For Christina

Hey everyone welcome to Outloud. Believe it or not, this is the 30th edition of my column. It certainly doesn't feel like ti has been that long It seems like just yesterday that I accepted my job with Broken Dial and pitched my idea to one of Broken Dial's resident overlords, Shawn. Shawn took one look at my idea, which was and still is, just an excuse for me to geek out all over your computer screens every week, and saw some promise in the idea.

In the past couple of months we have seen it all: rare clips from established acts, fixing the spotlight on bands that time seems to have forgotten along with the weird obscene and the controversial. Hopefully you have enjoyed the ride. At the end of the day, I love writing this column, but my focus is on you loving it too.

Well, since this is my birthday party, or at least my creations birthday party, that I can have any band come and play at the bash. My selection is one of my favorite all time bands, whom whenever I mention them I get blank stares from even those who claim to be musically educated - Camper Van Beethoven. The name be familiar to some of you but only because you have probably heard the band's "hit" song, "Take the Skinheads Bowling" a couple of hundred times. Well, my friends, good old Camper is much more then a one trick pony. Each one of their albums has been fantastic. They even managed to pull of the ultimate rarity and released a great comeback album after an over decade break with all the original members. Nothing can stop Camper.

To me Camper, really trade marked the kind of slacker cool that would later come to light in acts like Pavement. Camper's simple song structures like on the three chord wonder, "Where The Hell is Bill?" and the first track i am going to share with you, "Ambiguity Song" are fine examples. Of the smart, over educated suburban kids being forced into jobs that don't completely fulfill them or the potential that their parents had set aside for them. Camper is unsure, uncaring and that is what made them so endearing. It seems as if genius just flowed from their finger tips.

This clip comes from what I can only guess is the tour for their major label debut, Our Beloved Revolutionary Sweetheart. Check it out.



The reason that I love this particular version so much is because it manages to echo the, "campfire sing-a-long" vibe that the song just screamed for on the record. The super sweet simple melody along with catchy and wonderful lyrics simply make it a smash. Plus it is a joy to hear the kids in the crowd singing along

Another one of my favorite Camper Van Beethoven cuts is their hilarious, almost country-rock, recasting of Black Flag's classic "Wasted". Believe it or not, the song was the perfect fit for them.
Not only does it blend the insane with the beautiful, which Camper did on a regular basis, but the lyrics, although punk rock to the bone can actually come out of lead singer David Lowry's mouth. It's not hard to believe that the guys in Camper Van Beethoven, were hippies, burnouts and were surfers.