Prompted by a Salon article on REM's disbandment [heh. literally!], i spent the evening listening through the last couple of albums and watching videos of their last live performance. REM was the first live concert I ever saw in a stadium, with my cousins, in 1989(?). I'd forgotten what a great live show they put on, and the excitement of that very first stadium concert. Automatic for the People was the first CD I bought when I finally got a CD player in 1992.

Michael Stipe on New York:
[there's] a New York song on the album...It's about a moment that occurred not far from here on Houston Street, when I was stumbling down the street having been at a party, a vodka in one hand and an espresso in the other, and just being so inspired by the energy of the city and the people. It's a moment-of-discovery song, about discovering oneself and suddenly feeling this huge sense of possibility. New York can do that to you"

11:30 p.m. - 2013-04-07