bob mould put out one of my favorite albums ever, 'workbook' (it's either first or second on the list, depending on how i feel about the magnetic fields '69 love songs' that day), and warehouse: songs and stories is probably a top 10 album for me. i'm pretty sure that 'workbook' helped me through college, at least, somehow. sugar's good, liked some of his solo stuff, haven't loved all of it.

i've seen him in concert a few times, most notably at the old guthrie theater, solo acoustic. one of the best shows i've seen, if not the best. but i had seen him a lot, and didn't want to go see him until he did something different, like the show he did at the bryant lake bowl in october 07. it was for the release of his dvd. since the place holds around 75 people, i thought there was potential for an intimate, personal show. i ended up in the front row, center.

the evening started off with a q and a/interview by mary lucia, with questions from the audience. there was a lot of talk about his songwriting process. perhaps oddly, i really didn't have anything to ask him. anyway, it kind of reminded me of 'the craft' series from the rock and roll hall of fame with paul westerberg, only more like that show should've been ('the craft' didn't really get around to the craft part.) he was amusing, and in a good mood throughout.

after the show, he played for about an hour, going through husker du, early solo, sugar, and more recent solo work (including a song he'd written a week before). a good selection. i did get hit with some flying spit, though not on purpose. that's the risk you take sitting that close to the stage, i guess.

one of the people i met up with there (a friend of a friend) had an iphone, he got some good pictures of the set. (if you know me and want to see them i can email you the details if you let me know.)

after he performed, his dvd of 'circle of friends' was going to be shown. since it was a 'school night,' as bob put i, i decided to go queue up to buy it and have it signed. so i did. then i realized i wanted a picture, so i went back and got a limited edition lithograph signed and dragged the guy with the iphone to take the pictures. bob nicely agreed to have them taken... and oddly enough, like the police photos, they came out blurry. the guy and bob talked iphone covers for a while... again, i didn't have a lot to say here.

i guess since i started separating the artist from the music after encountering the snotty behavior or michael stipe, i generally don't have lots of questions for musicians that i've not seen them give the answer to in interviews or elsewhere.

maybe i'm just blurry.

anyway, throughout the whole thing bob was very nice to his fans... somehow i expected him to be, i don't know, less relaxed? not happy to be sitting in a bowling alley signing things? (that's where it took place, blocking a few lanes.) meaner? more bitter? he was a lot more lucid than grant hart (not difficult)

so if i meet greg norton, can i say i've met husker du?

an odd thing there- i asked around a bit, i was the only one that i encountered there who saw grant and bob at the rock for karl show, which had a much larger venue capacity than the blb does. wonder what that says about the rabid bob mould fans.