This coming weekend me & the wife will be attending a very special event. My friend Ty is getting married. Me and this guy go waaaay back. I've known him since I was about fifteen. We went to the same tiny little high school. He is responsible for intoducing me to some of the finer things in life, such as beer brewing, single malt scotch, and the music of The Who. Specifically, the album you see here.

My penchant (liability, sickness) for nostalgia concerning records coming out of my so-called formative years is well known. Live at Leeds brings up pile of memories from those years: some of 'em great (meeting and getting to know this guy), some of 'em silly (my drunken attempt to do a Pete Townshend with guitar imitation...and yes, I did succeed in shredding my right hand on the strings.)

Live at Leeds was originally released as a single record. Ty used to own the British import of this, which I coveted mightily. It came with that yummy Who, Maximum R&B poster. Because I fell in love with this record so many years ago, I actually still prefer the original song lineup. It seems like a scary-great distillation of those shows. This is not to say that the extened version is bad. Heck no. It shows The Who at the top of their early game. Still, what with my nostalgia and LP fetish and all...if I had a turntable in my car, I woulda busted out my original vinyl copy on the way to work.

So let this be my early congratulations to Tyler and Meg, who will be married this coming Monday...and who will make all sortsa people very happy.

(First posted on Mark Is Cranky)