Every week, we’ll be posting a new illustration by David Lester. The Mecca Normal guitarist is visually documenting people, places and events from his band’s 43-year run, with text by vocalist Jean Smith.
Secrets we long to tell might sound ominous, but perhaps they’re the truths we need. Memories may have to be re-written when unexpected artifacts arrive, depending on whether new information supports or negates stories that have accumulated.
A 50-minute live Mecca Normal set (audio only) from 1992 surfaced on YouTube mid-July. No idea who posted it. Considering it’s a cassette recording, it captures a certain amount of what we do. That you can hear what I’m singing beside Dave’s extra-noisy guitar is some kinda miracle.
Maybe it’s a not liking surprises thing, but live sets arriving this way feel odd 34 years later. I mean, I want to know what else is out there, but my deep dark secret is that I want to control the what and how and why of it all.
“Deep Dark Secret” from Water Cuts My Hands (K, 1991) (download):
