Oil Can Boyd

I spent about five days in Hong Kong in the spring of last year. I am a city person so I really enjoyed just wandering around both Kowloon and Wan Chai (on Hong Kong Island). Some of my favorite things - none of which are too far off the beaten path - were: Star Ferry across the Harbor Victoria Peak Hong Kong Museum of History Mong Kok street fair (at night) Stanley Market (south side of Hong Kong Island) Avenue of the Stars (either early in the morning when it is not crowded or at night when they have a light show)

Twin Peaks coming back? http://www.avclub.com/article/showtime-orders-twin-peaks-continuation-2016-210127 I've got pretty mixed feelings about this. I loved the first season and a half, got confused in the second half of season 2, and thought the movie was a bit of a mess. I suppose the positive spin is that Lynch and Frost will write the complete series and Lynch will direct all nine episodes.

Pretty good in-depth piece on Ryan Adams on Buzzfeed: http://www.buzzfeed.com/bobmehr/at-home-kinda-with-ryan-adams#1s28by6

That's actually what got my bro-in-law interested. He was somewhere in Kansas researching another project and he saw these wagon wheel ruts and started following them on foot. That led him to a small museum about the Oregon Trail and he was hooked.

Self-serving comment here but I just started reading an advance copy of a book my brother-in-law wrote – and which will be published next year. He and one of his brothers re-traced the 2,000 mile Oregon Trail from Missouri to Oregon with a covered wagon, three mules, and a Jack Russell Terrier. It took them about four months and was quite an adventure.

Stephin Merritt (Magnetic Fields) reading from his new book and playing some songs.

Hope you made it because it was a great show. He opened with Tiny Cities and went from there. In acknowledgement of Steve Shelley playing drums someone shouted out Teenage Riot. Kozelek sort of smirked, thought about it for a minute and then they played it for about two minutes. And when they stopped he looked at Shelley and told him they they ripped off Joy Division because Teenage Riot was just Love Will Tear Us Apart mixed up.

Don't think I do - I had trouble finding someone to go with me. I'm assuming doors at 7:30 and he comes on at 8:00 (with Steve Shelley being part of his band).

20 minute drum solo? I dunno ... He plays on the latest SKM album so maybe he plays on those same songs as part of the show?

Me too! (Do you know if there is an opener? There is a poster that lists Steve Shelley as being on the bill but it's not clear whether he's opening or playing with Sun Kil Moon.)

I'm seeing Kozelek on Friday night. Maybe I'll shout out some War On Drugs song titles in between songs.

Kurt Dahle is leaving the band. http://pitchfork.com/news/56709-new-pornographers-drummer-kurt-dahle-leaves-band/

It makes me uncomfortable that it showed up on my phone. I know that by using Apple products I am buying into their way of doing things but that sort of creeped me out.

I was there!

Came out ten years ago - and I think it still holds up as a great album.

Still thinking about last night's show.

Nice write-up here including a photo of the setlist: http://www.vanyaland.com/2014/09/08/love-til-sunday-check-replacements-setlist-boston-calling/ The bottom is torn off but Alex Chilton was the last song.

Agreed. Very good and fun time. Westerberg certainly flubbed some (lots) of the lyrics but I thought they sounded great. Mix of songs and if anything it leaned towards earlier stuff (Takin' a Ride, I'm in Trouble, White and Lazy). Nice cover of I Want You Back. Not too much banter but Westerberg's funniest line might have been "I smell weed. Fuckin hippies!"

Yes indeed.

Correct. Seeing them in the 5th row at the Orpheum back in January was a whole lot better. They were good tonight but they require a little more intimacy, I think.

I'll add to the off-topic and the mixed feelings on Boston Calling. I'm going tonight and Sunday and somehow feel I should be more excited about the whole thing. I have not been before but I've spent a lot of time in and around City Hall Plaza and just can't imagine how they will make it a decent place to spend many hours seeing music.

Future Islands Neutral Milk Hotel The National

They are on Letterman tonight (with Elizabeth Warren and Kristen Wiig). I assume Warren and Wiig are not part of the band.

It is but unfortunately it is hard to find. I borrowed this from a friend. It is out of print and used copies tend be be in the hundreds of dollars. They are reprinting it so I plan to buy the updated version when it comes out this fall. There is a lot of great stuff on-line about the Walled City, including a bunch of video taken on the inside.

City of Darkness: Life In Kowloon Walled City. An amazing book of stories and photographs of this massive, mostly ungoverned settlement in Hong Kong which was demolished in the 1990s.