Escuchar Now Here We Are Thirty Years Later

Sin as hard as you can. Today's episode is about Shane MacGowan, growing up Catholic in England in the 90s, knocking a few teacups off the shelves, and 'the life of the spirit' in John Darnielle's work from 'Stable Boy Song' to 'Satanic Messiah.' It's 2009, and the song is 'Psalms 40:2.'

Well, they come and pull me from my house. Today’s episode is about ‘Heretic Pride,’ monsters, pagans, ghost cowboys, how a comprehensive knowledge of unreleased Mountain Goats lyrics might come in handy when you least expect it, and a ‘large, eclectic crowd of gay people’ at the City Nightclub in 1986, enjoying ‘the best sound system in Portland & possibly the entire PNW.’ Show notes A lot of today’s episode is about what life was like for queer teenagers experiencing homelessness on the streets of Portland in the 1980s - an organisation that serves this community today which Darnielle himself has recommended is p:ear, which stands for Project Education, Art and Recreation. While I was in town, programme director Tony Martinez was kind enough to give me a tour of the building and told me about the amazing work they do, helping young people to get anything from socks and basic hygiene products to food service qualifications and opportunities to sell their own artwork. It all starts with looking at ‘youth as youth, intentionally developing relationships’ as the basis for mentorship, rather than a model centered on transactions or case management. If you enjoy the episode, I don’t charge for any of my work on this project, but you might like to donate to p:ear - you can do so at pearmentor.org/donate. Or if you’re listening in the UK and want to give locally, the charity AKT works for ‘safe homes and better futures for lgbtq+ young people’: you can donate to them on https://www.akt.org.uk/Appeal/donate. If you make a donation to either organisation, tag me on social media - notrockyhorror on Twitter or Bluesky, thirty_years_later on Instagram - to let me know, and I’ll send you a photo. In Portland I didn’t quite manage to ‘shoot a roll of 32 exposures’ - disposable cameras these days seem mostly to come with rolls of 28 - but I do have spare copies of a good few pictures from my trip which I’d be happy to post out in exchange for your generosity if you get in touch. References: It turns out my hosting platform doesn't allow me to post as long a list of references as I need to here, given the amount of archival material I used in the episode. You can find the normal list of interviews, live shows, etc on this link [https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vRxvAze26mD0l7oh_P-TeAohyXmL_S7Evk9ZVasio4xrqrC2OIPmx7V4tekBdMbHsic8TwmMMI85Ska/pub] instead, including persistent links and page number to all the historical newspaper sources: https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vRxvAze26mD0l7oh_P-TeAohyXmL_S7Evk9ZVasio4xrqrC2OIPmx7V4tekBdMbHsic8TwmMMI85Ska/pub

Max Brod Hate Club. Today’s episode is about ‘From TG&Y,’ 2007, writer’s archives, the Mountain Goats fan forums, copying mean lyrics onto your school planner, and how to move a craftsman bungalow down the Santa Fe railroad in the dead of night. Show notes Interviews: Bill Meyer, ‘Goat Ease,’ Puncture, 1994: http://web.archive.org/web/19990427042719/http://mb1.musicblvd.com/cgi-bin/tw/288145857327820_105_4973 [http://web.archive.org/web/19990427042719/http://mb1.musicblvd.com/cgi-bin/tw/288145857327820_105_4973] ‘The Mountain Goats Can’t Buy A Thrill,’ Puberty, 1993/4: https://web.archive.org/web/20140603113938/http://marcopolio.blogspot.com/ [https://web.archive.org/web/20140603113938/http://marcopolio.blogspot.com/] Richard O’Brien, ‘The Sound and the Fury: An Interview With John Darnielle,’ 3:am, 2007: https://www.3ammagazine.com/3am/the-sound-and-the-fury-an-interview-with-john-darnielle/ [https://www.3ammagazine.com/3am/the-sound-and-the-fury-an-interview-with-john-darnielle/] Reese Higgins, ‘The Mountain Goats’ John Darnielle on Internet Addiction, Metal, and the Lifetime Movie Network.’ Washington City Paper, 2013: https://washingtoncitypaper.com/article/412154/the-mountain-goats-john-darnielle-on-internet-addiction-metal-and-the-lifetime-movie-network/ [https://washingtoncitypaper.com/article/412154/the-mountain-goats-john-darnielle-on-internet-addiction-metal-and-the-lifetime-movie-network/] Christian Hoard, ‘The Slow Climb: How the Mountain Goats’ John Darnielle Became the Best Storyteller in Rock,’ Rolling Stone, 2015 [paywalled]: https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/the-slow-climb-how-the-mountain-goats-john-darnielle-became-the-best-storyteller-in-rock-227793/ [https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/the-slow-climb-how-the-mountain-goats-john-darnielle-became-the-best-storyteller-in-rock-227793/] Tom Breihan, ‘We Took The Mountain Goats’ John Darnielle To His First Pro Wrestling Show In 35 Years,’ Stereogum, 2015: https://www.stereogum.com/1788418/we-took-the-mountain-goats-john-darnielle-to-his-first-pro-wrestling-show-in-35-years/interviews/ [https://www.stereogum.com/1788418/we-took-the-mountain-goats-john-darnielle-to-his-first-pro-wrestling-show-in-35-years/interviews/] Craig Jenkins, ‘Genuinely John Darnielle The Mountain Goats’ frontman on keeping the faith, loving the occult, and sad songwriting.’ Vulture, 2022 [paywalled]:https://www.vulture.com/2022/08/john-darnielle-the-mountain-goats-bleed-out.html [https://www.vulture.com/2022/08/john-darnielle-the-mountain-goats-bleed-out.html] Tom Breihan, ‘We’ve Got A File On You: John Darnielle,’ Stereogum, 2022: https://www.stereogum.com/2195715/john-darnielle-mountain-goats-bleed-out/interviews/weve-got-a-file-on-you/ [https://www.stereogum.com/2195715/john-darnielle-mountain-goats-bleed-out/interviews/weve-got-a-file-on-you/] Songwriters on Process: ‘Julien Baker and Matt Nathanson,’ February 2022: https://open.spotify.com/episode/2XHol51wmCjMdUZyzHldMU?si=0aec21182d0140a0&nd=1 [https://open.spotify.com/episode/2XHol51wmCjMdUZyzHldMU?si=0aec21182d0140a0&nd=1] Live shows: Live at the Gold Student Center, Pitzer College, Claremont, CA, on 2006-12-02, taped by Chris Bellew: https://archive.org/details/tmg2006-12-02/ [https://archive.org/details/tmg2006-12-02/] Live at The Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh, PA, on 2006-09-20, taped by drworm01: https://archive.org/details/tmg2006-09-20.flacf/ [https://archive.org/details/tmg2006-09-20.flacf/] Live at Herbst Theater, San Francisco, CA, on 2009-05-29, taped by rainingvodka: https://archive.org/details/tmg2009-02-24.schoeps_cmc34_16bit/ [https://archive.org/details/tmg2009-02-24.schoeps_cmc34_16bit/] Live at VPRO on 19 96-11-07: https://archive.org/details/tmg1996-11-07.aud.128mp3/ [https://archive.org/details/tmg1996-11-07.aud.128mp3/] Web resources: Japanese liner notes to Get Lonely, featuring Akao Mika interview and translated by Andrew Fazzari, on the Annotated Mountain Goats: https://annotatedtmg.org/mirror/gl-japanese-liner.html [https://annotatedtmg.org/mirror/gl-japanese-liner.html] Barry Sanders, ‘Grove House: A California Bungalow Goes to College.’ Pitzer College, https://www.pitzer.edu/archives/wp-content/uploads/sites/34/2014/09/Grove-House-History-Barry-Sanders1.pdf [https://www.pitzer.edu/archives/wp-content/uploads/sites/34/2014/09/Grove-House-History-Barry-Sanders1.pdf] Anna Griffin, ‘Oregon Book Award Finalist Barry Sanders: The purposeful rambler.’ Oregon Live, 2011: https://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/anna_griffin/2011/04/oregon_book_award_finalist_bar.html [https://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/anna_griffin/2011/04/oregon_book_award_finalist_bar.html] Jason Koebler, ‘It’s September, Forever.’ VICE, 2015: https://www.vice.com/en/article/nze8nb/its-september-forever [https://www.vice.com/en/article/nze8nb/its-september-forever]. John’s tweets about Matt Nathanson: https://twitter.com/mountain_goats/status/1471985074178596865 [https://twitter.com/mountain_goats/status/1471985074178596865] https://twitter.com/mountain_goats/status/1043621458214309888 [https://twitter.com/mountain_goats/status/1043621458214309888] And about Kafka/Emily Dickinson in this thread:https://twitter.com/mountain_goats/status/562732001464434689 [https://twitter.com/mountain_goats/status/562732001464434689] And on destroying your archive: https://twitter.com/mountain_goats/status/1428104276417474562 [https://twitter.com/mountain_goats/status/1428104276417474562] John’s stated position on bootlegging, 2004: https://archive.org/details/MountainGoats?tab=about [https://archive.org/details/MountainGoats?tab=about] tMG forum discussion of Hail and Farewell Gothenburg, archived on the Annotated Mountain Goats: https://annotatedtmg.org/hafg.html [https://annotatedtmg.org/hafg.html] tMG forum post about ‘From TG&Y’ studio version: https://web.archive.org/web/20071211211949/http://www.mountain-goats.com/forums/read.php?2,11195 [https://web.archive.org/web/20071211211949/http://www.mountain-goats.com/forums/read.php?2,11195] Jake Brown, ‘Obsession, Insanity and Fanaticism,’ Glorious Noise, 2001 - featuring Last Plane to Jakarta material on Syd Barrett: https://gloriousnoise.com/2001/obsession_insanity_and_fanatic [https://gloriousnoise.com/2001/obsession_insanity_and_fanatic] Kafka on books and reading, The Marginalian: https://www.themarginalian.org/2014/06/06/kafka-on-books-and-reading/ [https://www.themarginalian.org/2014/06/06/kafka-on-books-and-reading/] YouTube videos: ‘The Mountain Goats @ Simplon, Groningen, Netherlands 1995-04-12,’ taped by Gregor and uploaded by notasfarwest: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=28e-WerYzJM&t=962s [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=28e-WerYzJM&t=962s] The Mountain Goats - Dance Music, live in London, uploaded by vikramj86: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5B4UVUHeWw [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5B4UVUHeWw] Mountain Goats, Eddie Argos at the Union Chapel, uploaded by Keith TOTP: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SpO0e5nEvIE [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SpO0e5nEvIE] The Mountain Goats - From TG&Y - at Rock for Roe at Pinhook on 1/20/13, uploaded by Ash Crowe: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XxUv9Qxi7WQ [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XxUv9Qxi7WQ]

The loneliest people in the whole wide world. Today's episode is about ‘Maybe Sprout Wings,’ Frankie Lymon, the ‘high lonesome sound’ of Appalachian folk music, and a depressive episode at the Trinity LABAN Centre. Show notes Interviews: Tom Lynch, ‘Only the Lonely: Mountain Goats man John Darnielle sings a sad story,’ New City Music, 2006: https://music.newcity.com/2006/09/14/only-the-lonely-mountain-goats-man-john-darnielle-sings-a-sad-story/ [https://music.newcity.com/2006/09/14/only-the-lonely-mountain-goats-man-john-darnielle-sings-a-sad-story/] Andy Downing, ‘Mountain Goats' Darnielle opens up in `Get Lonely.'’ Chicago Tribune, 2006 [paywalled]:https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-2006-09-08-0609080026-story.html [https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-2006-09-08-0609080026-story.html] Craig Wright, ‘Mountain Goats' John Darnielle on Chasing Death and Dressing Goth in Portland,’ Willamette Week, 2017: https://www.wweek.com/music/2017/05/31/mountain-goats-john-darnielle-on-chasing-death-and-dressing-goth-in-portland/ [https://www.wweek.com/music/2017/05/31/mountain-goats-john-darnielle-on-chasing-death-and-dressing-goth-in-portland/] Steven Hyden, ‘Celebration Rock.’ ‘20th Century Boss, Part 7: “Tunnel of Love” with John Darnielle.’ Spotify podcast, 2018: https://open.spotify.com/episode/0g1WGiwnjKKcGaYRnKPOuG?si=2b751fe1b0f84e03&nd=1 [https://open.spotify.com/episode/0g1WGiwnjKKcGaYRnKPOuG?si=2b751fe1b0f84e03&nd=1] Craig Jenkins, ‘Genuinely John Darnielle The Mountain Goats’ frontman on keeping the faith, loving the occult, and sad songwriting.’ Vulture, 2022 [paywalled]:https://www.vulture.com/2022/08/john-darnielle-the-mountain-goats-bleed-out.html [https://www.vulture.com/2022/08/john-darnielle-the-mountain-goats-bleed-out.html] Live shows: Live at Doug Fir Lounge, Portland, on 2005-06-20, taped by Peter Sohriakoff: https://archive.org/details/tmg2005-06-20 [https://archive.org/details/tmg2005-06-20] Live at Club Europa, Brooklyn, on 2006-09-29, taped by Peter Sohriakoff: https://archive.org/details/tmg2006-09-29/ [https://archive.org/details/tmg2006-09-29/] Live at the Gothic Theater in Englewood, Colorado on 2017-09-16, taped by LMGB Tapes: https://archive.org/details/tmg2017-09-16/ [https://archive.org/details/tmg2017-09-16/] Live at Boulder Theater, Colorado on 2018-09-13, taped by Lance Stack, feat. ‘Duane Allman Slept Here’: https://archive.org/details/tmg2018-09-13.mk4.flac24 [https://archive.org/details/tmg2018-09-13.mk4.flac24] Live at Aladdin Theater, Portland, on 2019-09-10, taped by Liz Hamilton: https://archive.org/details/tmg2019-09-10 [https://archive.org/details/tmg2019-09-10] Web resources: Japanese liner notes to Get Lonely, featuring Akao Mika interview and translated by Andrew Fazzari, on the Annotated Mountain Goats: https://annotatedtmg.org/mirror/gl-japanese-liner.html [https://annotatedtmg.org/mirror/gl-japanese-liner.html] Witchsong, ‘I Don’t Wanna Die In Here: The Mountain Goats in Chicago,’ 2015: https://medium.com/witchsong/i-dont-wanna-die-in-here-the-mountain-goats-in-chicago-df8f1044c75d [https://medium.com/witchsong/i-dont-wanna-die-in-here-the-mountain-goats-in-chicago-df8f1044c75d] Amanda Petrusich, ‘The Discovery of Roscoe Holcomb and the “High Lonesome Sound.” The New Yorker, 2015 [paywalled]: https://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/the-discovery-of-roscoe-holcomb-and-the-high-lonesome-sound [https://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/the-discovery-of-roscoe-holcomb-and-the-high-lonesome-sound] Kara Kundert, ‘50 STATES OF FOLK: The Enduring Power of Kentucky’s High Lonesome Sound.’ No Depression, 2020: https://www.nodepression.com/50-states-of-folk-the-enduring-power-of-kentuckys-high-lonesome-sound/ [https://www.nodepression.com/50-states-of-folk-the-enduring-power-of-kentuckys-high-lonesome-sound/] Sandra Brennan, Rovi artist biography for Buell Kazee: https://open.spotify.com/artist/6tcyQ0ycaAsYbjhoDOt1jd?si=hwcOOaKKQ9WHHyWuJTv6lg&nd=1 [https://open.spotify.com/artist/6tcyQ0ycaAsYbjhoDOt1jd?si=hwcOOaKKQ9WHHyWuJTv6lg&nd=1] Pretty Panicks Press postcard, from an art project by Sara Wintz, featuring the first draft of Moon Over Goldsboro: https://annotatedtmg.org/mirror/moon-postcard.pdf [https://annotatedtmg.org/mirror/moon-postcard.pdf] Henry David Thoreau on Solitude, from ‘Walden’: https://commons.digitalthoreau.org/walden/solitude/ [https://commons.digitalthoreau.org/walden/solitude/] Stuart Heritage, ‘This Country: perfect, horrifying TV for anyone who grew up in a village.’ The Guardian, 2017: https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2017/feb/22/this-country-bbc-perfect-horrifying-tv-for-anyone-who-grew-up-in-a-village [https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2017/feb/22/this-country-bbc-perfect-horrifying-tv-for-anyone-who-grew-up-in-a-village] YouTube videos: ‘Seabreeze,’ by Frankie Lymon: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6yo4UE-p864 [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6yo4UE-p864] ‘Brilliant Disguise,’ by The Extra Glenns on 1995-09-21 at the Empty Bottle in Chicago, IL. Uploaded by notasfarwest: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T2qMQJaRHak [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T2qMQJaRHak] ‘Sickbed Blues,’ by Skip James: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OgcpuhvjNuw [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OgcpuhvjNuw] ‘The Song Colloquially referred to as "Nikki oh Nikki" by the Mountain Goats,’ uploaded by Proud Heretic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xMAhXEopqHw [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xMAhXEopqHw] Books: Franklin Bruno, Elvis Costello’s Armed Forces (Bloomsbury, 2005).

Deep in the dream chamber. Today's episode is about 2005, the year I discovered The Sunset Tree: an album that changed my life. It also takes in Keats, Walter Benjamin, amateur Shakespeare productions in Rutland, and the Venerable Bede. Show notes Interviews: Puncture interview with Bill Meyer, 1994: http://web.archive.org/web/19990427042719/http://mb1.musicblvd.com/cgi-bin/tw/288145857327820_105_4973 Washington Post interview with Ivan Kreilkamp, 2004: https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/2004/02/04/sure-footed-mountain-goats/534c6689-1848-4538-936a-e6da5230e961/ NPR interview with Linda Wertheimer, 2005: https://www.npr.org/transcripts/4651778 Interview with No Depression, 2005: https://www.nodepression.com/john-darnielle-where-the-truth-lies/2/ The Sound of Young America podcast interview with Jesse Thorn, 2011: https://maximumfun.org/episodes/bullseye-with-jesse-thorn/john-darnielle-mountain-goats-interview-sound-young-america/ MTV interview with Eric Spitznagel, discussing piracy, 2011: http://www.mtv.com/news/2693865/interview-the-mountain-goats-john-darnielle/ SPIN interview with Joe Gross, 2011: https://www.spin.com/2011/04/spin-interview-john-darnielle/ VICE interview with Cam Lindsay, 2011: https://www.vice.com/en/article/bmw7m4/john-darnielle-lived-the-teenage-goth-life-i-never-did I Only Listen to the Mountain Goats, ‘218: In League With Dragons,’ with Darnielle and Joseph Fink, 2019: https://open.spotify.com/episode/4cORAS6IHaVredgdNx8FjS?si=33ed8ee10d224894 Interview with Helena Fitzgerald for her Substack, Griefbacon, 2021: https://griefbacon.substack.com/p/dont-write-songs-chatting-with-john Guardian interview with Oscar Rickett, 2022: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2022/mar/31/john-darnielle-being-an-american-is-like-living-in-a-terry-gilliam-world BOMB magazine interview with Carmen Maria Machado, 2022: https://bombmagazine.org/articles/john-darnielle/ Web resources: Holly Hazlewood’s review of Dark in Here for Spectrum Culture, quoting the press kit: https://spectrumculture.com/2021/06/24/the-mountain-goats-dark-in-here-review/ Bleed Out Bandcamp page with liner notes: https://themountaingoats.bandcamp.com/album/bleed-out Carl Wilson’s article on The Sunset Tree for The Globe and Mail, 2005: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/hes-finally-confessed-so-hold-on/article18226562/ Edmund Spenser, Sonnet 75: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45189/amoretti-lxxv-one-day-i-wrote-her-name Heritage Calling article on Newcastle-Gateshead public art over the decades, including Tyne Line of Txt Flow: https://heritagecalling.com/2016/09/07/55-years-of-public-art-in-newcastle-gateshead/ Darnielle on Berryman’s ‘Tampa Stomp’, featuring the reference to ancient Rome: https://fsgworkinprogress.com/2014/04/28/on-berrymans-tampa-stomp/ Wikipedia entry on Benjamin’s ‘Angel of history’: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angelus_Novus John Keats, ‘This living hand, now warm and capable’: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/50375/this-living-hand-now-warm-and-capable, and Joel Brouwer’s commentary on the poem: https://romantic-circles.org/editions/poets/prose_commentary/brouwer Geoff Sanborn’s newsletter episode on The Sunset Tree: https://allhail.substack.com/p/2005-the-sunset-tree JD’s tweet about The Sunset Tree: ‘a record that changed things for us’: https://twitter.com/mountain_goats/status/1519056431126822920 Books: Bede. A History of the English Church and People. Translated and with an introduction by Leo Sherley-Price, revised by R. E. Latham. Penguin Books, 1968, pp. 127-8. Alan Bennett, The History Boys. Faber & Faber, 2004. Antony Sher. Beside Myself: An Actor’s Life. Revised edition. Nick Hern Books, 2009. Marc Maron, Waiting for the Punch: Words To Live By From The WTF Podcast. Flatiron Books, 2017, p. 40. Oliver Burke. Four Thousand Weeks: Time and How to Use It. Vintage, 2021. Devil House, by John Darnielle. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2022. Live recordings: Live at KEXP Radio on 2005-06-16: https://archive.org/details/tmg2005-06-16.aud.192mp3/tmg2005-06-16t04.mp3 Live at The EARL, Atlanta, GA, on 2006-11-03: https://archive.org/details/mountaingoats2006-11-03.flac/08-Talking.flac Live at Club Capitol, Perth, Australia, on 2007-01-02: https://archive.org/details/tmg2007-01-02/tmg2007-01-02t03.flac Live at 9:30 Club, Washington D.C., on 2009-11-27: https://archive.org/details/tMG2009-11-27.aud.flac16/Tmg2009-11-27t19.flac Live at Ventura Music Hall, CA, on 2022-04-29: https://archive.org/details/tmg2022-04-29.aud.mv88.flac24/tmg2022-04-29t26.flac Youtube links: ‘High Barbary,’ performed for the Sing Out Loud series at the Pirate Museum in St. Augustine, Florida: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JEgoYPnslC0 PBS Eons: ‘Something Has Been Making This Mark For 500 Million Years’: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pz1fccY3S84