Neckgear and Playmixt went to the last two nights of The National’s 6-night run at the Beacon Theatre in New York City, December 16 and 17. It also happened to be the final nights of the HIGH VIOLET tour. We saw them five times on this tour, which was interesting because they went from 1,500-seat venues (like The National in Richmond) to 4,000-seaters in DC, then eventually the 18,000-seat venues like the Hollywood Bowl and Merriweather Post Pavilion. They blew up big, even though a lot of people still haven’t heard of them.

What very few people new about our NYC trip is that I planned to propose a marital merging of the Neckgear and Playmixt empires this very weekend. Conveniently enough, the band has been ending their shows with an unamplified singalong version of HIGH VIOLET’s closer, Vanderlyle Crybaby Geeks, as seen above from our excellent seats for the Friday night 12/16 show (our seats on Saturday 12/17 didn’t have as fine a vantage for video as we were on the floor). VCG happens to be Neckgear’s current favorite song. Neither of us is really sure what it’s about, but it’s lovely and compelling, and includes the line:

All the very best of us… string ourselves up for love…

Oddly enough, there was some weird foreshadowing to the proposal: in the section in front of us were a bride and groom - she still in her gown.

Earlier in the day, after learning a few things on a various & sundry topics, she enthusiastically said to me, “I’m learning so much today! We should hang out more often!” We’ve been together 8 years now, so this struck me as hilarious. Whatever script my mind had been working up went right out the window when she said this - I knew it was something I could use. With some prodding, she posted that quote to Facebook as a status update before the show.

After her phenomenal 10th work anniversary meal at Mario Battali’s Babbo restaurant, we went back uptown to the Beacon (a truly gorgeous theatre) for the show. At the conclusion of the Vanderlyle Crybaby Geeks singalong, I said this:

“I’ve been thinking about what you said earlier today - about hanging out more often. How about we do that… for the rest of our lives?”

With that, the blue box came out of the coat pocket, causing much astonishment on her part. An attempt at kneeling was made, but with the tight rows in the Beacon Theatre that was a bit much. The ring was proffered, and she accepted. We’re very excited and would like to thank all our friends and family for their support and kind wishes.

If you’d like to see more video we took from the Friday 12/16 show, go here. 4 songs total.

KEVIN HEARD IT ON THE RADIO. Playmixt’s given first name is Kevin, and as an enthusiast of themed playlists, one’s first name is a natural.  Sadly, there don’t seem to be a lot of Kevin songs out there.  The Goo Goo Dolls have an instrumental entitled Kevin’s Song, and there’s Cousin Kevin from the Who’s Tommy, that’s about all we know of. Or so we thought. Our good friend KP prompted us via the Book of Faces today that the 28th was the anniversary of the release of R.E.M.’s LIFES RICH PAGEANT, the deluxe version of which I only started listening to that very morning.  Sheer coincidence?  Maybe. After reading KP’s note (thank you!), I was listening to the demos disc this morning.  LRP is a very important record to me, it really has been my favorite R.E.M. album – the one everything else gets measured against.  I saw them on that tour, a year before The One I Love would kick down America’s door to their mix of jangly, Byrds-inspired rock.  I am not too much inclined to like the packaging of the new deluxe edition.  Art prints and posters are the “interactive menus” of the deluxe reissue.  Overall, I want content – demos, live material, rarities, maybe some video.  The second disc of the deluxe edition is fantastic.  It’s surprising to hear how many of the songs were quite fully formed before going into the studio with Don Gehman.  The inclusion of tracks like Wait and All The Right Friends, some of which date at least to 5 years prior in their live set, makes the extra disc great. Anyway, this morning on my commute, Just A Touch came on in demo form - and on some of the demos, Stipe’s lyrics sound even clearer.  The lyric that I’d always heard for 25 years as “Can’t hear it on the radio,” finally made its true meaning known: Kevin heard it on the radio.  A quick Google search confirmed it: Kevin heard it on the radio Hugh informed word of mouth Carla read it in the news Caught it all just a touch This is pretty mind-blowing to learn 25 years after the fact.  The Kevin playlist has begun.  Got any other tunes to add?

KEVIN HEARD IT ON THE RADIO.

Playmixt’s given first name is Kevin, and as an enthusiast of themed playlists, one’s first name is a natural.  Sadly, there don’t seem to be a lot of Kevin songs out there.  The Goo Goo Dolls have an instrumental entitled Kevin’s Song, and there’s Cousin Kevin from the Who’s Tommy, that’s about all we know of.

Or so we thought.

Our good friend KP prompted us via the Book of Faces today that the 28th was the anniversary of the release of R.E.M.’s LIFES RICH PAGEANT, the deluxe version of which I only started listening to that very morning.  Sheer coincidence?  Maybe.

After reading KP’s note (thank you!), I was listening to the demos disc this morning.  LRP is a very important record to me, it really has been my favorite R.E.M. album – the one everything else gets measured against.  I saw them on that tour, a year before The One I Love would kick down America’s door to their mix of jangly, Byrds-inspired rock. 

I am not too much inclined to like the packaging of the new deluxe edition.  Art prints and posters are the “interactive menus” of the deluxe reissue.  Overall, I want content – demos, live material, rarities, maybe some video.  The second disc of the deluxe edition is fantastic.  It’s surprising to hear how many of the songs were quite fully formed before going into the studio with Don Gehman.  The inclusion of tracks like Wait and All The Right Friends, some of which date at least to 5 years prior in their live set, makes the extra disc great.

Anyway, this morning on my commute, Just A Touch came on in demo form - and on some of the demos, Stipe’s lyrics sound even clearer.  The lyric that I’d always heard for 25 years as “Can’t hear it on the radio,” finally made its true meaning known: Kevin heard it on the radio.  A quick Google search confirmed it:

Kevin heard it on the radio
Hugh informed word of mouth
Carla read it in the news
Caught it all just a touch

This is pretty mind-blowing to learn 25 years after the fact.  The Kevin playlist has begun.  Got any other tunes to add?

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