It Was Twenty Years Ago Today (almost)

Earlier this morning, it dawned on me that it was probably twenty years ago that I bought "Pleased To Meet Me" by the Replacements. It didn't seem possible it was that long ago but I checked the receipt and saw it was true. (Click it if you can't read it. And, yeah, I know I need to use a scanner next time. And yeah, I used to save record store receipts.)

I started thinking about the Replacements after I saw a link on Guava's blog to an article about Paul Westerberg. That got me to googling his name, which led me to his wife's blog, where I read he was 47 years old.

Excuse me? Did you say Paul Westerberg is 47? Are you sure? Dang. I don't even want to know how old Tommy Stinson is now. (He'll be 41 this year, according to Wikipedia. That can't be right. He was like 13 when he joined the band.)

It's not that I think 47 is old because I don't. It's just that I haven't been keeping up with Paul Westerberg the way I did with the Replacements, and I guess I forgot that people get older even if you aren't running to Tower Records every time they release a new record.

I once wrote the Replacements a fan letter. They sent back an application for the NKOTB fan club. Yeah, I saved it.

So, should I go clean my bathroom or take pictures of myself wearing my Replacements t-shirts?