Play our songs, and nothing's wrong

Monday night, Jeff Tweedy at the Pabst Theater in Milwaukee, opening set by the Autumn Defense, front row center seats, fantastic setlist and performance.

That was the newspaper version, if you only have time to read a blurb. So, yes, Monday night I headed to Milwaukee with Anya after work to see Jeff Tweedy. In my short period of reacquaintance with the Pabst it has already become one of my favorite places to see a show, so I was pumped. We got in about ten minutes before the Autumn Defense's opening set and went straight to our seats (after buying drinks) which is probably why I failed to notice the special autographed posters that were for sale. Ah well. I'm the last person who needs more concert posters at this point, but I still feel a little bit like I fell down on the job.

The Autumn Defense sounded very nice playing acoustically. They commented on how nice the Pabst is, like everyone I've seen play there thus far. Their set was relatively brief. One particular line of one of their new songs still makes me cringe a little, but the harmonies were lovely, and there was a giant Steinway piano onstage. Pat was definitely happy to be playing that on a few songs, including one of my favorites, "Written in the Snow".

There was a break just long enough for Anya to make a "whiskey and soda" trip to the bar, and then Jeff took the stage. Since this was the second night of a sort of two-night ultra-mini solo tour ... after a weekend off ... I had no idea what to expect. But whatever I expected, Jeff surpassed those expectations. First of all, he was in fine banter form, joking with the crowd. The well-meaning inquiry of a fan led to the coining of a new catchphrase to replace "How ya doin?" ("How's your foot?") Jeff joked about his crouching tiger-like defense skills, put a particularly loud "WOOOHOOOO"er in his place ("that makes me feel really good in a lot of ways? But it also makes me want to hurt you"), had fun with a couple of particularly vocal women up front, and discussed Halloween costumes (Jeff and Susan decided against being Amish this year).

And oh yeah. He played some songs. Some songs I'd never heard before ("Lullaby for Rafters and Beams," a new song), some songs I will never get tired of hearing ("Someday Soon", "Laminated Cat"), some delightfully rare tunes ("Box Full of Letters," "Screen Door," "We've Been Had,") and at least one song that, had I been standing up, may have caused me to fall over in shock. I honestly thought Jeff was gearing up to play "The Thanks I Get." And then he opened his mouth and began, "There's a dreamer in my dreams..." and I probably made some sort of high-pitched squeaking noise. Wow.

Other highlights included an incredibly moving rendition of "Sunken Treasure", a relatively unusual solo "Jesus, Etc.", and some unexpected piano accompaniment to "I Am Trying to Break Your Heart". The Steinway was wheeled offstage after the Autumn Defense's set, but if obviously didn't go far. At some point in the song Jeff stopped playing his guitar, and a few notes of piano rang out from behind the curtain before they stopped as well. Jeff joked about the place being haunted, but the ghost, appearing at the side of the stage a few moments later, looked a whole lot like Pat.

So. A really fun show. Very glad I went. And I may start a petition to bring every musician and band I like to the Pabst.

Goin' to the chapel

Not me. Well, I mean, I did, for my friend's wedding on Saturday. It was a lovely ceremony and reception. (With a trolley ride in the middle!) Allison and I have known each other since first grade, and I brought our friend Heidi as my "date" - we were all in the same first grade class. We were also in the same fifth grade class, and our fifth grade teacher came to the wedding, too. It was like an elementary school reunion.

Highlights included Allison's radiant beauty, individual wedding cakes (our table got the best one, I think), the Austrian figure skating champ cutting a rug on the dance floor, and Allison's little white-haired grandma getting down to songs by Justin Timberlake, Gwen Stefani, and Usher. When all of the girls our age were on the floor dancing to our request of "You Got It (The Right Stuff)" by New Kids on the Block - including Allison performing vintage moves from the video in her lovely wedding dress - it seemed that we had truly come full circle.

I also picked up two gorgeous old wooden accent tables at an estate sale on Friday. It was a home where a sisterhood of nuns used to live, and there were rooms and rooms of fantastic furniture. My tables aren't in perfect condition or anything, but I don't care. They are old and pretty.

Attention!

I HAVE NOT SLEPT IN 33.5 HOURS!! WEEEE!

I'm home, although my suitcase is not. Despite a two hour layover in Detroit, somehow Northwest still couldn't manage to put it on my flight to Chicago. Kudos, Northwest! If this were the outgoing leg of my trip I'd be plenty pissed.

Work was fine. When twenty ER staffers are milling around a trauma room in full garb waiting for an ambulance, and a tech looks over at you and with mild interest asks, "You guys aren't going to throw up, are you?" - you know you're in for a quality shift.

Hot win on win action

Finally a bit of a respite between my "vacation" (I put it in quotes because although incredibly fun it was not exactly restful or relaxing) and a business trip. I'm writing from my hotel room in Ohio, where in order to prepare for night shifts, I should stay up until at least 4:00 a.m. (I've been nearly doing that anyway for the past week, though my waking time hadn't changed yet.) We'll see how that works.

Since Tuesday night I have been seeing music and hanging out with friends. This has included, but was not limited to, foggy nighttime mountain driving, helpless laughter, late night diners, a half-smoke at Ben's Chili Bowl on U St., U-turns, group hallucinations, a giant kitty, a drummer who (likely distracted by fine art on his drum kit) nearly broke his own nose by whacking it with a stick, tossing of turnpike tickets, Butterstick!!, the first Benedictine Monastery in the United States, fall foliage, a dinosaur dressed like Mr. Rogers with a trolley driving up its back, dancing, clapping, hugging, and fort building. I also realized that over the past five days I have been in seven states and one district (of Columbia). Michigan was just a layover today, but nevertheless. Dang.

It was an excellent trip, my friends.

Oh what a lovely sound

I have discovered the perfect venue at which to see Andrew Bird. It's not Cafe Montmartre, it's not Union Park or Summerfest. It is, as it turns out, the Orpheum Stage Door.

Saturday night Andrew Bird played a solo show there, a benefit for the Chicago Short Film Brigade. This meant that instead of an opening band, we were treated to nine short films. Well, we only saw seven and a half, since someone tripped over the projector cord in the balcony midway through a seriously awesome film of a guy singing "Livin' on a Prayer". But the films were all entertaining - I especially enjoyed Bean Cake, Profiles in Science, and Wednesday. I really need to attend one of their quarterly screenings.

After a few minutes of the film people fruitlessly trying to fix the projector, Andrew took the stage. The crowd was mostly silent during songs - leaving the sounds of his violin and guitar and voice to fill the 350-seat theater.

This was my fourth time seeing Andrew, and easily my favorite. It was also the first time in awhile I'd seen him play completely solo, without a percussionist on hand. This time it was his red-striped-socked left foot providing percussion when necessary. Perhaps because he was alone onstage, he also talked more than I recall from previous occasions.

We heard about (capital) "I" becoming "I Mitosis", and how Sesame Street's reluctance to be included in the song was a blessing in disguise because the chorus makes more sense now. Before playing a new song, Andrew mentioned that although it'll be next year before the new album is released, Fingerlings 3 is out now. "It has live versions of songs, and some songs that didn't make it onto the new album. Well, this song is on both of them. But this is a live version." In reference to a song he wrote at age 23, he said that it's now been long enough that he can listen to Bowl of Fire songs without cringing. "Now it's just like, 'What the hell was I thinking?'"

Whatever he was thinking, I'm glad he thought it. "Why?" was superb and intense, Andrew pointing accusingly at the audience with his violin bow. One of my favorite songs of the night was a lovely cover of Bob Dylan's "Oh, Sister". The main set ended with a beautiful but nearly unrecognizable "Lull", followed by a two-song encore. Seeing people outside before the show begging for tickets suggests to me that Andrew will probably stick to larger venues around here than the Stage Door in the future - which makes me all the happier that I saw him this time.

Freebird!

Last night I went with some friends to the High Noon for the Madison Music Project show. We missed the first performance, but arrived in time to see Adem Tesfaye's set (with the Soul Rap Movement). I liked it a lot - a really cool combination of hip-hop, jazz, and rootsy rock. Next up were The Kissers, a Madison staple. I hadn't seen them since they played at Der Rathskellar more than three years ago. Since then "Pete the Kid" has apparently become "Peter", they're minus one female bass player, but not much else seems to have changed. Celtic rock with plenty of accordion, fiddle, banjo, what have you. Almost more entertaining than watching the band play, though, is watching the crowd in front go absolutely crazy with the dancing. It's a Celtic hoedown featuring a diverse crowd that looks like it might contain folks bused in from the nearest Renaissance Faire and/or sci-fi convention. But don't get the wrong idea - every single one of them is awesome. It's a million times cooler than a crowd of kids rooted to the spot and trying their best to look hip.

Thursday evening

Since I wrote about it awhile ago, I've discovered that lots of people do searches on how to pronounce Myanmar. I'm sorry that my blog is not more helpful in that regard.

Last month I was stopped at a red light behind a car with two bumper stickers. One said "I'd rather be at a Bon Jovi concert" and the other said "Got Jovi?" The license plate on the car was custom: LUV JOVI. This was one unashamed lover of Bon Jovi. I couldn't decide whether horror or reluctant admiration was my stronger emotion.

Netflix suggested the following movies to me the other night: The Wicker Man and Wicker Park. I didn't know what to think. Even if it could somehow deduce that I had a fondness for wicker (which I don't, especially) still neither of those movies would be helpful in that regard. It reminded me a bit of Patton Oswalt explaining how after he watched a classic Western movie, his TIVO decided to record every single thing it could find (mostly children's shows) that contained horses. Except I never watched anything wicker-related. Maybe Anne of Green Gables had some wicker in an outdoor scene, but that's about it.

In baseball, why is a ball (meaning a pitch that is thrown outside the strike zone) just called a "ball"? That's such a lazy terminology copout.

"Hey, so, when a ball is thrown in this area, we'll call it a strike! But what should we call it when the ball is outside?"
"Hmmm. What about ... a ball?"
"Good thinking! This game is going to be awesome."

It's almost as lame as calling outer space "outer space." Space? Really? Don't even get me started on that one.

I'm a believer! I'm solid matter!

I challenge you to go to see Tilly and the Wall and not have fun. Really, go ahead and try. I'll bet you fail miserably. Actually, just go see them and forget about the trying not to have fun.

Tonight Tilly played at Club 770 in Union South, with Devin Davis and Brighton, MA opening. Devin was enjoyable, as he had been on the only other occasion I saw him perform. No theremin-ized "Rainbow Connection" tonight, but a lot of fun with echoes and looping. I also liked it after his set when he told us CDs were for sale in the back ... with the reverb still on.

Brighton, MA came next. I wasn't familiar with them, but I was impressed overall. A couple of songs dragged a bit for me, but mostly they were very energetic - and quite loud. They played at least one song from the frontman's days in Scotland Yard Gospel Choir.

Last but not least came Tilly and the Wall. It was my first time seeing them, but I came in expecting fun and energy, and that's what we got. Tap dancing! The band seemed genuinely excited and appreciative of the crowd, which is always a plus. They mentioned that they always name their tours, and they'd been trying to think of a name for this one, but were stuck. Predictably, someone in the crowd shouted "Madtown!" "Man tongue?" Kianna repeated, confused. After a few more tries it was understood, but everyone joked that "Man tongue" may truly be a winner. So, anyone going to future shows on the tour: if they solicit tour name suggestions and you want to creep them out and make them think there's some sort of conspiracy afoot - "Man tongue!"

From my college days I associate Club 770 with dance parties on the weekends, and I think some of that spirit carried over to the concert crowd. A a dance-along was requested for "The Freest Man", but every other song was pretty much an all-crowd dance-along too. Devin joined the band on drums for "Brave Day," which I thoroughly enjoyed. My favorite song was the main set's closer "Bad Education", but the biggest crowd pleaser of the night was the encore finale - "Nights of the Living Dead". Everyone left satisfied (except maybe the girl I passed outside who was telling her friend it was "shit, because they didn't play 'Lost Girls'!") and driving ten minutes home instead of an hour or more? Huge bonus.

In the Milwaukee streets

I saw Rilo Kiley in an opening slot last year at Alpine Valley. I remember liking Jenny Lewis's shoes, but beyond that I was not too impressed. When I first heard Rabbit Fur Coat, however, I was most definitely impressed. When Jenny and the Watson Twins came around my neck of the woods, I was eager to give her another try. I was not disappointed.

Tuesday was another fine evening at the Pabst. Anya and I grabbed dinner across the street before the show (well, she ate dinner while I hid the sandwich I'd brought from our cafeteria, and then scarfed it down when we left. Poor planning.) We wound up right in front, sitting for the two openers and then moving to the pit for Jenny. Best of both worlds.

Michael Runion was first up. Just him and his guitar, and the little book that he kept consulting because for some reason he hadn't written out a setlist. Although he seemed a bit like a musical version of Jared Miller - going off on tangents, explaining inconsequential things in minute detail, asking random people offstage how much time he had left, taking off his coat because the buttons were tapping on the guitar - I think it was really just his schtick. His set was fine. Next came Vietnam. An extraordinarily hairy band playing long songs. I wasn't much of a Vietnam fan, I'm afraid.

And finally, Jenny Lewis and the Watson Twins. I loved their set. Seeing Jenny up close, I was struck by how tiny and adorable and awesome she is. The upbeat songs were great (there was even a costume change!), and I enjoyed all of the new songs they played. I may have liked "Fernando" best. My favorite song of the night, though, was "Born Secular". I like it on the album, but it was something ... more ... live. Jenny's singing was perfect, and the arrangement was perfect - the band members leaving the stage one after another, until only the drummer was left to complete his frenzied solo. I look forward to attending another Jenny Lewis show when she has even more material to showcase.

(Photos by CJ Foeckler. More are in the Pabst gallery.)

This is a song and a lesson

I visited twins 3 and 4 today, and I can totally tell them apart now. Yay! Also, I was right about which twin was which in the photos. Logan is indeed the one seducing the camera with his eyes. What's new with them? They're chubby. They make adorable noises and flail at things in an attempt to grab them. They like to stare up at ceiling fans. And they spit up a lot. Hooray for babies!

The subject of this entry is a quote from my 5-year-old nephew. He was in the car listening to The Rolling Stones' "You Can't Always Get What You Want" and remarked out of nowhere, "This is a song and a lesson." Indeed it is, child. Indeed it is. The Rolling Stones: fonts of eternal wisdom.

Want to know something sad? I'm excited about autumn and Halloween and Thanksgiving now, but I'm also starting to look forward to Christmas. Seriously, how pathetic is that? It's barely October. I blame it on the fact that I was so sick over the latter part of December last year that I couldn't really enjoy the holiday. This year, as long as the Christmas season doesn't involve any fainting or CT scans, I'm thinking it will be an improvement. Hoping. That's not setting up some sort of cosmic jinx, is it? I mean ... Christmas this year is going to suck. Yeah.

Jenny Lewis at the Pabst on Tuesday.