what a wild turn of events tonight has brought. i expect it to be a quiet night - - download a few albums, watch raymond, watch the second half of joe millionaire - - and then the phone starts ringing off the hook. apparently northwestern's a&o has booked guided by voices, the greatest rock band in the world, to play nevin's live in evanston. (See my rankings of the best of guided by voices here.) As a love of GbV is clearly the most indelible impression I've left on people, three calls - - boom, boom, boom! And I'll be able to go, it appears.

I'm looking forward to it...it'll be my first back-to-back GbV shows since Cleveland and Detroit in 1998, mere months after my love affair began.

My greatest GbV moment (other than the closing chorus to "Cut-Out Witch" in July 1998 - - - 3 minutes and I was hooked) came in May of 2002 in Iowa City. Relive the memories here ('Bob' is Bob Pollard, singer and songwriter. 'Doug' is Doug Gillard, guitarist. And anything in capital letters is probably a song title. And so it goes...):

So then, after the first encore, which closed with Baba, the music comes up, and the place starts to clear out. I start to leave and, as I'm at the back of the room, I hear some applause and general screaming, and I see the band come back onstage, so I return back to the front.

I think this encore is just Lethargy then Pop Zeus then Smothered In Hugs. For the final chorus of Smothered, Bob passes the mic to the crowd. Never one to really like the whole "crowd singing" thing, I find the mic in my hand. And I sing the "No need for further..." all the way through , "...I really don't know."

at some point during the shenanigans, Bob grabs Doug's mic and finishes the song as well, with me singing the "out-of-key" harmony. Song over. I drop the mic. Band leaves the stage.

General applause. Possibly some G-B-V chants.

And I notice the mic's just sitting there, and I'm all like, 'I haven't heard my favorite live song in ages, why don't I just sing it myself?'

So I pick up the mic, and I yell "DISARM THE SETLIST...THE NEW DRUNK DRIVERS..." and nobody stops me, and some people are joining in, so I keep going. And I finish the final "Come on come on, the Club is OOOOOOOOOO-PEN."

And then there is general applause. And I'm happy cause I wasn't arrested.

And then the band returns, and THEY start playing A Salty Salute, and it's one of the greatest rock moments ever. And then they say "we've got one more," and they close with Liar's Tale. And it was wonderful.