As Ella Fitzgerald once said—

As Ella Fitzgerald once said—

"The record's still available!"

One night back in the early days of Elephant 6 and the Apples in Stereo, I made a record with my friend John Porcellino at Robert and Hilarie's basement apartment in Denver. Three songs on Robert's 4-track, played on my crappy old Lero guitar, with occasional accompaniment from John and Robert and a bunch of stray animals milling around. I was a newlywed, living in my wife’s fifth-floor condominium and feeling maybe a little undeserving, but there I was, acting out a teenage rocker’s fantasy, making my own record.

Then, time passes....

You may know that both John and Robert have gone on to bigger things (see here and here for starters). Me, not so much—or at least not in the same ways as those two cats. But recently, somebody sold one of those records on eBay for a winning bid of $5.53. "Nearmint 7-inch ep," clustertone wrote in the item description, "out of print from 1993 on Spit and a Half. A small pressing of mellow acoustic vibes, like the warm sound of Felt Pilots [sic] mixed with echoes of John Fahey and early Elliott Smith. Pastoral, tranquil and hypnotic...."

Clustertone and winning bidder oubapo, you made my day. "Echoes of John Fahey..."? Distant, muffled echoes to be sure, but gosh, thanks!