2007 Concerts (Part Three)

Time to finish off the concert recap of 2007. This time I’ll focus on Kansas and parts two and three of the story begun on Thursday. Maybe I’m the only person who enjoys these posts but I like documenting every moment of my life. Don’t worry, tomorrow we’ll get back to more pressing matters as I’ll review the new version of American Gladiators. Don’t tell me who wins tonight, I tivoed it.

(I’m not kidding, I really did. That fact alone might help to put the story into perspective.)

The Bottleneck (Lawrence, KS)
1) Carbon Leaf (Opening Act: Toby Lightman): Toby is yet another in a string of pretty girl with a guitar opening acts. It’s rather amazing just how many of those I see on a yearly basis. I have become a reluctant Carbon Leaf fan. I say reluctant because on the surface I should hate these guys. They dress from the Abercrombie catalog and the lead singer has the tendency to emphasize every line with a hand movement in the same way that William Shatner acts. It would make him a total douchebag except that he is incredibly sincere about it. Plus the songs are really, really good. This was the first time that I’ve seen Carbon Leaf headline and while at times they seemed a little lost at how to fill the extra time they are ready to make the leap. Great college music for those who want to relive college.

2) The Ditty Bops (Opening Act: Ice Cream Truck): I should have learned by now to not go to the Bottleneck in August. There’s no air conditioning, a heat index in the triple digits and the entire club smells from the, uh, fragrances emitting from the bathrooms. But there is no band I enjoy seeing more than The Ditty Bops. Abby and Amanda are cute and funny and talented and just a joy to watch onstage. It’s part bluegrass, part vaudeville and part community activism. It’s also the only opportunity I’ll probably ever get to stand next to a former model who is wearing a bikini top made out of a Target shopping bag. Another act I recommend with the highest praise.

Liberty Hall (Lawren.ce, KS)
1) The Shins (Opening Act: Viva Voce): I found out today that the keyboardist in The Shins is dating Elyse from the first season of America’s Next Top Model. Of course, I found this out because they both just filed assault claims on each other so maybe my thinking that they make a cute couple is a little misplaced. Anyway, I still haven’t made my mind up on the latest Shins album. It just doesn’t strike me in the same way that the first two did. Good show but it was interesting to be in a crowd where everyone seemed to be too hip to react. You can’t really dance to The Shins; you just kind of stand there and nod while letting everyone else know how cool you are because you were a fan before Garden State.

2) Guster (Opening Act: The Format): Guster made a big point about this show being carbon neutral. I wonder if they took the fact that I drove 45 minutes to get there into account. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I’m not carbon neutral I’m chaotic neutral. I think I see Guster yearly as well now. They are a perfectly enjoyable college band. Maybe not the most earth shattering band in the world but you have a good time at their shows. Sometimes that is more than enough.

3) Neko Case (Opening Act: Jon Rauhouse): Here’s a sign that you are in for a good show: when you walk into the venue and you run right into the owner of another club. In this case, I ended up standing next to Michelle, the owner of Davey’s Uptown, for most of the show. I’ve been a fan of Neko’s seemingly forever. All of my business school applications were written with her CDs in the background. This show doesn’t make my list of favorite shows because of her performance though it was excellent. It was the fact that Liberty Hall was packed on a Friday night to see someone who I used to say hi to in between sets at Fitzgeralds. Neko can become famous because I don’t think she’ll ever change who she is in the process.

4) Henry Rollins: Someone asked me to describe Henry’s spoken word show. Start with a bare stage with a microphone stand and a sole monitor. Henry walks on stage and puts down a water bottle. He grabs the mike, wraps the cord around his hand as he has done for every performance since the days of Black Flag, and starts talking. Three hours later he says “Thank you, good night.” That’s it, just three hours of Henry speaking whatever is on his mind. I’m amazed by anyway who can keep my interest for three hours by just telling stories. What I really admire about Henry is that he does everything to insure that there are no wasted moments in his life. If something interests him he’ll try to experience it for himself even if that means travelling to Lebanon and Iran. I dig that.

5) The New Pornographers (Opening Acts: Immaculate Machine, Emma Pollack): I’m still trying to figure out why the guy next to me was so in rapture by the light up sign for this show. Apparently he is on some very good meds. I think I’ve gotten very strange reactions due to telling people about this great band called The New Pornographers. There is nothing dirty about the band. They’re a power pop band from Canada featuring Neko Case and the lovely and talented Kathryn Calder. None of the songs make a lick of sense but you sing along with them all the same.

6) Nickel Creek (Opening Act: Tom Brosseau): In retrospect, I should have beaned Tom Brosseau with my can of Miller Lite. He broke a guitar string on his first song and the crowd cheered; he was that bad. I caught what was one of the last Nickel Creek shows for the forseeable future as they are going on hiatus as they each pursue solo careers. I’m happy I got to see them one last time but I can tell why they are taking a break. They still have fun playing with each other but you can see them straining in the space they are given. You can only play the same songs with the same people for so long before going mad.

Granada (Lawrence, KS)
1) Drive By Truckers (Opening Act: Ryan Bingham): Never question any band that brings a bottle of Jack Daniels with them on stage and chugs from it constantly during the set. This was southern rock; unapologetic, guitar driven, southern rock. A killer three guitar attack that just kept on going and going. This was another show where I didn’t quite know what I was getting into (as I went due to a number of good reviews in the past) but I had way more fun than I expected. Some times you just have to rock out and that’s all this show was about.

2) The Polyphonic Spree (Opening Acts: The Redwalls, Rooney): Part Two of the story: So after getting this girl’s email at The Brunettes show we started emailing each other back and forth. We found out that we had a lot in common (including being Richard Buckner fans, a guy so obscure even he doesn’t know that he has fans) and seemed to be really hitting it off. We decided to meet for dinner before this show and had a great time. Conversation flowed naturally and she was without a doubt one of the coolest people I have met in my four years in this town. She impressed the hell out of me and all I wanted to do was get to know her better. Time for the check came and we split it without my even asking to pay. At the time, I did not see this as an issue…

So I was on cloud nine when I went to this show (bolstered by the fact that she was texting me the score of the World Series game at the same time). I wasn’t even bothered by the fact that the two opening acts were not very good (The Redwalls try to sound like they’re part of the British Invasion even though they’re from the Chicago suburbs and Rooney is performing solely for the enjoyment of the nineteen year old girls in the audience.) But the Spree were just mind blowingly awesome. Twenty plus people on stage including a six woman choir, a harpist, a three piece brass section, two violinist, and a flautist who became more attractive as the show went on. The Granada is not a big place so all this music in such a small room was amazing. I left this show feeling more alive than I have felt in ages. It lasted all of a few days and then…

Replay Lounge (Lawrence, KS)
1) Uz Jsme Doma (Opening Act: Capillary Action): Part Three of the story: So the girl in question told me that she was going to see this band, which were a prog rock band from Prague. Given my heritage and my natural inclination towards puns I asked if I could meet her there. She said yes and I thought, awesome, this is going to be great. And it was for about the first fifteen minutes. Then I started to get the feeling that things are going horribly wrong and not only can I not stop it, I can’t figure out what the hell is precisely going wrong. In retrospect, she was probably trying to figure out how I could have been so cheap as to not buy dinner. (I swear, I thought we were in more enlightened times).

So the night ends and I say what might be the most awkward goodbye in a lifetime of awkward goodbyes and I walk back to my car with an expression on my face that could best be described as the one Chris Webber had when he called a timeout he didn’t have. That “oh, how the hell did I do this to myself” look. Because I knew then how this was going to play out. For all effective purposes, she hasn’t spoken to me since. Outside of a chance meeting at another show I don’t think I have any more cards left to play. I’ve been kicking myself about this one for months now. She really was amazing and for the first time in a long time I thought I might have found someone who got me. The fact that I may have screwed up because of something as simple as paying for dinner is enough to drive a man to drink. Ok, I was at that point already but you understand.

Throughout all this I did find out that Uz Jsme Doma is a really fun, prog rock band. I don’t speak Czech but I know what it sounds like so the lyrics didn’t make sense but I knew what they meant on some level. That might not be entirely sensible but there is something about the language that sounds like home to me. My grandmother mainly spoke Czech so it is definitely a language that I’m familiar with. The music was cool and different with a cool trumpet player and an overall fun vibe. I’m happy I got to hear them. I just wish that the story turned out better.

Ok, back to pop culture tomorrow. Apparently Gladiator Wolf is worthy of my attention.