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orphan girl


i received a package in the post yesterday. i love reaching into the dark abyss of empty mail-space and feeling something other than glossy ads and credit card applications. it felt manila. sure enough, it was a padded yellowish envelope. the return address said "paste music" and so i knew what it was.
inside was a little plastic disc encoded with 13 songs by over the rhine. i had pre-ordered it months ago and it finally arrived. its called 'live from nowhere: volume 2."
sigh.
i love over the rhine.
upon first listen, i wasn't blown away by the music. it is a kind of collection of a variety of their songs from different albums arranged in different ways or performed live. most of the tunes seemed good not great. there are a couple songs i have never heard of before, and one i just didn't like. but, and this is a huge but, track # 10 is 'orphan girl,' a song originally written by one gillian welch and also recorded by emmylou harris on her fantastic cd 'wrecking ball.' anyway, the first time i ever saw over the rhine live, at grove city college probably 10 years ago, they did this song. i have never heard them play it since on any recording or at any concert. but here it is in all its beauty with karin singing like she means it when she says, "i have no mother i have no father i have no sisters i have no brothers, i am an orphan girl." (when i sing along, i always say 'orphan child,' so as to be gender-neutral).
sigh.
so, i just wanted to share my postal bliss with you.
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Comments

Anonymous said…
I, too, love reaching into cold metal boxes to find a bit of love and excitment. I thought that was just a college thing...but turns out be it a college box or an apartment box, the steel can be cold and empty and depressing, or filled and content and happy. i love the latter. In other news...your birthday present is not coming. now i can tell you, it was a tshirt from Relevant...and they are out of stock. guess its good i got you something else...even if its not as cool as something from Relevant.
11:46 PM
Crafty P said…
oh greg. That concert, in Crawford Hall, was one of my favorite memories from GCC. I remember how they had candles lining the stage and carpets draped over the floor. I'm going to have to go through some old notebooks today to see if I can find the songlist from some of my more recent OTR concerts. I vaguely remember hearing Orphan Girl sung again- I always wished and hoped they would sing it at every concert I attended since that GCC one.
So excited to hear it's on this album, which, by the way, I had no idea existed. How in the world did I miss a new OTR album?
Thanks for rekindling that lovely memory for me today.

mary- so sorry your shirt never made it to your brother. relevant shirts are very cool, in my opinion.
9:37 AM
greg milinovich said…
mary:

no problem on the shirt. i know they were moving their offices and going through all kinds of stuff, so that's probably why there was so much confusion. i am happy with my gift(s). and a relevant shirt would always make a great christmas present...

christina:

i, too, remember that concert. it was like a curtain was pulled back, giving me a view into a whole new way of playing/hearing/living music that i had never imagined before. it sounds corny, i know, but for me it was a spiritual moment. that being said...um...don't buy it. just don't buy it.

greg.
10:02 AM
greg milinovich said…
christina:

did you get anything in the mail yet?
5:24 PM
Erin said…
Greg,
Don't know if you check old entries for new posts, but we received our copy last week, and while i'm always hesitant to criticize anything OTR, i have to say i'm getting a little tired of 18 versions of the same song on 20 CD's. We have every CD, but there's probably only enough songs for half that many. Orphan Girl does help, though...
Erin
12:27 PM
greg milinovich said…
hey erin,

i kind of agree. i don't need 5 versions of a song, if they all sound basically the same. but, i don't mind it at all if they take a song and do what linford often says about it: put a new dress on it. i like that. its like a variation on a theme. so that part doesn't bother me. i know that you and m. aren't as into their covers as i am, but i love it when they do other people's songs.

all in all, i like the album, but its not a studio release, you know? its just for the very serious fan.

greg.
1:48 PM
Emoly said…
Hey Greg, I went back to this blog, knowing that you'll get this in an e-mail: you can come visit us and see Over the Rhine in concert for $28 this summer, if you'd like!

It's at the Meijer Gardens (where I'm always taking pictures) they have an amphitheater, and members get to pre-order tickets at a discounted rate. It's Thursday, August 9th, hmmm that's your day off...

I thought of you when I saw Over the Rhine was coming. And seriously, if you're interested, let me know and I'll get tickets?!
2:09 PM
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