Friday, December 26, 2008

A ray of sun, torn and frayed, on Boxing Day



"Torn and Frayed" is my favorite Rolling Stones song, although Exile on Main Street is a great album from top to bottom. I never tire of this tune. It is a perfect confluence that results in a perfect delivery. When I listen to it, I think, I'm hearing exactly what the artists want me to hear; I'm feeling exactly the way they want this song to make me feel.

It was also the inspiration for the title of this photo essay, which I shot on a hot sunny day. If there ever was a place that matched a song, it is Geneva On The Lake and "Torn and Frayed." So I invite you to let the YouTube play while you peruse the snaps in the associated link.

So maybe it's not a real ray of sun, but that's also as close as I can come to delivering a hot sunny Boxing Day from Cleveland, Ohio.

17 comments:

Anonymous said...

You are so right, Erin! Exile on Main Street is genius. 'Course to this huge Stones fan, Mick and Co. can do no wrong (least musically :-).
As I go through your blog, I'm beginning to think we were separted at birth - Stones, Temptations, Hippie chick, writer...
Did your mom dress you in plaid, too??? (And pleaded skirts?)

Geoff Schutt said...

Erin O'Brien already rules the world, and yes, I'll take that corndog.

Thanks for this, Erin.

To the words, and the music, and the images -- to creativity, all of it.

Kirk said...

I've never been to Geneva-on-the-Lake, but it looks like what the great cartoonist Robert Crumb once described as the "old, weird America." He meant that as a compliment, and so do I.

Anonymous said...

Very cool. I have a fascination with public washrooms (they appear a lot in some early stuff on the site, some have gloryholes in the stories, some don't); the one you shot looks inviting, as you urge in your caption.

Merry...whatsit?

dean said...

I don't have to tell you that I love me some Stones. 'Exile' is one of my faves. One of the three essential Stones albums.

So many good tunes on that album. How many bands produced a double album with no weak material on it?

Norm said...

So right. SO RIGHT. It's great to see that many others here feel the same.

Although I'll wrestle you for the right to say that "Happy" is the best song on that album. Ok, well, it's my favorite.

Wrestle anyway. With inappropriate groping.

Anonymous said...

That's definitely a good one off Exile.
Here's a few more:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Us-Qzze9iGk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qS3U-62UlT4

Can't really beat the trilogy of Let it Bleed, Sticky Fingers, Exile on Main Street.

LoDoKid said...

Erin - the vid is not unlike a scene out of Leaving Las Vegas, but instead of your bro outta control, it's GP..

http://tinyurl.com/9gztow

Rod in Detroit
> Burritos Forever

Erin O'Brien said...

Love Happy, Sweet Virginia and Rocks Off as well. But what about Sweet Black Angel?

woot!

JT said...

Just gotta say "Paint it Black" is my favourite Stones song.

Kirk said...

My favorite Stones song is "Sympathy for the Devil"

God knows why.

Harry Finch said...

In 1972 I tried very hard to love Exile but I couldn't get there. So I let it rest for 36 years. It was amazing how much it had improved. There are still some songs I do not love, but I don't have to love a thing in order to admire it. Let It Loose is the stand-out track for me.

The sound is a touch muddy, which, I suppose, is part of the charm (although I don't think you can properly employ the word charm when discussing the Stones). I get the point of it, though I think there are several Exile arrangements that deserve better treatment.

Erin O'Brien said...

HF: Do not say "treatment." And saying that you shouldn't use "charm" after you already used charm isn't right either.

Say hot leather push sweat whiskey sex hard smoke and maybe you're getting a little closer.

Christ awmighty. Do I have to do everything around here?

Harry Finch said...

Definitely treatment.

And definitely charm after charm and then charm again for the hell of it.

I don't get hot leather push sweat whiskey sex hard smoke from Exile on Main Street. I get a great band in the cellar being a great band.

The Fool said...

Exile on Main Street is my fave Stones. So under rated. It prompted me to explore the Open G tuning Keith relies on for so much of his work (also known as "slackstring" - it's something he learned frm Ry Cooder). I always kee one guitar in that tuning. Keith even discards the top string as unnecessary (I duct tape mine to the fretboard). As he describes it: "it's five strings, three notes, two fingers, and one asshole." It's a lovely little tuning...and simple to play...it's no wonder he can get away with doing so much heroin. Thanks for sharing.

;

Anonymous said...

R.I.P. GP.

RJ

Anonymous said...

I love this album and used to listen to it constantly as a teenager. I've never tried heroin but those songs always put me in a kind of pleasant narcotic reverie.