COV42D-19

If you have about an hour to yourself today, you could do so much worse than watch this excellent 1982 video of R.E.M. playing live in North Carolina. 

Oh boy . . .

Some thoughts:

1. If you can understand and decipher more than 30 percent of Stipe's lyrics, congratulations! There is something so wonderfully nostalgic about the Mumbles-era of R.E.M.

2. I very much love Michael's outfit of Greek t-shirt under suit coat with an unnecessarily floppy pocket square.

3. This is proof and a reminder that Michael has been dancing this way forever. It was not created for the Out of Time tour when people started paying attention to their videos on M-TV.

4. I miss Bill Berry's drumming.

5. A very random thought . . . but this makes me think that Robert Downey, Jr. could have performed Michael Stipe in a biopic.

6. Chronic Town is absolutely one of my Top 5--maybe Top 3 R.E.M. albums.

7. Thanks--among many OTHER reasons--to my brother Mike for introducing me to R.E.M. when he was fresh out of college student at Georgia Tech and I was starting high school.

8. Also thanks to Kevin Orr for pointing me in the direction of this wonderful video. I almost feel 20 again.