November 30 2006: Dinosaur Jr., Thalia Zedek - Pearl Street Ballroom, Northampton MA

Whitney came up and we went to see J Mascis and Lou Barlow play some pretty serious rock and roll.

In a nutshell: J played big guitar solos and shook his hair around. Lou tried to break every bass string at once with every beat of every song. Things were way too loud even with earplugs in. Big guys in beards and leather jackets were jumping around alongside guys with strung-out hair and decomposing Sebadoh tshirts. Fists were thrust into the air. People screamed for "More." Some asshole dove into the crowd from the stage. Beers were consumed. The music somehow got even louder. More beers were consumed. Many malnurished and/or immunosupressed audience members went into comas. The guitar solos continued. Lou screamed into the microphone. The dead rose. The lame walked. Etc.

November 12 2006: Richard Shindell, Kim Taylor – Iron Horse, Northampton MA

I know next to nothing of Richard Shindell's music, but I've always liked what I've heard and managed to get in free, so why not. And it was fun!

Even though Kim Gordon didn't play. Which, you are likely asking yourself, why would Kim Gordon be playing? I did not know either, but while walking into the Iron Horse I glanced a poster informing lookers-on that Kim Something-Or-Other was opening. And I didn't pay this sign much mind and went to sit down but soon after started wondering to myself, Hey! Did that sign say Kim Gordon is playing? Why would Kim Gordon be playing? Why on EARTH would Kim Gordon be playing? What's going on here? And does that mean maybe Thurston might be playing with her? How fucking cool would that be? Etc, etc, etc. Until a dark-haired woman came out and identified herself not as Kim Gordon from Sonic Youth but as Kim Taylor from Cincinnati. But she played some really nice songs and didn't ruin her set despite telling an eight-minute story that was neither funny nor interesting nor pertinent nor of any value whatsoever to human kind at large as far as I could ascertain. Why must folk singers tell such stories? Why must folk singer audiences laugh politely and thus give folk singers the incorrect impression that they are amusing speakers? Why? Why why why? WHY!??!!??! But like I say, her songs were great. Once she finally got around to singing them.

And Shindell was great to hear. Lots of songs about folks in dire straits, all sung with near-perfect delivery and phrasing, and all over some really great guitar playing. And with a BBC Porter in my hand, that made for a nice way to spend a Sunday evening.

November 10 2006: Rocky Votolato, William Elliott Whitmore, FDR – Iron Horse, Northampton MA

So I didn't realize that anyone knew who Rocky Votolato is, and I'd never heard of William Elliott Whitmore myself, but the Iron Horse was absolutely packed and the people were excited. I managed to secure myself a few BBC Porters and Whitney and I got ourselves some good seats up front and good times were had.

And William Elliott Whitmore was fucking fantastic. He played banjo while stomping his left food in time like he's trying to smash a hole in the stage, singing these great songs with lyrics like "One man's story is another man's shame / I ain't bound for glory, no no I'm bound for flames" in between great big gulps of beer. Not often do you hear people loudly yelling requests and demanding "ONE MORE SONG!" from the opener. I bought his album and would pay good money to see him again any day of the week.

And Rocky Votolato played a telecaster and sang most of my favorite songs from the one album of his I've got, namely "Portland is Leaving," "The Night's Disguise," "Tinfoil Hats," "White Daisy Passing" and "Makers." He was lots of fun to see. "Makers" made my night and left me wishing only for (a) a glass of whiskey in my hand and (b) Adam or Ryan or Sean or Terrence (collectively aka my whiskey-drinking friends) in the near vicinity clinking glasses with me.

November 4 2006: Death Cab for Cutie – Providence Performing Arts Center, Providence RI

I had just kind of assumed I’d never see Death Cab play again, for solely economic and nerve issues. Meaning that I couldn’t justify spending $30/$35/$40 to stand next to people who get on my nerves. But Whitney and I found ourselves offered free tickets in exchange for our services in registering voters before the show, and I’d never been to Providence and didn’t have anything better to do on a Saturday night, so why not.

And Providence was beautiful. I liked it a lot. And the theatre was probably the nicest (indoor) place I’ve ever seen music at, hands down. It was in the Schnitzer/Paramount vein (for those readers familiar with the theatres of Portland and Seattle), and just fucking gorgeous. And it held over three thousand people, all there to scream their little hearts out at what is an increasingly shaggy-haired band, and apparently growing exponentially more hair every year.

So yeah. Lots of girls in high school. How do I know this for sure? Because sitting there at our table in the foyer before the show I would ask people if they were planning on voting and more often than not the response was, “Um, we’re not old enough to vote. Giggle giggle.”

But the band played great, and it was lots of fun. They opened with “405,” a tune I haven’t heard live since 2002, and which continues to be inarguably be my favorite song of theirs to see. And though I’d have appreciated it more if it had just been Ben and Chris by themselves instead of the full band playing, I was just pleased to see it again. And it was fun to see “I was a Kaleidoscope” and “Company Calls” and “Photobooth,” as it always is. And it was fun to hear them play songs about Bellingham while 3000 miles away from there. But I think it was the first time I’ve seen them play nothing from “Something About Airplanes," which is kind of sad in a way.

But yeah. Fun times, and perfectly justifiable times due to the fact that we didn’t pay a dime and got 10th row seats. And I got to marvel at this big theatre and all these screaming kids and how Death Cab now employs a guy to shoot glow sticks into the audience. And I got to watch in fascination as this guy near me tried to throw a glow stick at Walla only to get his ass thrown out by a couple of burly security guys. I suppose you can't be sure your band’s hit the big time until you’ve got burly security guys throwing people out of the theatre for tossing things at the stage, an activity I seem to recall as having happened with some regularity at Death Cab shows in days gone by…

November 1 2006: Adrian Orange and the Child Slave Rebellion, Lake – 37 Fair Street (Basement of), Northampton MA

What with both much beer having been consumed and little sleep having been experienced the night prior, I found myself tired and getting ready for bed at 1030pm. Oral hygiene was attended to, pants were taken off, a Damien Jurado CD was set in motion and emitting nighttime-type songs at a low decibel level, and then at the last minute before switching off the light I figured it wouldn’t hurt to check the calendar just to make sure I didn’t need to be up early for anything. So I checked the calendar and saw the word “Thanksgiving” written in really big letters inside the “Nov. 1” box and suddenly became acutely aware that I had totally forgotten about the Thanksgiving show. Son of a bitch! So I called the number on the flier I had laying on my desk and the guy who answered said that Adrian hadn’t gone on yet but that I’d better get my ass into proverbial gear should I be really truly interested in seeing him play. So I put my pants back on and got into the car and went to the show.

Caught the last few tunes from Lake, who are from Olympia, and who look like people from Olympia. You know the type. And they were great! I was disappointed that I wasn’t able to hear their entire set, but what can you do. As things stood, I was actively counting my blessings at not having missed the gig entirely.

And soon Adrian, backed by the members of Lake, playing collectively under the title Adrian Orange and the Child Slave Rebellion, got on stage (by which I refer to the corner of the basement of this house) and played some fantastic dancy pop tunes. The rhythm section (usually including at least somebody on shaker or that thing that looks like a hamburger on a stick with metal beads around the circumference of the hamburger part that you slide around to make noise, the name of which is eluding me at present, in addition to the more traditional rhythm instruments of drums and bass) was spot on, ample use was made of trombone and coronet, and the tunes were almost describable as having a reggae/dub kind of feel. Very dancy. But at the same time clearly of the Portland pop-being-played-in-people’s-basements school. But very dancy. I danced, anyway. So did this one other guy. It was a good fuckin time.