Agent Palmer

Every year for as long as I can remember, I have listened to Arlo Guthrie’s classic “Alice’s Restaurant,” either on the day before or day of Thanksgiving. It’s something that my parents had started at some point and, more to the point, it’s a tradition I have continued since moving out of the house (to my father’s joy), even when I’m not spending Thanksgiving with them.

Now before I get into the song, and there’s a lot to get into, let’s talk about this tradition. As traditions go, it’s hardly odd, and there’s a part of me that wonders why I don’t encounter more people who share this tradition.

I have a November album. I’m not ashamed of this. It’s kind of an autumn or fall album, but I always feel the urge or need to listen to this album in and around November. For the record, before I continue, I do not, for my recollection, have an album for any other month, but every November like clockwork, I listen to John Henry by They Might Be Giants.

No, not just a song, the whole album. No, not on shuffle, maybe “album repeat” but never shuffle, and I listen to it throughout the entire month, every year for more than the past decade.

Recently, I was on the Our Liner Notes podcast talking about first concerts. Since mine was Aerosmith on their Nine Lives Tour, I thought it fitting to bring up another first concert I had. So in preparation I did some research on the first concert I watched online back in 1998…

That was the beginning of the rabbit hole. There’s isn’t much the internet has to say about this concert, leaving me to wonder why there isn’t more on this should-be-groundbreaking concert. In the wake of it’s absence, I’ve attempted to find out a little more about it and share that information and my thoughts.