Moving down to Florida at the end of September and I see there is a Gainesville date - I may have to venture out for that. 'Virtute at Rest' "From the perspective of Virtute the cat, resurrected in the brain of her recovering human companion." Yup, still destroys me. Kind of a given with any of the Virtute songs, but I still can't make it through 17th Street Treatment Centre and Virtute at Rest without the water works turning on.
I've only listened to Virtute at Rest twice because it made me so sad. I love that album, though and still listen often.
John played a show in Halifax, backed by a bunch of Halifax boys, and played a 19 song set with 14 of those songs being Weakerthans songs. A write-up on it. What I would do to see Fire Door again. E: This article references setlist.fm as a resource, but I can't find the set on there. Strange.
Alternate version of "Prayer For Ruby Elm." Prayer For Ruby Elm (May We Grow Film Version) - Single by John K. Samson on Apple Music
Also, just hearing this for the first time even though it came out in January. Really nice song John did for a movie soundtrack. "Exit Interview" from Lovesick (The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) by Matthew Schellenberg on iTunes
Went and saw John open up for Craig Finn last night. I never got a chance to see The Hold Steady or The Weakerthans back in the day, so I've been really looking forward to this show since this may be the closest I ever get to either. Highlight of the show for me was John playing all of the Virtute songs in order back to back to back. Also John and Craig finished the night trading verses of Wrecking Ball by Gillian Welch. Craig playing Dennis &a Billy was a stand out too. It was a great show.
One week until my show. I'm even more excited after seeing that setlist. Part of me hopes it doesn't change at all but I also really want to hear "Heart of the Continent."
What an experience seeing him last night. We got "(Hospital Vespers)" instead of "Bigfoot" which was really cool to hear. "One Great City!" has pretty much cemented itself as my favorite song, and finally hearing it live was really emotional and awesome. And of course the Virtute songs were perfect. A couple other notes: "I'm a talk-singing Marxist from Winnipeg" is such a great way for John to introduce himself. City Winery is a spectacular venue, and the house music between sets was really good. They played the Dismemberment Plan, the Promise Ring, Sincere Engineer, and a bunch of other great stuff.
Had to put my cat of twelve years down yesterday. A very sad day, but she had a good long life. “Let it rest, all you can’t change. Let it rest and be done.”
I am sorry to hear this. It really is the most painful thing. My cat of many years died right before the album and it really hit hard. This album was a place of comfort and strength to me and I hope you're able to find that as well! I am sure you know, but it really does help to remember all the good times (even if that means balling your eyes out!).
Holy smokes I just realized I was at the last Weakerhtans show. I mean they didn't at all advertise it as that, they probably didn't know, but according to setlist.fm their last show was X-Fest 2013 in Calgary. This is so weird for me.
Has anyone heard of John making more music? I pretty much missed out on the Weakerthans and his solo stuff while it was active, but it has become some of my most cherished music ever. Easily my favorite lyricist ever. Give me a novel if not another album!
Thank you for sharing. I think I may have missed this? Or I never went back and listened more than once.