Ryan Adams, Prostitutes, and Tulip Gardens

My buddy Seth uses the phrase "sense memory" a lot. Basically sense memory denotes memories evoked by the senses (yes... exactly as itsounds). For instance, if you were to walk into your old Jr. High,the smell of freshly waxed floors, dusty books and pubescent pheromones would likely conjure the emotions and thoughts that dominated your life at that time (in my case, physical self-consciousness and social inadequacy).

Yesterday morning at work I threw on a pair of headphones and scrolled through my I-tunes library. I’m learning that each Ryan Adams album is a bit like an old friend to me... the ones you don’t have to talk to everyday to remain close with. On this morning I chose Love is Hell Pt.1.

For whatever reason, Lost Highway decided to release Rock n’ Roll and Love is Hell Pt. 1 on the same day. The day they were released I was in Europe – Berlin to be exact – and I missed the better part of a walking tour of the city looking for them. While I was able to locate Rock N’ Roll fairly easily it wasn’t until Amsterdam that I found the first part of Love is Hell.

Amsterdam is perfect Ryan Adams. There’s a bitter-sweetness to it... hedonism wrapped in beauty. The sticky smell of marijuana wafts from brown cafes and mixes comfortably with cool salty air; the lights of the Red-light district dance with the warm glow of street lamps on the waters of its canals. It’s a city of prostitutes and tulip gardens.

If you are every in Amsterdam and need a place to stay, you might look for a tiny barnacle-ridden houseboat docked behind the city’s main train station. It was here that I first experienced Love is Hell. I hadn’t brought any CDs to Europe and had gone nearly two months without music (save a copy of Yankee Hotel Foxtrot that I bought in Budapest). I’d lie for hours on a sofa in the ships tiny common area sating my withdraws... the boat rocking gently in time with the cadence of the music.

Funny how I can’t hear “Political Scientist” without going back there... (que Wonder Years theme)

Anyway, I’m stoked about Thursday’s Ryan Adam’s show (and Friday’s for that matter) but as this post is becoming excessive, I’ll save it for later.