October 30 2007: Mary Gauthier, Drew Hickum - Iron Horse, Northampton MA
Drew opened solo for Mary Gauthier! So Caitlin and Mariah and Lisa and I went. And you know how all too often you hear some solo opener at the Iron Horse and they're just awful? Such was not the case with Drew. He played the mellow tunes and one that I'd never heard and it was great. "Charleston," which is such a great song with Lisa's guitar part, sounded just as good they way Drew played it. I'm not sure how that works. But the whole set was just pleasant to watch.
And Mary Gauthier played for about an hour, and talked stupid folk singer banter for an additional half hour. But she played "The Last of the Hobo Kings" and "Mercy Now" and ""Can't Find the Way" and "Wheel Inside the Wheel." "Camelot Hotel was probably the best tune of the night - that "morning light is hell" line just kills me.
All in all, a fun night. Even if the beers and fries and veggie burger did add up to a pretty high number by the end of the night.
October 27 2007: Drew Hickum Band - People's Pint, Greenfield MA
Went up with Mariah to see Drew and Lisa play. It was pretty good times. We drank some beers and ate some food and the music was good. Fun to hear "Charleston" now that I pretty much know it by heart and find myself singing it while waiting for the bus, and fun to hear all the other tunes too.
And the Pint's Tiger Bite, which is cloudy and a little bit sweet and which I had three of, is a beer that's genuinely good! How about that???
October 20 2007: They Might Be Giants - Northampton Box Office, Northampton MA
So They Might Be Giants, whom I'd never seen play before, were playing for free in that tiny little room where the Iron Horse people sell tickets. Went with Caitlin an hour early cause we figured there would be some sort of line but no one was there. Matt was working and he told us to come back in 45m. So we got a beer at the Dirty Truth and came back in 35m and there was still no one there. People finally started showing up with ten minutes to go, and there were only a few dozen folks anyway.
And it was a good time. They played three songs. The first two I didn't know, and the third was "Istanbul." Which was pretty fun to hear.
The only downside was that it was for a radio broadcast, so the whole point was to make sure the songs sounded good on the radio, leaving us in the audience to listen to unamplified voices and instruments. So sometimes the vocals got overpowered by the horns, but it was free and a good time and no one was in a position to complain.
October 13 2007: Drew Hickum and the Ministry of Folk - Langdon Street Cafe, Montpelier VT
Caught a ride north with the Ministry, sharing the back with Tate and Tate's bass while Drew and Lisa listened to and sang along with Mr. Al Green in the front. It was good times as Vermont flew by at usually 80mph, periodically 65mph every time Lisa saw a cop and slammed on her breaks.
But we got to Montpelier, a town whose name I have just now learned to spell, around 8pm and collectively found it to be beautiful and quaint and the sort of place a person could find themselves getting used to living in. And then we found the Langdon Street Cafe, which is located right on the edge of a little river that flows right through town, and the warm feelings in each of our hearts grew warmer. It was a nice place. They served us tasty sandwiches and a pretty great beer, the name of which I never quite got my brain around, but which came from a big carved-fish tap.
And the Ministry played pretty well to a few folks who dwindled to the maybe ten who were there at the end of the night. Drew and Lisa played a tune about Charleston to start out the second set that was just fabulous, and it was good times all around. Sarai and I did our homework in the back while drinking the afore-mentioned fish beers.
And, as we really should have figured out by this point in our lives, all good things must pass: the bar stiffed the band $250 and then the Red Sox lost spectacularly in the eleventh as we listened on the long drive home. But it was still fun times.
October 4 2007: Josh Ritter, Old School Freight Train - Somerville Theatre, Somerville MA
Night two. Met up with Adam and Sarai for half-priced happy hour food and the Rockies game across the street from the theatre, and then we made our way in about a half-hour before music. It was a nice place, kind of like the Aladdin but smaller. And they had pints of Harpoon for $4. Good times!
The show was mostly the same songs, in a slightly different order. For instance, they played "Rumors" instead of "Mind's Eye" to start things off after "Moons." And it felt like "Rumors" was much better after the crowd was warmed up (cause lord knows the openers didn't warm up shit). And "Mind's Eye" is just such a great song to start out with.
"Monster Ballads" was played pretty early on in the set, which was nice to hear, and the encore was almost all tunes that didn't get played last night. It started out with "Lawrence KS," then "The River," and then "Real Long Distance" and "Next to the Last Romantic," with the opening players each taking solos on "Last Romantic." Which I could have done without, for the same reason that I don't go see Van Halen when they play, but what can you do.
And there were horns! a five- or six-piece section that came out for a tune every now and then and provided a nice contrast to last night's show.
And it was a great night. "Lawrence" was played with the full band, with lap steel and a really nice drum part. And I was really glad to hear "Long Distance" and "Last Romantic," which are two tunes I really dig off the new record.
And it was an early show so I was home by midnight and at the hospital by 645. Woo!
October 3 2007: Josh Ritter, Old School Freight Train - Pearl Street Ballroom, Northampton MA
Big night in Northampton! Josh Ritter was playing with a full band and pretty much everyone I know was there. And after dealing with the openers (someone should let that fiddle player know that just cause he's got talent doesn't mean he's got a soul), Ritter comes out with an electric guitar to play "Moons" and go straight into "Mind's Eye." The band consisted of the bass and keyboard players that he's had for a while, and a new drummer, and a guy on lead guitar. And "Mind's Eye" was probably the best way to get that show going possible.
What it comes down to is that this show blew every other time I've seen Ritter right out of the water. Ever since I first saw him, when he opened with the then-unreleased "Girl in the War" and in doing so showed his hand too early, I've been forever frustrated that he wasn't playing his songs like they could be being played. Frustrated like the first night was a dream but I haven't been able to come since. Frustrated like I just can't get as high as I got the first time I got high. That sort of thing. But tonight was amazing. The set lasted 80 minutes and it seemed like 40. I came over and over. I got that high again. It was amazing.
They did "Wolves," and "Harrisburg" pretty early on, and when I say "they did," what I really mean is "they did better than I thought possible." And "Here at the Right Time," kept my back shivering the whole way through. And it was nice to hear "The Temptation of Adam," after finally figuring out that it's a good tune.
But then! Forty minutes into the set they go into "Girl in the War," played just as well as it was that first time, with the awful mandolin part finally getting thrown out and the second guitar player really pounding away just before and then during the "oooh"s. And then straight into "Rumors," which leaves me without words. They played it pretty much the way it is on the record, with guitar instead of horns, and with that piano part driving the whole thing. It was the best tune of the night. And then "Right Moves," and then "Me and Jiggs." Not a bad four-song run for the middle of the set.
And then "California" with that extra guitarist on lap steel. And then "Still Beating" with just Josh and the bass player, on guitar. And then "Empty Heart," which has really really grown on me lately. What a great song. And what a great way to end a set.
The encore was a Springsteen tune ("The River") followed by "Kathleen," which is Marie and Mariah's favorite of Ritter's tunes. They were excited to hear it and screamed at all the right spots.
It was a great night.
And I rode my bike home and was at the hospital at 645am.
