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In March, the bros and I skipped lunch and headed down to Store 1 to see The Avett Brothers do their thang at the Downtown Borders.

You have to sit through some Martin Bandyke/Facebook goofballiness, but the show is a jam.












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A terrific old-school Sam Cooke-Inspired soul version of Wilco's "I Am Trying to Break Your Heart" performed by JC Brooks & The Uptown Sound



I really like the use of Jay Bennett's shimmery keyboard thing and BrianSleeper pointed out the "I'm goin' away where you won't look for me" bit of Theologians interpolated into the bridge. That's not just from a different song, friends: That's from a whole different album. I'd bet these guys are real live Wilco fans.

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Also awesome, this footage the first appearance of Prince and The Revolution ever performing live is pretty chill-inducing. It's not like when YOUR band first appeared live and you did a cover of Glen Campbell's "Rhinestone Cowboy" and the bass player had all of the chords written out in longhand on the floor...this is your first live show where you premiere a 13 minute version of "Purple Rain" to a completely breathless crowd.

[THIS IS WHERE THE EMBEDDED VIDEO WOULD GO IF I COULD
FIND IT BUT I CAN'T SO YOU NEED TO CLICK ON THE LINK ABOVE]

The 1983 concert took place at First Avenue in Minneapolis. A year later when the club was featured in Purple Rain (the movie), the venue would be changed forever. In 1983 however, it was perfect for hosting a newly minted Prince & The Revolution. Prince had been performing with some of the band members for a while, but the show was the debut of guitarist Wendy Melvoin who would continue with the band until their dissolution in 1986.

But back on track – the 1983 show (August 3rd, to be more exact) was the first public live performance of Prince & The Revolution. The concert was a benefit for the Minnesota Dance Theater Company. It was also the first time the band would perform several of what would become their signature tracks, most importantly Purple Rain.

Everyone knows the song. Play the first few chords and you’ll have everyone around you singing along. But in 1983 that wasn’t the case. Instead you had a capacity crowd silenced by the song’s first performance. This is one of only a handful of bootlegs of this track that does not have the crowd going nuts; instead they listen to the song and literally see history in the making. Obviously they can’t sing along, the song is new. So instead they listen; Seeing Prince at his absolute rawest in a tiny club with bad sound, sweating his ass off for the Minnesota Dance Theater Company. And melting off faces with one of his best guitar solos.

This live show made up the basis for several Purple Rain tracks, including the title track, I Would Die 4 U and Baby I’m A Star. Prince’s vocals are spot on with how you know them – because they were recorded from a mobile truck outside of First Avenue. Add in a few overdubs and there you have it, one of the best selling albums of the 80s.

Regardless of how you view Prince now, back then one thing was clear – his name was Prince, his favorite color was purple, and he was a bad motherfucker.

::

This is a picture of Scarlett Johansson


She is very attractive

::

Thanks Brian
Thanks GoldenFiddler


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Stolen from Laszlo Thoth

Fun With Secret Questions & Answers

My new bank, Ally Bank, configures a security question and answer for customer service calls. In addition to your SSN, date of birth, and mother's maiden name they also ask you the question you specify and wait for the answer you've provided. This is good, because many standard questions are guessable in a way that user-defined questions may not be.

A real live human operator always asks the question and waits for a real live answer. This measure has the potential to not just improve my account security but add entertainment value as well:



Q: Do you know why I think you're so sexy?
A: Probably because you're totally in love with me.

Q: Need any weed? Grass? Kind bud? Shrooms?
A: No thanks hippie, I'd just like to do some banking.

Q: The Penis shoots Seeds, and makes new Life to poison the Earth with a plague of men.
A: Go forth, and kill. Zardoz has spoken.

Q: What the hell is your fucking problem, sir?
A: This is completely inappropriate and I'd like to speak to your supervisor.

Q: I've been embezzling hundreds of thousands of dollars from my employer, and I don't care who knows it.
A: It's a good thing they're recording this call, because I'm going to have to report you.

Q: Are you really who you say you are?
A: No, I am a Russian identity thief.

Q: For the remainder of this conversation, "How can I help you today?" actually means "Would you like to buy some mescaline?" Do you understand?
A: I understand completely.

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