I did some catching up in the pulp paper pile today of recent mail. The Vermont Country Store Catalog caught my eye, mostly for the reintroduction of all manner of licorice candy, and Bonamo Turkish Taffy is back after a 21 year absence. Banana was my favorite, followed by strawberry. And there is also an array of classic scents like Evening in Paris, and Arpege, which held the allure of grown up, inexplicable secrets when I was a preteen.

Next up in the stack was the latest Rolling Stone with the 10 Greatest Dylan Songs, in honor of Dylan’s 70th birthday earlier this week. I have been lost in Dylan’s lyrics since the 60s. They consumed me when I no longer cared about the promise of cheap perfume. It is amazing how prescient these songs were, and how they still hold wonder for their surgical illumination of bits and pieces of human endeavor and behavior, and also for how opaque some of them are to this day.

I love visual songs; I love the angst of this one from Ian Moore and The Lossy Coils. If I was spinning tunes, it would follow “Maggie’s Farm” just perfectly. It comes from Ian’s new record, El Sonido Nuevo. We were fortunate to have him and the Lossy Coils: Matt Harris and Kyle Schneider, during our Music Fog Marathon at Threadgill’s WHQ a couple of months ago. They are about to hit the road for the summer. You should check out the website, too, as it is lush, mystical, and literate. And I like that!

- Jessie Scott