Dave Alvin: Romeo's Escape

THE TIME: Summer, 1987. The place: Downtown Manhattan hang-out The Kat Klub. It's the height of the annual industry beanfest, the New Music Seminar, and among this year's live attractions is an especially enticing triple bill of high-calibre players in a sub-genre that would, in a few years, come to be known by marketing types as Americana. Admission is free to any NMS delegate sporting an oversized laminate around his or her neck, like some sort of tacky medal at the Schmooze Olympics.