days of yellow ledbetter − January, 1992
last night as i lay in bed, fading in and out consciousness. in the distance i began to hear the riff of an acoustic guitar playing *yellow ledbetter* by pearl jam. my mind began to fill with a wave of memories from my grunge days. the days of flannel shirts, doc martens, nirvana, pearl jam, soundgarden, alice in chains, screaming trees and any music from seattle's *sub-pop* records i could get a hold of. back then my taste in music was heavily influenced by two people, paul peters and his friend tim ledbetter.
tim is a music afficionado. in fact he is so knowledgable about the latest *new* music, record executives from major labels would send him cds of upcoming artists just to hear his critique. always tapped into the heart of indie music, tim's passion is music. whenever there was a hot new band playing at the *double door* in chicago or some other hole-in-the-wall venue the three of us would go to a late night show.
the other little known fact about tim was his close friendship with eddie vedder, the lead singer of pearl jam. i don't recall exactly where or how they became friends but whenever pearl jam was in town, tim and eddie would hang-out together, even spending time in recording studios. in tim's house, kept safely in a fireproof vault, were long handwritten letters from eddie which he cherished. rumour has it that *yellow ledbetter* was inspired by tim. i believe it was.
Comments:
edunn (January 12, 2008. 05:10am)
First I must say it is great to hear from you! Secondly, I was just talking about Pearl Jam yesterday after hearing better man. It does take you right back! Too funny. Welcome back.
kga245 (January 12, 2008. 09:39pm)
Caroline! I simply love your stories. They are so fantastic and down-to-earth at the same time. Thanks, again, for sharing.
pepero (January 13, 2008. 08:07pm)
emily, i *love* better man. it's one of my favorite pearl jam songs. it feels good to be back. ^_^
pepero (January 13, 2008. 08:12pm)
kelly, there will be a lot more stories to come in 2008. i've really *missed* dandelife, so watch out! ;-)
Electronic Goose (January 13, 2008. 10:20pm)
Oh I remember those days quite well myself ... and Yellow Ledbetter was one of my favorite Pearl Jame songs.
kga245 (January 14, 2008. 08:25pm)
Was 2007 good to you, C? Love to hear more about it. I just caught your tweet about buying the Into the WIld CD. I really need to see that movie. The book has haunted me since I read it 10 years ago. My dad gave it to me and then said this: "Kelly. Please don't do this."
pepero (January 16, 2008. 06:57am)
electronic goose have you heard the *new* eddie vedder song <a href="http://youtube.com/watch?v=O3SxCph5I1Q">*guaranteed*</a>? it's amazing. recently it won a golden globe award as well.
pepero (January 16, 2008. 07:03am)
kelly i love *into the wild*. i read an article by krakauer in outside magazine first then read the book later. its my favorite book by him. there was a part of me that could identify with chris mccandless's passion for freedom and wanderlust but i always had a desire to come home. i highly recommend the film. sean penn did a great job directing it.
kga245 (January 16, 2008. 07:12am)
i love the part in the middle of the book when krakauer relates his own climbing story where he's bivouacking on the side of a 2000 foot face of ice. that interlude was everything about why the climber in him was making the writer in himself seek chris's story out. very classy. does the film breech the 4th wall like that at all?