Just back from the Rialto

Oct 11, 2001

Just back from the Rialto Theatre in Raleigh, where Becky and Blaine and I saw Jay Farrar perform. Farrar was lead singer for the bands Uncle Tupelo and Son Volt. He’s on tour now to support his new album, but for his encore tonight he played Windfall, a song he wrote with Son Volt. Windfall is a beautiful song, with the refrain “May the wind take your troubles away,” and I listen to it at least once a day. I first heard this on Paama. My friend Dan Rourke had sent a mixed tape—Dan’s choice and range of songs is the best I’ve ever encountered—and Windfall was on this tape. I listened to it often, and played it for Terry and Jimmy and the boys, using a Sony Walkman and tiny speakers. So, the song is a favorite of mine. Farrar’s fast-tempoed concert was enjoyable, and reminded me why I love to listen to live music, whether it is rock and roll, country, steel drum, ukulele or orchestral.

The warm-up act for Farrar tonight was a guitarist from the band The Bottle Rockets of Festus, Missouri, and his rock/folk storytelling was very entertaining. He wore a rolled up cowboy hat, and that got me to thinking about hats. A lot of pictures in the newspapers these days show Pakistanis and Afghanistanis wearing a circular cloth hat (anybody know the name of that?) and Arabs wearing their kaffiyehs and baseball fans wearing FDNY caps. I’ve long yearned for a hat of my own. In high school I bought a Greek fisherman’s cap and wore that around, until my freshman year of college, when I lost the cap when my raft capsized on a West Virginia river. Then I bought an Indiana Jones felt hat that was always loose on my head and never matched my geeky clothes. I finally gave the hat to a hippie friend who thought it would look good with the skirts he wore around campus. After college I had a John Carroll University baseball cap, and I wore that around Hawaii until it was threadbare. A couple of years ago a friend visited Nepal and brought back a colorful Nepalese hat (I’ll post a picture to the right later). Now I’m searching for a new headdress. Any suggestions?

My cousin Jeff Nolan and his wife, Kate, welcomed Beckett Michael Nolan to their family on September 26th. Beckett is their second, and joins their daughter Rosie. Congratulations Jeff and Kate! Jeff’s brother TJ and his wife, Chris, are expecting their second child soon. TJ’s busy planning the annual Maui Invitational basketball tournament in Hawaii. Some big teams are playing there this year, including Duke and UNC and UCLA and Kansas. Hit this link to register for a chance to win plane tickets to Hawaii and tickets to the tourney.

Anton Zuiker ☄