10.17.2011 - Terrence Marks:

Comics are up! We're sorry about the delays and will be coloring the strips in the very near future.

As most of you heard, REM broke up a few weeks back*.

I never saw them live. Never had any of their albums, actually. I've got pre-REM indie rock and post-REM indie rock, and just never got to listening to them despite multiple recommendations.

I did see Peter Buck once, though. We went to see Robyn Hitchcock in the Little Room at the Largo. Wil Wheaton (b/w Paul and Storm) was on at the main stage. We got tickets to both shows and ducked out of Wil's during the intermission.

Anyhow, we were in the Little Room. It's not just a clever title; it's a very intimate venue. About the size of your living room, but with better acoustics.

Robyn Hitchcock's band included Scott McCaughey (of Young Fresh Fellows), Sean Nelson (of Harvey Danger), and Peter Buck. Robyn was, depending on how you measure things, the least famous person on stage that night.

Great show. Peter was on rhythm guitar and he seemed..out of it. He spent most of the show with his eyes closed, leaning against the wall. His hands were moving, but I wasn't too sure if the rest of him was awake.

In his defense, he's been playing guitar professionally for about as long as I've been alive. I'd be surprised if he couldn't turn in a good show while asleep.

Then they started playing Eight Miles High. They started playing, specifically, the intro to Eight Miles High with it's complex, intertwining double lead. That was when he came to life. If you watch the video below, the two guitarists are watching how the other plays, which is how I remember it going. They played it perfectly. After that song, he returned to the back of the stage and rhythm guitar.

*: I need to be more prompt about writing these things, I know.

Eight Miles High, by The Byrds

From Wil's show that night (note: contains swearing):