Bob Mould reads, sings and reminisces at Largo at the Coronet

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On Wednesday night at Largo at the Coronet, singer, songwriter, post-punk icon and former World Wrestling Federation scriptwriter Bob Mould shared his ideas, both verbally and musically, on his work and life. Mould was touring in support of his new memoir, ‘See a Little Light: The Trail of Rage and Melody,’ and Times book critic David L. Ulin was in attendance. Writes Ulin over at Jacket Copy:

‘...the title comes from a song on his 1989 album ‘Workbook.’ He opened with the song, playing solo on a blue Stratocaster, then sat down to read selections from his book. The prose was adequate, some incidents more interesting than others ... but let’s be honest: Prose was not why we were here.

To his credit, Mould seemed to understand that; he chose passages that had to do with songwriting, beginning with his state of mind after the 1988 implosion of Hüsker Dü. In the wake of that, he began to write the songs that would eventually become ‘Workbook,’ and after his first reading, he performed a few, among them ‘Lonely Afternoon’ and ‘Wishing Well.’

This was the pattern of the evening: Dip into the book, talk about his history, then play music that reflected what he’d read. He did four Sugar songs (the highlight of the night, especially the effervescent ear candy of ‘If I Can’t Change Your Mind’) and closed with a brief Husker set, including ‘I Apologize.’

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-- Randall Roberts