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Day Eighty One (Year Three)

So, I stumbled across a Rolling Stone interview with Paul Westerberg the other day.  He talks about his new self-released single, "My Road Now," (which I believe I mentioned in this space a couple of weeks back), and also touches on the somewhat informal Replacements reunion that took place recently.  Paul reunited with 'Mats bassist Tommy Stinson (who otherwise holds down the bottom end in the latest version of what used to be Guns N' Roses) to record an EP at the urging of Slim Dunlap (who played guitar in the Replacements from '87-'91).  Slim is in the process of recovering from a stroke he suffered in February, and proceeds from the EP will go to help funding his recovery.

I came to the Replacements late.  I stumbled upon Paul performing "Let The Bad Times Roll" right around the time that Stones best of I was talking about yesterday came out.  Watching Paul on Leno that night, time stopped.  The house could have been falling down around me, and I'd have sat there, glued to the TV.  I went to The Exclusive Company in Appleton the next day and bought the record.  It was Stereo/Mono, and it was just what I needed at that particular moment in my life.  I had never seen anyone do what he did with just an electric guitar in his Leno performance, and hearing him make records, essentially in his basement, was a revelation, if only because that's what I wanted to do right then.  I'm still working at getting that done ten years down the road.

After that, I found as much of his solo stuff as I could, and then moved into The Replacements catalog.  They're such a fantastic band, and it's an absolute crime that they haven't been inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame.  And for that matter, why isn't Mr. Westerberg in the Songwriter's Hall Of Fame?

Here's the link to the Westerberg Rolling Stone article:

 http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/q-a-paul-westerberg-on-the-replacements-reunion-and-being-a-middle-aged-rocker-20121009

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