Arthur Russell

April 11th, 2004

If you’re like me, you have inadvertently associated most of your memories past the age of 10 with select titles in your music collection. The shuffle function on a well-fed iPod can stir up powerful emotions. Vacated apartments are revisited. Old friendships rekindled, if only for a few seconds. The smell of basements in Uptown Minneapolis becomes overpowering.

In response to repeated ambushes of memory while boarding 2 trains on average Thursday afternoons, I’ve tried to pay more attention to which newly-purchased albums are going to become personal milestones.

Spring 2004: Arthur Russell. Calling Out of Context. And…Arthur Russell. The World of Arthur Russell.

My love of these two records is outdone only by my shame in not knowing much about Russell before walking into the (gasp!) Virgin Megastore a couple of months ago. You can read about him here or here. Listen to a brief cut of “You and Me Both” in either Windows Media or Real Audio . That way, you’ll know what I’ll remember — eventually — when I remember walking to and from Freddy’s Bar to collect interviews for a radio documentary. Or folding clean clothes after a trip to the laundromat on Waverly Street two Sundays ago. Or riding a bus down Broadway en route to an afternoon matinee of “Dawn of the Dead.”

Enjoy.