Six years ago I was fed up with the state of affairs in Bootleg City, but determined to do something about it.
A small group of Bootleg City school board members — David Byrne, Bob Marley, and myself — were tired of being constantly undermined by Mayor Cass, who we felt had a personal agenda. Additionally, a young whippersnapper named Matthew Boles had recently joined the board, and he quickly aligned himself with the mayor in a not-so-subtle move to advance his political career, without any concern for who he might be stepping on as he made his way up the government ladder. (You might be shocked to hear this about Boles, but over the past six years I’ve come to learn that this is merely everyday behavior for him. It seems that you can never truly trust someone who’s a fan of the Little River Band.)
On a quiet December afternoon, Byrne gave me a call to let me know that he had tickets to see a special Bruce Springsteen holiday concert in neighboring Asbury Park. (I say “neighboring,” but in reality it’s about a five-hour drive from Bootleg City.) He and I had things to discuss, especially our mutual growing concerns about the way our fair city was falling apart in the dictatorlike hands of Mayor Cass. I suggested to Byrne that he should grab some of his royalty checks from Stop Making Sense for gas money and invite Marley along for the trip, and soon we were on our way to Asbury Park, NJ!
For the most part, Cratedigger features vintage albums, but every once in awhile, I’m going to write about some new vinyl. That’s the case this week: The Cocktail Slippers’ CD Saint Valentine’s Day Massacre (Wicked Cool Records) was released in April, and the vinyl comes out this month.