Q: Don't my plaid lined jacket look pretty good?

A: One of my favorite songs of 2007 thus far is "Plaid Lined Jacket," a Midwestern folk character sketch by Tom Brosseau (from his way, way under-appreciated Grand Forks).

Tom Brosseau
Plaid Lined Jacket
Grand Forks, 2007 [buy it!]

From the press material for Grand Forks:

Grand Forks is a concept record written about Grand Forks, North Dakota, and revolving around the historic 1997 flood... The soundscape is a mixture of lush pedal and lap steel, bowed bass, and straight-up acoustic guitar captured by the mind of Gregory Page... Grand Forks is about hope and success over obstacles, the coming together of a community, the endurance and hardship and heartache, homelessness and loss; it is about the future, it is about the past.

"Plaid Lined Jacket" represents the homelessness and endurance, although the lyrics don't beat you over the head with either theme. The Internets' innumerable seedy lyrics directories have not yet taken notice of Tommy B. — but T.A.M.S.Y.'s got your back, the Internets!

Wooden bench in the park
Go to sleep when it's dark
Policeman comes and shines a light
Find somewhere new to sleep tonight

Found a comb in the alleyway
In a puddle of water cold and grey
In the gallery, the people stare
When I run that thing through my hair

Got silver tape around my shoes
Where the rats have eaten through
Got dirty shirt, dirty jean
But I keep my plaid lined jacket clean
Yes, I keep my plaid lined jacket clean

Ooooooooh ooooooh hooo oohooooo....

I found a nice yellow ring to hawk
I found 'er on Broadway in the 22nd block
Gonna bring me money I can fold
Gonna buy a bottle to keep out the cold

I hurt my knee, got a pretty bad scrape
Comin' down that rusty fire escape
Got in a fight in a field
I hurt my hand, it ain't never fully healed

'Times it's hard to walk, 'times it's hard to work
I'm looking to become a graveyard clerk
I can't get rid of this old cough
I can't take my plaid lined jacket off
No, I can't take my plaid lined jacket off

Ooooooooh ooooooh hoooooo oohooooo ooh....

I'm gonna take whatever life brings
Got a shopping cart for all my things
Got the same freedom anyone has
When the sun is out, I'm gonna go lay on the grass

Bingo cards and little round dabs
And floors covered in pull tabs
And you ladies in plastic barrettes
With your baggy eyes from your cigarettes

In old pool halls and dancehalls
Wallpaper coming down off the walls
Trashy steet in the neighborhood
Don't my plaid lined jacket look pretty good?
Don't my plaid lined jacket look pretty good?

Ooooooooh ooooooh hooo oohooooo ooooooh ooooh....

Feel free to post corrections in the comments. Especially if you are Tom Brosseau.

Appropriately enough, Brosseau's latest blog post mentions he's been reading Steinbeck, the original American-hobo chronicler.

ALSO: Cracked interviews preeminent modern hobo chronicler (and T.A.M.S.Y. favorite) John Hodgman. Who also blogs.

P.S.: Sexy Teenage Susie (who introduced me to Brosseau) tells me that he has a show at Joe's Pub in NYC on Friday. Check it out, if you live there. He's also playing Boston, Philly, New Haven and SXSW in the near future (see: details on his official site).

P.S. #2: Corrections posted. Thanks, Susie. Incidentally, Susie met Tom Brosseau last night, and now they're very much in love. MAYBE THEY SHOULD JUST GET MARRIED.

Q: Have seven hours to kill (and/or a desire to get in on John Hodgmania)?

If the A: is yes, you'll be killing those seven hours in what feels like four and a half thanks to the wit/wisdom of John Hodgman's The Areas of My Expertise audiobook -- currently available from Apple for the price of zero dollars. And here I thought I'd never buy anything from iTunes!

You might recognize Hodgman, speaking of Apple, from his insurmountably likable performance in the "PC vs Mac" ads (which were only successful in convincing me that people who use Macs really are assholes¹). More notably, he's a regular on The Daily Show and a semi-regular on This American Life, making him a good candidate for my favorite person.

I just noticed that Hodgman is also the guy behind NYC's Little Gray Books lecture/humor series -- which I only know through Lindsayism, most memorably for having inspired the creation of Jonathan Coulton's wonderful "Dance, Soterios Johnson, Dance."² Coulton's music, by the by, is centrally featured in the aforementioned free audiobook.

While I'm linking all things Hodgman, it's worth noting he's on Blogger too. And that he stole my "zero dollars" joke. Pre-emptively. He's damn good, that Hodgman.

NOTE: There would be humorous, illuminating images in this post, but the new Blogger dropped its "beta" tag Tuesday, and is celebrating the achievement with a night of drunken incompetence.

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¹ Just kidding, Practically Everyone Who Reads My Blog! Oh, unless you're one of the few PC users, in which case, no, seriously. Which is probably why PC's still working and Mac ain't.

² Incidentally, the opportunity to attend Little Gray Books was one of many reasons I was so excited to move to New York. And also one of many intentions I forgot immediately upon arriving, along with "becoming successful" and "going outside." Life's funny that way.