R.I.P. Skinney-Kinney

Last week, Olympia/Portland-based Sleater-Kinney announced that they'd up and be gone at the end of the summer. They had hinted of a break-up several years ago, so it's no real surprise that they have decided to end the show. I myself thought that the success of their last work, The Woods, would keep them around and put them on the road. I guessed wrong.

The raw and reverberating sound of the trio came to me in my last year of college via my friend Dominic, who has influenced quite a bit of my music collection in the past. He and I share a startling Grateful Dead-past together, one that I dare not drift into. But that's what Yo La Tengo is for.

My 20's are peppered with S-K moments. I've seen them more than a handful of times. I had a crush on Carrie Brownstein. I nerded up and joined a mailing list of fans, one of whom I made dear friends with when I moved to Columbus. I listen to them when I need to be fierce, when I'm sad and joyful and when I'm angry. "Skinney-Kinney" as my mom referred to them, contributed to who I was during those years...and still do now.

Songs like Little Babies, Rollercoaster, Get Up, God is Number, The Professional, Buy Her Candy, Sympathy, and I Wanna Be Your Joey Ramone are in oxygen in my blood.

I once had a chance to talk to Greil Marcus about the band. He and I nodded our heads in agreement that they are one of the best American rock bands in all of history. He even went as far to say that at the time they were the best band in America--and that he hoped that they'd be around for a long time.

Good bye for now, Skinney-Kinney. I'm hoping you'll come back some day renewed.