Elliott Smith on Breakfast Time (1995)

Every block, I will be publishing one live performance. I intend for each of these performances to encapsulate the block I am living in. I will take into account

•  the weather
• current events
• my mood 
• other people’s moods 
• the shoes my professor chooses to wear 
• the amount of colorful socks I see
• if my plants are still alive 
• if I see any cool bugs
•  how funny my reels are
• if slither io is working 
• if rastles has ice
• how active @aldo2swag has been on social media 
• card games played
• Many other things 

I hope that by reading this, you can enjoy an interesting, hopefully excellent performance that reflects musical talent and changes how you listen to the artist. I also hope to reflect and make an archive of how different experiences affect how I listen to and appreciate music and performance.

To start off, I bet all of those who have sat around waiting, wishing, and wanting for another addition of my famous and highly anticipated series gained some clarity within the first two lines. The rumors are true, I am a lazy chud who can not do this every week. To continue my practice of documenting musical performances and their relationship to the time I’m living in, I will do this every block. Quality over quantity type. 

The performance of this block is Elliott Smith on Breakfast Time (1995)

Block four…. EEEK!  Last year, block four was my least favorite block, and this year I have a feeling that opinion will maintain. I recently heard it equated to “thinking the stripper likes you back” and I would agree. It is simply such an uncomfortable time filled with illness and anticipation. I feel all I’ve done in these three and a half weeks is wait; wait to go on break, wait to be healthy, and wait to go home. Sorry, not to be super negative, but I just am not a fan. Initially, I was going to do Radioactive by Imagine Dragons music video  (highly suggest watching btw linked here ), but at the last moment I decided this was more consistent with the theme I am trying to pursue with these reviews. 

The first time I saw this interview it was on my reels. At the time clementine was one of my favorite songs, and the clip was just him performing it. I watched the whole video to be greeted by one of the most uncomfortable interviews I had ever seen. I cringed for the entire first 2 minutes.  

The video starts with him being described as a “book-loving, kinda angry acoustic guitarist” by a high-pitched, Disney Channel-style announcer, which sets the tone for the entire interview. The voice that announced him seemed suited to introducing a close-up magician or an upcoming child chief. We then see Elliott Smith sitting in the middle of a crowded room, looking visibly uncomfortable. 

During the second week of this block, I got the flu. For five days, I sat in my room. I thought the chills, fever dreams, and constant need to lie on the floor were the worst part, but no, the true evil came after. I developed a deep, loud, unforgiving, constant, guttural, demonic, lethal, overwhelming, all-encompassing cough that plagued me in any public setting. For the two weeks post my illness, I did not feel comfortable in a single quiet room.

Then the interview starts. The next two minutes are like watching your grandma try to find the middle ground with your non-binary cousin. There is just such a disconnect that seems inevitable from the beginning. Not a single joke lands, every question simply feels patronizing, and there is a fucking puppet 6 inches from his head the whole time. It seems like they heard he was “kinda angry” and simply didn’t have the energy to discover anything else. 

On Tuesday of the 3rd week, I was feeling especially terrible and fell asleep at my desk at 6 p.m. When I woke, it was 2 a.m. Although I did try, there was simply no possibility of my finishing the readings for class. So I accepted my fate and went to bed. The next day, I woke up early and finished one of the two readings. When I got to class, I was put in a small group to discuss the reading I had not done. In my 3-person group, I sat quietly, adding nothing to our 20-minute discussions. A small group discussion on a reading you did not do is one of the most uncomfortable experiences of my academic career. I should’ve told them, but I just sat there and agreed “with all the points you guys have made.”

Finally, the interview ends with his performance of Clemintine. I almost think it makes the blood boiling exchanhging of words worth it. His voice is so soft yet powerful, like he’s singing in a whisper (quiet yet important). I will admit that I do just love this song, and he sounds so much like the album, but it seems like the energy in the room shifts. People sit in awe of his intricately emotional performance undertsanding him as a talented artist, not just an angsty dude with a guitar.  Even that damn puppet chills out. I watched this interview 3 times while writing this, and I value his performance more every time.

Although I can’t stand stupid block four, I think it might help me enjoy what comes after so much more. (though fuck block 5 too)