better than this and that

Jeez, I wrote this last week and forgot to post it.
This is what happens when you use the zoom on the camera phone. I didn't feel like carrying my regular camera with me last night when I saw Richard Buckner.

I first heard him maybe 6 years or so ago when I downloaded Lil Wallet Picture because I liked the name. His voice was amazing and broke at all the right times, which Glenn O'Brien said once about Tammy Wynette when he wrote for Spin. Anyway, Richard Buckner's voice is amazing, it's pure poetry to me as are his words.

I had never seen him live until last night. He started off with his hair over his eyes, leaning into the microphone in another world. I wondered if he'd speak to the crowd. He did, he pushed his hair behind his ears, chatted a bit and sang 4am which was more heartbreaking live, if that's possible.

I hadn't realized he set Edgar Lee Masters' Spoon River Anthology to music. My aunt gave me that book when I was a teenager saying it was a must read. Turns out he also likes Raymond Carver, one of my favorites.

Funny, this bit about a Damien Jurado record (another of my favorites) calls the songs "Raymond Carver-esque vignettes" and then likens Jurado to Gillian Welch, Richard Buckner and Lucinda Williams.

It's like when I was 14 and found out my favorite guy, Morrissey had a James Dean obsession just like me. Well kind of like that, only better.