"She doesn't have to have her dB's records back now..."

Back when I was a freshman in college and a huge R.E.M. fanatic, eager to sample anything that had anything remotely to do with the band, I picked up the album "Mavericks" by their then-auxiliary guitarist Peter Holsapple and his former bandmate Chris Stamey. I expected something reasonably enjoyable, but what I got was one of my favorite albums of all time -- one that, more than any other, set me down the path to musical geekhood that I now inhabit (and am sharing with you!)

But before Holsapple and Stamey were a duo, they were in one of the greatest power-pop bands of the 80's: the dB's! The dB's story is one of woe and frustration (as recounted in Peter Holsapple's amusing essay "The dB's: What Happened?" in Rolling Stone's Alt Rock-A-Rama) as everything that could go wrong with their musical career did so - and continued to do so with alarming frequency until, after almost a decade of knocking themselves out, putting out four excellent records but being gernally ignored, they finally called it quits in 1988.

Until now.

God love 'em, they're trying again.

Holsapple and Stamey, along with the rest of the original line-up, Will Rigby and Gene Holder, went back into the studio earlier this year and cut some tracks for a reunion album. Not only that, but they're going to be playing some live shows as well, the first of which was just announced today: September 17 at the Hideout in Chicago.

I, for one, am completely psyched! I've seen almost all of them individually over the years (in fact, I just caught Chris Stamey doing a great solo show at Joe's Pub last Saturday), but never as a group. And now, almost fifteen years after I discovered them, I finally get the chance! Hooray!

I only hope that things go better for them this time around...

Recommended listening: their first single, "Black and White", performed live in Chicago, 1984. More MP3's and information at the dB's Official Website: thedBsonline.net...