could see the funniest thing you’ve ever seen on the tube. You’re more likely to see something lame, but there’s always the possibility that the next sketch could be the next “Samurai Delicatessen,” “Wayne’s World,” or “Schmitt’s Gay.” I love that feeling. And it would be that way even without the musical performances, which really double the anticipation.
It’s the same thing with Soundstage and Austin City Limits. Although my machine is set to record both programs every week, I usually can’t wait until later to watch them, and few programs have given me more pleasure in the past few months.
This evening, it was a couple of excellent repeats. Lynyrd Skynyrd on Soundstage and Nick Lowe for the first half of Austin City Limits. The Swell Season, not quite as excellent but still very good, had the second half.
I mentioned out loud last summer that I really needed to spend some time educating myself about Nick Lowe, and I did explore some of his tunes this past year. This performance was better even than most of the stuff I listened to.
These aren’t the exact performances I saw this evening, but they’re close. They make me want to pick up my guitar and write something.
2010-06-27 :: me