Tuesday October 10th

Day 110, Session 35:
Location: Walking out of work, relaxing on the train.
First song: Bowling Song (Almighty Malachi, Professional Bowling God) by Stephen Lynch
Last full song: Braver Newer World by Jimmie Dale Gilmore
Progress: 483-492 of 4447
Total Songs Heard: 416

Boxing Nostalgic by Josh Joplin is from the cd of the same name. I very much enjoy Josh Joplin, but the "Boxing Nostalgic" cd was a small release before he got picked up by a major label. Apparently copies of this cd exist out there somewhere, but they're listed on Amazon for around $40. My enjoyment of Josh Joplin does not reach the $40 per cd level. So after one of his shows in Chicago I asked him what would be the best way to get a hold of the older stuff. He encouraged me to find it on the internets and download it for free. Now that's cool. The artist telling you to go ahead and download his stuff. If only I had ever been able to find "Boxing Nostalgic" out there. I even tried using The Google. No such luck.

So hey, if you're reading this and you happen to have a copy of "Boxing Nostalgic" go ahead and send me the mp3s. Josh said it was ok. I'll even trade you for the mp3s from "Projector Head" (the other independent Josh Joplin release that I happened to find on Amazon tonight for $5 while writing this entry. Score!)

I think Josh Joplin has given up touring*** (and perhaps music altogether,) which is too bad. I guess if you're a musician, it's probably not a good thing to be able to spend a few minutes talking to anyone who hung around after the show. Probably means you're not "big" enough. But Josh was always happy to spend time talking with his fans.

At one show, he talked with my friend Jon (the one who's getting married tomorrow, good luck) and me long enough that when he moved on to the next couple of folks, a girl who was standing around asked me if I was on his security team. I assured her that I most certainly was, so she gave me her phone number and asked me to pass it along. I offered the number to Josh, but he declined.

I had something more depressing to say about Boxing by Ben Folds Five, but I like that story better. I'll save depressing for another day.

***Updated March 2008: This, thank goodness, turned out to be totally wrong! He took some time off to be a dad and to recharge his batteries, but he's now back on tour.. Hooray for all those things. This is one case where I'm happy to have been wrong.