It’s taken me a few weeks to find my way back to Bootleg City — I made an unscheduled stop in Layoff Land, an increasingly popular destination these days — but now I’m home again. I apologize for the delay.

I was hoping to post disc two of Patty Griffin’s “Love From My Lips” bootleg as the inaugural entry of 2009, but no one’s come forward with fully functioning tracks to replace the damaged ones that are currently in my possession. The nerve of you anonymous people! Bootleg City is sort of like PBS or NPR — I can’t keep providing you with high-quality bootlegs if you don’t pony up high-quality bootlegs to replace the low-quality bootlegs Jeff Giles shoved off on me. I’m so disappointed in all of you right now. I thought we had something.

This week I give you disc one of the Talking Heads bootleg “MCMLXXXIII,” recorded on August 5, 1983, at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center in Saratoga Springs, New York. Do you remember where you were on that date? I was seven years old and unemployed, just like I am now, but even though I was barely making ends meet with the allowance my parents gave me each week, I still managed to donate a quarter to PBS that year to support great shows like Sesame Street and British People Being British. Do you see where I’m going with this? Pick up the phone and call — your parents, that is. Let them know how much you care. Then send me an e-mail with those Patty Griffin tracks.

Psycho Killer
Heaven
Thank You for Sending Me an Angel
Love —> Building on Fire
Book I Read
Slippery People
Cities
Big Blue Plymouth (Eyes Wide Open)
Burning Down the House
Life During Wartime
Making Flippy Floppy
Swamp
What a Day That Was
This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody)
Once in a Lifetime

About the Author

Robert Cass

Robert Cass lives in Chicago. For Popdose he's written under the Sugar Water, Bootleg City, and Box Office Flashback banners and collaborated on the series 'Face Time with Jeff Giles and Mike Heyliger.

View All Articles