Photo by Denim

Last Thursday Dean & Britta performed a set for radio station KCRW’s show Morning Becomes Eclectic. The set mostly featured tracks from 13 Most Beautiful, but slipped in near the end was a cover of Galaxie 500’s Snowstorm. Now Snowstorm is my favourite song, no question. It entered my life at a very important time and did, to a certain extent, play its part in changing that life. I’d possibly suggest that a week hasn’t gone past since I first heard it that I haven’t listened to it, and all that listening hasn’t diminished its effect on me one drop. No other music comes even close to making me feel the way it does.

So, you’d think that hearing Dean Wareham singing Snowstorm would be something that I’d appreciate, and to be honest so would I. But listening to that performance (and an earlier live performance that appeared on YouTube a few weeks previously) made me feel uncomfortable.

It’s always been hard for me to look at Dean’s work with any sort of objectivity, but that’s never been a problem because, well… it has all been great, there’s frankly nothing there which has cause to question my objectivity! I’m pretty certain I’ve never thought, let alone written down, a single jot of criticism of any of his work. Which is going to make the next couple of paragraphs pretty hard going.

I’ve seen Dean & Britta, and Luna before them (and even Damon & Naomi), perform many Galaxie 500 songs and I’ve never been bothered. In fact mostly I have been overjoyed and have swayed blissfully, happy that I can hear these songs again. But for some reason with Snowstorm all the things that have never bothered me in the past really did bother me, and actually they bothered me quite a lot.

Dean’s voice was good, and I think that might be a crucial point in what made it all sound so wrong. Hearing that familiar voice over that unfamiliar backing. The harsher drum sound, the fuzzier guitar, the more intricate bass line, the keyboards… MOSTLY the keyboards. It never had the other worldly, it never took me to that special place that Snowstorm has always taken me. It wasn’t a song capable of changing a life.

I love Dean & Britta and I love that they’re doing Galaxie 500 numbers, and I even appreciate that my attachment to Snowstorm might be quite unique and therefore I am the only one who finds it bothersome. But I do. I hope to get to see Dean & Britta play (a non 13 Most Beautiful show) in the near future, maybe even one of the Galaxie 500 shows they’ve been doing… but I wonder if they’ll take requests?

You can see Dean & Britta playing Snowstorm on KCRW over at A Head Full of Wishes – it’s quite near the end. But I’d suggest you stay here and watch this instead…

• the constant use of Lee Wall (II) which clearly shows that IMDB has been raided for film names.
• the mis-use of “passion” in the last one that suggests that a thesaurus has been used for variety.
• the spelling throughout that proves that the spammers didn’t bother using a dictionary.

Luna – Tell Me Do You Miss Me also has some exceedingly splendacious photography! The plot line is just positively terrific. The terrifically glorious cast includes Lee Wall (II), Dean Wareham, Britta Phillips, Sean Eden.

If you love watching Lee Wall (II) or Dean Wareham, you are deffinetly going to want to watch Luna – Tell Me Do You Miss Me

I think Lee Wall (II) and Dean Wareham worked wonderful in Luna – Tell Me Do You Miss Me.

The stupendous cast in this movie is eye-opening: Lee Wall (II), Dean Wareham, Britta Phillips, Sean Eden. For certain an award winning work with characters.

A fantastic performance by Lee Wall (II) & Dean Wareham make Luna – Tell Me Do You Miss Me a “ought to mark” movie!

The dazzling cast in this movie is wonderful: Lee Wall (II), Dean Wareham, Britta Phillips, Sean Eden. Honestly an award winning adventure with characters that you can by.

A enigmatic performance by Lee Wall (II) & Dean Wareham make Luna – Tell Me Do You Miss Me a “want to savvy” movie!

The great cast includes Lee Wall (II), Dean Wareham, Britta Phillips, Sean Eden. The movie moves on like a dream and end leaving you wanting for more.

If you love watching Lee Wall (II) or Dean Wareham, you are deffinetly going to passion to watch Luna – Tell Me Do You Miss Me.

The funny thing of course is that it really is a “ought to mark” movie and you certainly will passion it…

More of my idlings.

Lovely new Damon & Naomi poster = £10
Nice frame for the said poster = £40

How sad am I? The answer is very.

Cultural references
Route 128 has been mentioned in several other rock and roll songs such as “Blue Thunder” by Galaxie 500.

Your search – “route 128″ “galaxie 500″ site:britannica.com – did not match any documents.

I’ve just finished Dean Wareham’s book – for a fan it is a slightly frustrating gem of a read – it’s written in an easy casual style with Dean’s dry wit recognisable from 20 years of listening to his lyrics. Too often, however, the story ends too quickly – I know it’s because I’m a fan and the book is written for people who don’t necessarily care about every little detail of every little tour. That’s possibly why the extended chapter on Pup Tent is so one of the high (and simultaneously low) points of the book.

There’s a last page spoiler coming – you have been warned…

BUT there’s a mistake – and it may be a mistake inconsequential to most readers but it really bothers me. In describing Luna’s last show Dean suggests that Indian Summer was the closing song of the closing show – he describes his emotions and the way he steps back to listen to Sean – it’s sweet and emotional…BUT WRONG. The last song Luna played was 23 Minutes in Brussels – the written set list had Indian Summer as the last song but apparently the band made a last minute decision to swap it with 23 Minutes which was due to be the penultimate track.

You can go here and listen to the last two tracks in the correct order, here to view the post I made the morning after or here to see a load of pictures of Luna at the last show…where they finished with 23 Minutes in Brussels.

OK…glad to have got that off my chest.

I created a Flickr group to collect all the pictures of Britta singing You Turned My Head Around just because I wanted to look at a slideshow of them.

How sad am I? The answer is “very”.

All the pictures are in the group pool – Photo credits: 1. Dean and Britta at the El Rey on 2-19-08, 2. Dean & Britta @ Luna Lounge, 3. dean & britta in pittsburgh, 4. 9Jan07_britta5, 5. Dean & Britta, 6. Britta Phillips, 7. dean_britta_14784f.jpg, 8. Dean & Britta, 9. Dean & Britta, 10. Britta & the Drummer, 11. 20070312-deanAndBritta, 12. Dean and Britta Austin 080223, 13. “Hey baby…… “, 14. Britta, 15. Britta

The last time Dean appeared in this series I rushed off to the Puma website to try and buy his shoes (now that’s the dedication of a fan). I do rather like these white shoes but they are white and I don’t think I can pull that off ( I don’t think many people can pull off white footwear!)

So this time I’m not as inspired to walk in the shoes of my hero.

To be honest I do have a problem with Dean and his white things – I’m not that keen on seeing him holding a white guitar and as for the white jeans he wears far too often (shudder)…

#18 Dean Wareham of Dean & Britta and his white sneakers.