October 21 2005: The Mountain Goats, The Prayers and Tears of Arthur Digby Sellers – Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh PA

Despite the sold-out nature of the show, Perry came through in spades and got not only myself in but Don as well. I would have felt pretty bad leaving Don out in the cold after all his generosity and thankfully I did not have to. Another small, sit-down show, but this one was packed to standing-room only. It was also the site of the most mind-blowing breach of human etiquette I have ever witnessed, much less experienced first hand: in between sets I went out to use the facilities and to get another beer (the girl in the café downstairs was comping them for me – it’s amazing how much free shit a guy can get just for saying he’s hitchhiking). But when I returned to my seat I found it occupied by some fucking bitch who refused to get up. First she claimed that because I’d left my seat it was fair game (of note: my jacket was on the seat while I was gone, and Don was sitting right next to me and had informed the girl when she sat down that I would be back shortly). When I drunkenly railed against her for a few minutes about that being the most bullshit excuse for being an asshole that I had ever heard in all of my life, she changed her argument to the much simpler Look-I-Know-I’m-Being-A-Huge-Bitch-But-I’m-Not-Moving-So-Deal-With-It. So I dealt with it. Fucking bitch. She’s lucky I’m a pacifist.

The songs the Mountain Goats played went, without exception, in reverse-chronological order from new to old. Old meaning they closed the set with “Solomon Revisited” off of the first fucking cassette. And they did “Palmcorder Yajna” all mellow like and threw in “The Alphonse Mambo.” Holy fuck, people, holy fuck. An encore without the Prayers and Tears rounded out the night. I’ve got a radio indeed.