in the spring of 1997, i was diagnosed with gallstones on a friday night. i had emergency surgery to remove them the following sunday. it was a much messier affair than expected; my whole gall bladder was removed (ask me today about the 6.5 inch scar on my belly!). i had a tube sticking out of me for six weeks. i had to sleep on my sister’s bed - my futon was too low to the ground.

at that time, two records were in heavy rotation on album 88.5/WRAS, georgia state’s radio station. one was Songs About Angels, Evil, and Running Around on Fire by thingy; this was the other one. i loved every song i heard. i vividly remember being curled up on my sister’s bed, high on percoset, vibing to low rent/high life. i was thrilled to find that the whole record was just as good without pain medicine.

they played at the point in little 5 points. one of my favorite shows at that now-defunct venue. the crowd…who am i kidding? there were about 10 of us; my friend and i were 20% of the audience. track star still put on a great set. my friend bought the vinyl version of the album. the last song on the cd is 33 minutes long. on the vinyl, it just locks into a groove - literally; the needle gets into a particular groove and it repeats forever, until you turn it off. kind of the neatest thing ever.

(Source: Spotify)