"'One fast move or I'm gone,' I realize, gone the way of the last three years of drunken hopelessness... that feeling when you wake up with the delirium tremens with the fear of early death dripping from your ears like those special heavy cobwebs spiders weave in the hot countries, the feeling of being a bentback mudmad monster groaning underground in hot steaming mud pulling a long hot burden nowhere, the feeling of standing...."
The most pleasant surprise of 2009 had to be the paring of Son Volt's Jay Farrar and Death Cab for Cutie's Benjamin Gibbard for the album "One Fast Move and I'm Gone". The album was inspired from Jack Kerouac's classic novel "Big Sur" about Jack attempting (and failing) to come to terms with his life after "On the Road".
Taking quotes from the novel and merging it with original lyrics, Jay Farrar (teaming with Ben Gibbard) created a project that could have been a complete mess and turned it into my favorite album of the year. That fact that on paper Ben and Jay seem worlds apart musically only adds to the joy of the project. If you don't already have this, it is a must hear.
Last night at the funky Turner Ballroom in Milwaukee, WI, I had the pleasure of seeing Ben and Jay perform the project live. Never the most dynamic performers, Jay and Ben simply let the songs and Kerouac's masterful words do the talking. Thanks to You Tube, I found video of the entire show they performed at the El Ray Theater back in October. Here are some highlights.
