TVD Takeover | The Posies

It's Day #3 of The Posies' Vinyl District Takeover and Jon Auer checks in from Spain:


Happy Birthday To Me, Spanish Style
Ok…(deep breath)

Right from the start I’ll have to admit his isn’t going to be what I intended to submit for my first entry to The Vinyl District. Indeed, I’ll confess to loftier goals and more complex aspirations, that I was psyched to be asked to contribute to TVD this week…really. And then…. well….Como se dice? Let’s put it this way: Life may indeed be what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans but you’d think I might’ve respected the good ole’ laws of physics a bit more in this particular case. Read: time travel doesn’t exist as far as my currently hung-over brain is aware, though I do believe I tried to go back in time in my dreams last night and compose a blog entry “for the ages”, a real stunner …something even Anthony Bourdain would be jealous of. Naturally, in my alpha state, I’d just about completed my blogosphere “masterpiece” when the wake up call from the extremely grumpy Spaniard working the front desk came, just in time to watch my dream dissolve. Apparently he didn’t like having to get out of bed at sunrise any more than I did. Thanks, hombre…

But I digress. Let’s just say three parts travel from the US to Spain plus three parts first show of The Posies’ European tour last night divided by six parts procrastination multiplied by my birthday equals yours truly furiously typing in a hotel room in Murcia scant hours before my deadline, thanking heavens for time zones. So, in lieu of a more fruitful course of action, to paraphrase Milli Vanilli, I’m going to cut myself a little slack on my special day and “Blame It On The Spain.”


How lucky is it for me that the Spanish just happen love vinyl? Very. Adding it up, I’ve averaged at least two visits a year to this impassioned land since 1993 and almost everywhere you can think of going you’re bound to find amazing rock and roll bars playing a majority of vinyl from dusk until dawn and in most cases even dawn the next day. Some of the best times I’ve had here have been taking turns with DJs playing great music until no one in the room can lift a glass, keep an eye open, or hear anymore….even on a Sunday, like at a place in Yecla I played solo in 1999 called The Happy House and ESPECIALLY on a Monday like at the superlative bar Louie Louie in Madrid, a place everyone who loves rock and roll should experience at least twice. I still have a stack of 45s, including the original “Black is Black” by Los Bravos, given to me there one epic evening by the legendary Spanish musician/promoter Kike Turmix, a man who was larger than life in many ways. That’s the kind of thing that happened at Louie Louie and I feel fortunate to have shared those moments with him.

Back to the moment at hand, I suppose I’m also lucky I’m not the only person in Spain right now who didn’t deliver what they’d intended. My birthday came at the stroke of midnight during our sold out show at Murcia’s own Sala Stereo last night and before the clock chimed twelve, September 28th was the worldwide release day of BLOOD/CANDY, the new Posies album, a record we just happened to make a large portion of in Spain earlier this year. The show was amazing but regrettably, even though much planning had gone into the imminent delivery of our latest on both CD and vinyl, the proverbial snafu occurred and a few hundred Spanish Posies fan weren’t able to buy our new record from us on the day of its release. Ouch. But hey – at least they wanted to, right?

Blame it on the Spain.