Root Down in the Shadow

At some point in high school, I abandoned buying baseball & football cards and started putting my spending money into building my music collection.  I had done the Columbia House & BMG music clubs.  However I didn't just want the cds, I wanted more.  Rather than writing letters to athletes to get items autographed, I started checking out fan 'zines and fan clubs. My first entry into fan clubs brought me to Pearl Jam's Ten Club .  From what I can remember, I simply just sent a letter away to the address listed inside of the Ten Club liner notes on Ten .  It was immediately a great match for me, as my thirst for new music was insatiable.  I had never really purchased cassettes, and I had obtained an awesome Technics stereo system with a turntable.  Little did I know that, the perk of Ten Club was holiday vinyl!  My first Pearl Ja m vinyl and Ten Club release was 'Angel/Ramblings'.  Released on Dec 31 1993, this is probably the last holiday single to actu

I debated about this song most of the last 24 hours.  Do I write about a seldom heard Pearl Jam song (again), or touch on another song that folks might know.  But after hearing back from my likely initial source for this song,(Thanks Joe!!!!!!!!) I felt I had to go for the first choice.   Today's pick for Pearl Jam Song of the Week , has been a treasured song to me for so long, and this blog has served as a reminder to another who also treasured it according to Joe, "I haven't heard it in a good, long while." So here goes:  Pearl Jam ' Sonic Reducer' has been a favorite of mine since high school.  I really don't know what came first, getting some tapes from Joe or getting my own bootlegs first.  Either way, at some point in high school, I got my hands on the song.  The song was from the Ten era.  From what I can tell, it first became available to fans on the bands vinyl 45 christmas single. Each year the Pearl Jam Ten Club, gives out a freebie to the