A few things worth checking out inside this week’s paper: For my part, I spoke with writer Rob Sheffield and wrote up last week’s WTJU meeting. Plus, our film critic Jon Kiefer wrote up the Inception, the movie that’s supposed to redeem the summer season. So pick up a C-VILLE!
By the time you read this post, I will be a changed blogger. What was intended as a trip to visit friends in Chicago will have ended up being much more: I will have gone from being a guy who had never seen Pavement, to being a guy who saw Pavement play on their reunion tour. (July has been a Pavement-heavy month; I even exchanged e-mails with auxiliary member and UVA grad Bob Nastanovich about the WTJU "crisis.")
To prepare for the joyous occasion, I’ve dusted off my old Slow Century DVD and thumbed through the band’s old videos, realizing again how funny even a serious band could be. At a time when groups were pushing high-concept visual treats for the MTV bloc, Pavement, true to their slacker aesthetic, spent the ’90s making ridiculous low-concept videos about a team of Santa Clauses trying to shoot each other with bows and arrows. You were unlikely to see them, too, unless you were watching "120 Minutes."
But for my money, there’s only video that was ever able to do visual justice to the band’s ability to paste silly things together until they felt profound, and it’s this one:
"Stereo," from Brighten the Corners. More below.
What’s your favorite Pavement tune? Or, do you like Pavement?