As I Remember It, I'm Always Right

Despite Martin's protestations otherwise, the outcome of Game 5 of the NBA Finals was just about preordained.

Of course the Lakers were able to pull out one more home playoff win.

These teams are very evenly matched - all the games have been pretty close, with both teams showing themselves capable of going on big runs.

Boston made more mistakes in this game then they had in any previous game - more turnovers, missed assignments on defense, bad fouls (especially by KG.) That cost them the game, ultimately.

Those same mistakes likely won't pop up as they play in Boston, where they've only lost 7 times this entire season, including the playoffs. The Lakers didn't look like they finally figured out the Boston defense in this game, which would lead me to believe that this ends Tuesday night.

Unless, that is, Boston can't handle the pressure of closing it out. Should be interesting to see how they cope with it in Game 6. Can KG keep it together, or will his incredible intensity get the best of him? Can the rest of the team execute if it's close towards the end, as it typically has been in this entire series? It's probable, but not definite. So we'll see.

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On Saturday night, I went to see Swervedriver at the Metro here in Chicago.

Swervedriver plays what I like to call a more muscular kind of shoegaze - it has the swirling guitars and the feedback but there's also songs about cars.

Swervedriver also hasn't released an album in about 10 years. I used to listen to them a lot back in high school - my friends Greg and Eric turned me on to them. In particular, Eric used to have the CDs in his car, and we'd listen to it driving around northern Jersey, which we would do often.

So, yes, this was a reunion show. I was going out on Saturday for a bit of nostalgia.

Greg had gone to see them in Seattle a few weeks before. He was extremely disappointed. He wrote us all a short and depressing email that ended with "wish i had left that band as a memory."

My expectations for the show were low, to say the least.

As it turned out, I had a great time. The Metro was nicely packed on this Saturday night, and it is one of the better places to see a show here in Chicago (it's where the Smashing Pumpkins famously got their start way back in the early 90s.) Especially since the smoking ban.

The band sounded great. I recognized about 80% of the songs, and it was cool to hear them played live right in front of me - and I was standing fairly close to the front of the stage.

Yet while I enjoyed it thoroughly, I also saw the problem, and where Greg got left so cold. Because, sure, it was fun, but it certainly wasn't as exciting as hearing something brand new, experiencing it all in that particular moment. I was happy, but I wasn't taken to some new height.

Nostalgia isn't as visceral as we'd like it to be.

It got me thinking about the NBA Finals (shockingly enough) with all the Lakers-Celtics history that's been force-fed to us for the last month.

Everyone was going off of this idea of "hey, remember how awesome it was then? I bet it will be even MORE awesome now!"

That never works. It's never more awesome now. Because we only choose to remember the good parts of what happened back then. We don't remember if there was a game or two of one of those "classic series" that were absolute blow outs or unwatchable bores. We remember the overall outcome, and the parts that were classic.

Just like with bands that we fell in love with long ago. You're never going to get to re-hear them for the first time, and experience that full-body wow that happens with the stuff that's truly transcendent. But that's the part you remember - the intense pleasure you felt when you were first getting into it all.

It can't be repeated. You can't feel it like you remember. Like Johnny Thunders said, you can't put your arm around a memory.

Which doesn't mean you can't enjoy these things in their own right, for what they are right now. That's what I've been feeling about these Finals, which have generally pleased me with the back-and-forth between Pierce and Kobe, the incredible Boston defense, the surprisingly good coaching of Doc Rivers, the rebirth of Jesus Shuttleworth, the Leon Powe Game, and especially the comeback game. Who cares that this isn't a replay of the 1987 Finals? I like this one just fine.

And that's what I felt about Swervedriver on Saturday. Sure, it wasn't a life-altering experience (not like the High on Fire show I saw last year). But I've seen plenty of crappy bands play crappy shows, and plenty good bands play mediocre shows. This was an excellent band, with a surprising number of songs that I really like (I need to start listening to them again more often) playing an excellent show. What else could I have wanted?