from the LP The Modern Lovers, Home of the Hits Records, released: 1976, recorded: 1972My better half surprised me with a netbook for Valentines Day this year, which means two things: 1) I am overcome with joy, and 2) I am also overcome with the shooting pangs of anxiety which strike those who suddenly realize the dinner & flowers they’d previously planned on no longer meets the holiday gift relativity requirements, and thus, must scramble to put something together---a trip to Williams & Sonoma should do the trick (I literally just winced at my own inexcusable yuppiness). This modern world of ours, with its tiny little laptops & lightning fast internet (not to mention these nifty medical marijuana cards!!!), is surely an exciting place, and I only say that partially tongue-in-cheek, as I sit here typing my post for an electronic blog on said netbook. Underground superhero Jonathan Richman was but one among countless throngs of Velvet’s fans who felt compelled to start a band after being exposed to the VU experience, and Boston proved to be the perfect place to do so; his Modern Lovers remain as one of the earliest & rawest proto-punk crews around (that’s their “Roadrunner” the Sex Pistols covered), imploding before they ever got an album out, with its members going on to play in such seminal bands as the Talking Heads & the Cars. I’m not entirely sure what the percentage breakdown of sarcasm to authenticity is within this song, but either way, it’s fun to sing along, “…well I'm in love with the U.S.A. now, I'm in love with the modern world now, put down your cigarette, and share the modern world with me…” 831 to my dearest T.
