Cold as Gasoline

At the end of "The Goldfinch" by Donna Tartt. Long but worth it. Liked "The Secret History" but this was better.

Seeing Justin Townes Earle tonight.

My experience was really similar. Sound issues, obnoxious crowd. I also wonder how it passed fire inspection, since everyone needs to file out the same way, down 2 flights of stairs. If there is ever a fire in there during a show, people are going to fry. Now I need to find something fire-retardant to wear to JTE next week

I was on the fence about the Autumn Defense / Leagues show too, but don't have the energy to be out so late on a Friday after this week of bad weather and work. Plus, I really hate the Concord Music Hall (saw Jason Isbell there a couple of months ago and seeing Justin Townes Earle there next week). Will venture out tomorrow to the Old Town School of Folk to see Ralph Stanley and the Clinch Mountain Boys. Ralph is about a zillion years old, so I'd better see him while I can Should be some good old timey bluegrass.

Amen. Thanks very much to all of you who shared your adventures. It's been a pleasure to attend vicariously through you all!

Yes.

You said it right, Wilco Me, that it is to be filed away as Behavior Not To Repeat, and forgotten as an anomaly, since the guy clearly meant no harm and maybe acted against his better judgment.

I'm just a random music-loving stranger. Meet you next time!

I'll let Lou give you his wisdom, but I was there and it was rowdy. My ears were buzzing on the way home,but they sounded great. It was the first time I'd seen them and the venue is legendarily tiny. Very high energy. They aimed for a mix of "past and future", playing old songs as well as those slated for a future album yet to be recorded.

Got the gold for night one and settled for the regular GA for night two. I'm good with that! Really looking forward to these, especially with the stellar reports from those attending the west coast shows in December.

I'll be there too.

Chicken in my Back Pick Up the Chicken At Least That's What Chicken Said

This makes me so happy! Let the countdown start for February!

Andrew Bird.

Pokey LaFarge.

Yeah, I'm one of those people who was coming out to hear the old Jayhawks songs I had just heard Gary Louris less than a week before at Fitzgerald's and that show had a much bigger, more engaged crowd, with Jayhawk Karen Grotberg and a near-complete song-for-song rendition of the "Sound of Lies" album in the plus column. The Mark Olson show at Schuba's in Chicago also had less than 20 and it was awkwardly small for the room, with a couple of other "oh, this is awkward" moments. I'm all about the Jayhawks and find them to be lovely human beings as well as exceptional songwriters and musicia

I listened to this and thought it was absolutely beautiful. Going to see him Dec. 9 at his Gezelligheid show in Chicago. Went last year and it was perfectly lovely.

Gorgeous.

It's interesting to see that, as in all things, there is a wealth of different perspectives on Christmas, all of them valid human experiences. My dad died a couple days after Christmas many years ago, but it still does color my perspective on the season, and sucks out a lot of the joy that I always associated with the holidays in my youth. The sight of the Christmas tree with presents still under it untouched on New Years because nobody wanted anything to do with them on Christmas is hard to erase. And I loathe the crowds and commercialism, so that doesn't help. I tend to err on the side o

It was the single strangest show I've ever seen. And I'm counting the Stray Cats at a dive bar outside of Detroit in the early 90s post-rockabilly and pre-swing. Less than 20 people were there and the energy was so low, the opener jumped off the stage after about 2 songs and did his show on the floor while we stood around him in a circle. Mark Olson: lots of bongos, some meanderings about immigration and butterflies and Armenia, an outburst at a guy who seemed to be videoing the whole debacle (alienating at least 5% of the audience and making the rest of us really uncomfortable). Olson did

Mark Olson!

As a single woman, it always seems like a dumb move to bust out your wallet on a city street. Also, my observation is that a lot of homeless seem to be either mentally ill or disabled, and doesn't it seem more efficient to donate to causes that directly benefit these individuals in some equitable way? I donate to my local food pantry and that seems to be more sensible than dropping a couple of bucks in the cup of someone who may just use it to fuel his/her crack/alcohol/heroin/drug of choice habit, which serves no useful purpose. That said, I remember leaving a pizza joint with my boyfrien

Yeah, he also said the last time I saw him about not being (or liking much about) Americana. I can imagine that when you see yourself as a genre-bender, as he was, it irritates you to be categorized. Fitzgerald's is such a warm, small room and thoroughly enjoyed the performance yesterday. Will try to see Olson this week, if work allows!

Thanks for the recap! Overlap: Gary's last song was "Blue". Wonder if they played it at exactly the same time if the universe would implode? I'd say Louris has been in a pretty sentimental mood the last couple of times I've seen him. Last night he was saying how he is trying to talk Karen Grotberg out of quitting music (yet another sign that a Jayhawks re-reunion is not likely.) He also name-checked Tweedy, Nels Cline and the Geraldine Fibbers, and thanked the sound guy, who he knew from the days when they used to do gigs with Uncle Tupelo. I find him so much less imposing and more endea

Somehow I don't think we'd get Gary and Mark to agree with that plan How was Olson? Gary also had Karen Grotberg from the Jayhawks on piano along with a bassist and played a nice long set of mostly post-Olson Jayhawks a la Sound of Lies, Smile, and Rainy Day Music. Mark Olson's playing Schubas on Thursday and I might go, so am curious how he was solo.