News from Pierre informed me this past weekend it had been 48 hours since his last cup of coffee out at Marlin’s. Asked to explain the hiatus, he simply said, “It’s overwhelming.”
Overwhelming? What in the Bijou Hills was he referring to? The caffeine? Doubtful. The man likes his mud. The Olympic coverage spanning every cable news channel? Laughable. C-Span runs 24 hours a day.
No, News from Pierre was talking about the cold. The Deep Freeze Nasty. It’s not annoying or unseasonable. It’s overwhelming. No fancy hyperbole or linguistic puffery needed here. This winter is winning.
In the Tavern Belt, you can do two things when winter descends: try to hold up your local convenience store with a plastic shovel as your leverage, or put on some fight-the-hibernation, cabin fever-busting pop music. Like catnip to the senses, a straightshot of pop music cuts through the icy veneer of our souls.
Every winter, inevitably, I find myself coming across some brave band, one dependable, power-pop Pez-dispensing melody maker to depend upon to keep from delving into a sad reenactment of The Shining.
This winter, folks, it’s Benji Hughes and “Love Extreme.” Hughes actually released this album the fall of 2008. But the man delivers a California-flavored nerve injection of lush, harmonic, sun-glistening pop music. Plus, it’s moody enough that it won’t jar you out of your winter lull—instead it will gently and good-naturedly rustle you awake, like a fluffy dog licking your face in the morning when you’ve slept in too long.
Certainly, it’s tempting to put on Bon Iver’s “For Emma, For Ever Ago” on the iPod and wander aimlessly through the streets, the lonely crooning echoing the crunching of your feet on the packed snow. But, by now, we’re past semantics. We need a chance. And with weather reports promising more snow and wind and desperation for the next week at least, we can’t take any chances with subtlety.
Benji Hughes, particularly on “If,” may not melt the snow. But he’ll turn your cabin fever into disco fever. Or at least make life bearable for the foreseeable extended forecast.
The revolution will not pass out on the lawn.
Cousin Christopher teaches college in Minnesota, plays the keys for the Golden Bubbles and the Rock Garden Tour Family Band, he also writes about rock and roll.
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