We’re talking about Nebraska here. It definitely could’ve been related to “the great game” aka Pot Limit Omaha. For another time perhaps *see below.
Anyway, the town of Omaha is the epicenter for the emotional phenomom of emo and indie music that is Saddle Creek records. Home to plenty of Connor Oberst bands and enough shoe gazing to hurt your neck.
There was a time, and continues to be times, that these raucous guitars and cutting lyrics are the perfect medicine. Other times, I can’t believe how often I’d been in a place to appreciate the weight of the music. Not all from the same era, or even released by Saddle Creek (ahem: Desaparecidos Read Music, Speak Spanish was, but this release was on Epitaph).
Cursive “Some Red Handed Slight of Hand”
Strongest memory tied to this band was the 2003 concert at Cat’s Cradle where the Japanese punk/amazing band Eastern Youth opened. EY played a blistering set of songs I’d never heard in a langauge I didn’t begin to understand. It feels like what opening bands should be all about.
Not to be outdone, Cursive played an extended set covering their first EPs, a chunk of Domestica (my favorite at the time), as well as the highlights: this song, “Sierra”, and “Art is Hard”. It was a pleasant surprise to see the same tour featured in this video. The two bands did a split record around this time.
Big Facts: Eastern Youth, along with the ska band Kemuri, make up the entirety of my Japanese language catalog. This song is as good as the video quality is bad here, whatev.
Desaparecidos “City on the Hill”
This band, fronted by none other than Mr. Oberst himself, rocks harder than the aforementioned fact lets on. I thought this song was about San Francisco (fwiw I’m team “Never Call it San Fran or Frisco”, rightly so), well frankly because it is a city built on a hill (actually 7, duh, wtf). Apparenlty, it is a reference to a Reagan speech “a shiny city on the hill”, which was a reference to a 1630 speech by Jon Winthrop titled “A Model of Christian Charity (City on the Hill).”
Eeesh, missed that one by a bit. **Thinks about singing song loudly headed north down Franklin feeling cool going down a hill in the city**
The name, Desaparecidos, translate to disappeared ones. It’s a reference to the people that were arrested by right-wing military dictators in Chile, not to be seen again. Apparently the US backed some it, standard.
Fun fact: Tim Kasher (lead singer of Cursive, yes, the first band) does guest vocals on the track
Warning: Video could be seizure inducing, like fr.
Rilo Kiley “A Better Son/Daughter”
Yeah, yeah, I know you’re sitting there thinking, aren’t they from Los Angeles? Indeed, but that doesn’t mean they didn’t record this album in Nebraska and release it via Saddle Creek records.
I’d forgotten about this one for years, but the closing credits to the incredible Hannah Gadsby special, Nanette, uses this song. If you haven’t seen that and Douglas, you now have 2 things you must watch.
This one starts out quiet, but builds into something magnificent. I can start to think about a few of the lyrics in this song and feel it in my chest. The visceral and deep emotional connection to that feeling.
And sometimes when you’re on, you’re really fucking on
Rilo Kiley
And your friends they sing along and they love you.
But the lows are so extreme that the good seems fucking cheap
And it teases you for weeks in its absence.
BONUS POKER CONTENT BELOW. Warning: it’s pretty nerdy.
*Welp, here we are, it’s another time. Favorite PLO hand I’ve played (not surprisingly the biggest also). I talked Big Joe Orzo in to letting me leave work at 10am on a Friday, Winstar was calling. I short buy $300, with $100 backup for 1/3 if things go sideways. I double early in a 3 bet pot with AA + gutshot vs 2 pair + wrap (2, 2 run out ftw). A few orbits later, I’m looking at my cards as they are being dealt, 2s…3h… I’m already collecting them to muck, but peel the Ah and As as my final two.
Raise and 3bet in front of me, I call looking for a safe flop because I’m scared money at this point.
Flop($200) Ad Th 6h
I lead $200, 1 caller, 1 all in for $275 total, we both call (action was closed). Turn($1,025): 8c
I bet pot (I only have like 800ish in my stack, heh), dude calls off his $625.
River($2,275): 3s
We take the sidepot vs QJ98r, and ship the main pot vs KK45hh
I racked up and left before 3pm (my shift at the warehouse typically let out at 4) and I walked out with more than a month’s paycheck in 3 hours. So, there ya have it, the biggest pot I won in my poker career.
