September 30 3007: The Mountain Goats, the Bowerbirds - Middle East Downstairs, Cambridge MA

With both an unbelievably vast amount of school work in real need of some ASAP attention and a ridiculously low and no-doubt unhealthy number of hours recently slept under my belt, I didn't study and I didn't sleep. I didn't take a night off to recharge the old mental-health batteries. I didn't think twice. I just drank beers with Sweeney in Cambridge and watched the Mountain Goats play.

And, in fact, not only with Sweeney but with Jared and Caitlin too! But those two didn't have tickets so it was just Sweeney and myself when it came down to business.

I figured if last year's show at the Middle East was any indication, I'd be wishing painful deaths upon most of the audience by the show's conclusion, so we stood up in that little bar area to the left of the stage, right in front of the speakers. The idea being that the closer we were to the speakers, the less we'd hear all the assholes in the room that we DIDN'T pay good money to hear sing. And we were rewarded for our forethought. Mostly. There was just nothing to be done about that guy behind us who felt the need to show off how he knew all the words to "Cobscook Bay."

Speaking of which, they fucking played "Cobscook Bay!" It was great. I really liked the bass part. And I really liked the "unmarked airplanes" line, but I knew that already going in. Really, that whole song. What a great song.

And they did, amongst others, "The Coroner's Gambit" (never seen before) and "Hast Thou Considered the Tetrapod" (never seen with Peter) and "Up the Wolves" and "Grendel's Mother" and "Cubs in Five" and "Wild Sage." Sweeney reported being pretty much blown away by "Wild Sage," and I think I'd concur that it's one of their best live numbers.

And they did "Oceanographer's Choice," which I hadn't heard in almost two years. But I just can't hear that song live without wishing they had a full band backing them. But it was still great to hear. And they did that new one "In the Craters On the Moon" again, and another new one called "How to Embrace a Swamp Creature." And closed the set with "Nine Black Poppies."

Encore #1 consisted of asshole-singer favorite "No Children" followed asshole-singer favorite "This Year." And then "Shadow Song" for encore #2.

And fun times all around. It was only Sweeney's second time seeing them, and he called it the best show he's seen in a long while. And afterwards we got some Chinese food across the street from his new place, I slept on his futon, and I was only five minutes late to class on monday.

September 28 2007: Fancy Trash, Steve Sanderson - Iron Horse, Northampton MA

The Trash played their fifth anniversary show, and for the occasion they were six musicians deep instead of three. I tried to listen more closely but cigarettes and $5.25 BBC porters and John's friend Evan got the best of me. But they sounded great, and the Iron Horse was pretty full.

And Steve Sanderson opened, but not the Steve Sanderson I went to college with. A different guy with the same name. Just to clarify.

September 26 2007: Damien Jurado - Pearl Street Ballroom, Northampton MA

There are few pleasures greater than riding one's bike a quarter-mile, chaining it to a tree, and then watching one of the best songwriters around play his tunes, even if just for 35 minutes.

It wasn't the greatest show I've ever seen Jurado play, but it was great to see him again. He opened with "Ohio," but he had to kind of force it cause everyone was standing around drinking and talking and waiting for the opener to finish so they could see Okkervil River. But then "Abilene" was next and it was fabulous.

And he did "Lose My Head," which I hadn't heard since I first saw him play in 2002. That was probably the highlight. With runner-up being "Now that I'm in Your Shadow." And "Johnny Go Riding" the second runner-up - that "Judy she's out catching" verse gets me every time.

Real fun. And I was home by ten!

September 22 2007: The Mountain Goats, the Bowerbirds - North Star Bar, Philadelphia PA

Oh man was this a fun night!

Woke up on Anna's floor in DC at around 11am, showered and ate some breakfast, and we we were on the road by noon. In Philly around 3, found the bar soon after, and then headed to old town cause Anna's never been to this particular historic city and she's into that sort of shit. And it was fun going around with her, watching her get all excited about old bricks. Which are pretty exciting, when you think about it. I just don't often find myself thinking about it.

So we do that for the afternoon, but then at 530 we make a beeline back to the North Star cause we've heard tell that during happy hour beer is half off and food is cheap. We find ourselves to have heard correctly. I order a Yards, of which I'd previously been unaware. Anna orders a Woodchuck. The grand total: $4. Then Anna orders ten Buffalo wings and another Woodchuck. Grand total for that: $5. Then I order a Rogue hazelnut brown, just cause I'm feeling Northwesty. And because it's only $2.50. Philadelphia! We raise our glasses to you!

And the North Star was really a classy place. From the outside, as we were walking toward it, it occurred to me that this was going to be pretty akin to a place I used to go called Eden's Gate in Newberg OR. Which was a real shithole with a $2 Chinese buffet every tuesday. But oh how wrong I was. I love being wrong like that.

And then when the doors opened to the show area of the bar I looked around and saw a tiny little room (reported capacity 250) with a tiny little balcony and a stage high enough that no one was going to have any problems seeing the stage. And we found ourselves a nice little spot just in front of the roof-hanging speakers, maybe four feet from the stage, and we were happy.

And when the Mountain Goats came on they opened with an unbelievable rendition of "Wild Sage," inarguably the best I've ever heard them play it. And just as I had hoped, our spot beneath the speaker pretty much kept us from hearing anything but the band - no singers along, no assholes talking, just music. It was beautiful.

And the show was about twice as great as Baltimore was. Maybe three times as great. They did the new song "In the Craters of the Moon" again, as well as another one that I really dug called "September 15 1983." In addition to "Grendel's Mother" and "Tollund Man" and "Jenny" (Sang "one thing in the galaxy" this time too - I really hope this is a trend) and "Up the Wolves." I was dancing for sure.

And if Anna thought they were dressed well in Baltimore, well they were wearing fuckin SUITS tonight. Peter looked fabulous. John's pants were too big and he kind of looked like Dick Van Dyke doing the penguin dance. But who gives a fuck what people look like when they close the set with "Cubs in Five" and "The Best Ever Death Metal Band in Denton." Wow. I hadn't seen "Cubs in Five" since the very first time I ever saw them play, aka since before I even knew the song. So that was a lot of fun. And For all my bitching about people who sing at shows, there's exactly one time when I feel it's entirely appropriate and perhaps even necessary to do so: the "Hail Satan!"s. And I glanced over and even Anna's mouth was moving. Oh Anna.

And then for the encore: they start out with the repetitive chord that usually signals "Oceanographer's Choice," but then instead of "guy in a skeleton costume" comes, "I'm gonna drink more whiskey!!!!" That was pretty great. I hadn't seen "Commandante" since Olympia two years ago, aka not since I really learned to appreciate the tune. Then "Dance Music," then a particularly moving "Shadow Song," and then "This Year."

And the image of Peter in his pants, shoes, shirt, tie and vest sitting on the little chair in the back corner of the stage on bass, John singing some "ah"s off the mike while banging the hell out of the guitar, and the old brick wall behind them both with its burnt and discolored bricks going up two stories...that's how I'm gonna remember "Shadow Song" from now on.

What a great show.

September 21 2007: The Mountain Goats, the Bowerbirds - Sonar Club Room, Baltimore MD

It just wouldn't be a Mountain Goats show without a whole lot of hanging out at the local Greyhound station. Which I did, because Anna's car wouldn't start so she had to take the trip north on the dirty dog. As in, Anna my sister! It's exciting to see rock music with blood relations.

So Anna's bus finally rolled into town at 9pm, we drove over to the club, and the Bowerbirds had just started playing. I think I mentioned to her at some point, "Oh I really like these guys." At a later point I realized that she thought the Bowerbirds were the Mountain Goats. She's so cute like that.

Anyway, so I enjoyed some Yuenglings and she had the sort of drink we used to give Ryan Blanchard shit for drinking. The room was Berbati's Pan-sized, and smoky. I'd forgotten that smoky bars exist. And when the Mountain Goats came on they opened with "Cheshire County," a song I hadn't heard since 2003. And then a fabulous new tune called "In the Craters of the Moon" and "Going to Utrecht." In all they played five tunes from "Nine Black Poppies." Pretty great.

At some point during the show, Anna leans over to me and mentions, "Wow, they're so well dressed!"

And I'd forgotten about how Peter's harmony on the last few lines of "Game Shows Touch Our Lives" (you know, from "Carried you up the stairs last night" through the end of the tune) just sends that song through the roof. Of course I hadn't forgotten about his subsequent bass solo. And they did "See America Right," which I hadn't seen in almost two years. And always great to see "Tollund Man."

And on "Love, Love, Love" they didn't quite get to the quiet/sublime feeling that was often achieved before folks started feeling the need to sing along (loudly) to it, but they sure got closer than they did last year. Which was appreciated.

And speaking of singing/screaming along, I came in knowing it's definitely not worth hearing "No Children" anymore due to such crimes against humanity, but this show leaves me wondering of "Going to Georgia" and "This Year" are now in the club as well. The club of tunes which are pretty good, but during which everyone freaks the fuck out and consequently ruins them.

But the show was a lot of fun and Anna enjoyed herself and it was over by 11 so we were at Anna's place in DC by midnight with enough time to go explore her neighborhood until closing time.

September 15 2007: Adam Sweeney, Drew Hickum Band, Whiskey Ina - The Basement, Northampton MA

Walked to the show with Marie and Mariah and Marie's boy John. We enjoyed beers en route. This was to be predictive of the evening as a whole.

Hickum played second, with Adam back in the lineup on banjo, and it was murder. They opened with "1872" and followed it up with "Lonesomeville." "The Letterbox" sounded better than I think it ever has, and "Way Way" was just unbelievable - the mandolin with the banjo underneath it and Drew's voice over the whole thing. Wow. And then they closed the set with "Sarah Flynne."

And then Sweeney played, with actual musicians on the instruments, and it was the best I've ever seen him. Ben was on drums, half of Rusty Belle were playing accordion and singing, and there were guys on fiddle and bass. Sarai and I agreed that we'd never seen Adam with a better band. And the place was packed. Everyone was drinking beers and whiskeys and the afore-mentioned John bought me a beer. It was mostly new songs, with "Albuquerque" and "Linden" and "Wedding" thrown in, and "Doomsday Sunday Sermon" and "St. Peter" were particularly enjoyable. It was a great night all around.

........And then we all got trashed and stayed up till 4am! Woo!

September 8 2007: Drunk Stuntmen, Orange Crush, Unit 7, Rusty Belle, Fancy Trash - Pines Theatre, Florence MA

The Trash were playing for free with a bunch of other local groups so Gabbi and Susanne and Jack and I went down for a couple hours to listen to some music and drink some beers.

We only caught the last couple Fancy Trash tunes, but then Rusty Belle played and their opening song (I think it's called "No Sacrifice") was fantastic! The dry drum sounds and the muddy guitar and harmony vocals were exactly what I wanted to hear. And Gabbi informs me that she has friends who often have parties where Rusty Belle play. I am excited about attending these parties in the future. This band totally exemplifies the reason I love living in Northampton.

But then after that came a wedding band, followed by a covers band, and then the Drunk Stuntmen, who were pretty good. And apparently their singer is Alex Johnson, who I'd just seen play solo the other night. Maybe it was just because I recognized some of the tunes, but he was a lot better with his band.

And you can't beat cold beers and local music following an afternoon of swimming at this unbelievably idyllic spot in Leeds. To western Massachusetts!

September 6 2007: The Fawns, Alex Johnson - Sierra Grille, Northampton MA

I don't think I'd seen the Fawns since I finally got their album. And seeing as how they're maybe my favorite local group and this was a free show and I didn't have anything going on in the morning, I went to Sierra to see how music sounds over there.

Ran into Drew after the opener finished and we enjoyed the set from the back. The Fawns opened with "Any Day," and I think there are only a few pleasures greater than listening to Lesa sing the "la da da"s on that tune. And they played most of the rest of the album and a bunch of nice-sounding new songs. Drew got tired and wanted to leave after 45 minutes but I made him stay until they did "Snow Day," which he didn't know and which was pretty great. And then as he was leaving some girl walking by says, "Whoa fella, this pop music a little too much for you?" Which I thought was pretty funny.

So yeah - pretty great show. Enjoyed some O'Hara's stouts, which is my new favorite drink, and had a good time. And as always kind of funny to see Ken Maiuri playing with people who are not Dave Bazan.

September 1 2007: Drew Hickum Band - Elks Lodge Pavillion, West Springfield MA

West Springfield...Western Massachusetts...Western New England...the Elks Lodge's Country West Fest...goddamn am I glad I live in the west.

So Drew was supposed to drink a beer with me last night but instead he called to say he was, quote, "running a little behind on the dinner cleanup." I informed him that I was sure he doesn't need friends so long as he has clean dishes. And predictably he didn't have much to say in response. But he did offer me a free ticket to Country West Fest. And I took him up on said offer. Because what else is a guy to do?

And so it came to pass that at 6pm I picked Caitlin up and we drove ourselves to the West Springfield Elks Lodge. Where there was no one in the parking lot. And just as we were starting to laugh our collective asses off that we were going to be the sole audience members at the Country West Fest we noticed a couple of high school-age kids pointing our auto to a long driveway that eventually led us to what we later learned is technically termed the Elks Lodge Pavillion, aka a tent with a stage in the middle of a field that sells draft Budweiser for $2.

So we drank $2 Buds with Drew and Lisa and Matt and their girlfriends (sans Mariah, who was in Worcester) for a couple hours (the Hickum Band was supposed to go on at 7pm but, seriously, one cannot expect the Country West Fest to stay on schedule, what with the crowd control required by the DOZENS of people who showed up) and had some laughs and I had a good time with Matt's friend Mya (I think that's her name?) talking about Portland and Sleater-Kinney and Slabtown and stuff of that nature.

And then, after the 16-year-old girl who sang a set of tunes with only a CD to back her (i.e., um, KARAOKE) finally finished, it was time to rock and roll. And as such the announcer says, fucking QUOTE, "Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Drew Hickman and the Mystery of Funk." I shit nobody not. That's what the dude said. And they went straight into "1872." Beautiful.

And it really was a great night - no haze, no humidity, the perfect night for $2 swill beer and quality laughs and country music in the great out of doors. I can't imagine what else I might have rather done.