music

It's all a blur, really. I remember waking up to hear the Current (89.3 FM) for the first time. I also remember running into Toys 'R' Us just because I parked there on my first trip to Myth nightclub. And of course I haven't forgotten my high-volume conversations with the guys who run Taste of Minnesota and the 400 Bar. I'm still trying to translate some of the cuss-word combinations they used on me.

Other than that, though, 2005 has sort of blurred into 2004 and 2003 and, in the case of Myth, into 1984. (I grew up near Maplewood Mall.) Good thing I took a lot of notes and taped a lot of interviews.

Here are the interview highlights chronologically, starting with a discussion from last year that seemed relevant to this year.

Allan Fingerhut

"It's one thing to put on a concert. It's another thing to maintain the financial stability it takes to continue putting on concerts."

-- The original owner of First Avenue, Nov. 12, 2004, after he filed for bankruptcy on the club and a judge turned ownership over to ex-managers Byron Frank, Jack Meyers and Steve McClellan. First Avenue closed out 2005 with its first profitable year since 2001.

Alan Sparhawk

"There were things this band had to get out from under in order to make this album. The deeper you go into that self-questioning, the music has to be pretty powerful for you to come out of it."

-- The frontman of Low at his Duluth home in late January discussing the making of "The Great Destroyer." The band went on hiatus in May and bassist Zak Sally quit in October.

Bryan Ottoson

"We hit rock bottom in every way. But once we started writing songs, we got that glimmer of hope."

-- American Head Charge guitarist who died in April, talking in February about the making of its second CD, "The Feeding."

Gary Louris

Me: "The Jayhawks were inactive all last year. Why?"

Louris: "I don't think we're going to do anything else. I think we felt like we'd done it enough, and everybody just wants to do something else. We haven't completely closed the door, but it's pretty damn close."

Me: "Really?"

Louris: "We still love each other and everything, but we feel like, 'Been there, done that.' When you're on that treadmill -- tour, make a record, tour, make a record -- you don't have time to learn anything else."

Me: "Wow. Just to clarify, let me get the official line."