November 13 2007: The Mountain Goats, the Bowerbirds - Mad Hatter, Covington KY

The greater Cincinnati area is a weird fucking place. I got into town around 2pm and after a visit to the Covington Public Library spent the pre-show hours drinking happy hour PBRs and smoking Kentucky-priced Camel Lights at a place called Bottoms Up, a couple blocks NW of the club. It was smoky, the beers were a dollar, and the next-youngest person in the room had a good twenty years on me. The jukebox played the majority of "Back in Black" during the couple hours I spent there, and during "Rock and Roll Ain't Noise Pollution" one lady fucking nailed the "Hey all you middlemen!" part at the beginning. I was enjoying myself. And then all of a sudden I'm in an honest-to-goodness barfight with a fifty-year-old dude who's far too intoxicated to be standing, much less picking fights with people in their twenties. Bottles of liquor were broken. Glasses became projectiles. Chairs were thrown to the ground. While looking out for the dude's right fist my chest was caught off guard by his left foot. The whole thing came out of nowhere. It was crazy. And finally the majority of the dudes in the bar all pile on the guy and we throw him out onto the street. Fucking nuts.

And then the show happened! "Wild Sage" again, "Love, Love, Love" again, "We Were Patriots" again, "Mole" again, "In the Craters on the Moon" again. "September 15 1983" was played, and it was only the second time I'd seen it and I think it's my favorite of the new tunes. And "Dance Music," a tune I'm generally quite alright not hearing, was played with a really mellow feel (kind of like the way they used to do "Palmcorder Yajna"), and I dug it way more than the usual dancy style. "Dilaudid" made for a nice tune to start the encore with.

The songs sounded, again, great with drums. And you know what else sounded great? The fact that drums make the music loud enough so that even though I can see people moving their mouthes, I can't hear them. Take that, motherfuckers. Just try to ruin my show again. Just try. I've got Jon Wurster on my side.

And big news of the night: I got a place to sleep! A 19-year-old girl took me home and I stayed up till 6am drinking beers with her friends and becoming painfully aware how much easier it was to stay up till 6am when i was 19. But it was good times.