Sentimental Lady

Maudie and some yucky wet snow arrived in town late Thursday afternoon. We had a chance to walk around downtown a bit and see the capitol and State Street (I kept telling her how beautiful everything is when it's not early March) and then we met up with Amy and Kevin for dinner at Cafe Montmartre. We live in the same city; I can't believe we don't see each other more than we do. I guess that makes it more of an "event" when it does happen. John and Pat had their stuff strewn all around the Sidecar, and were setting up merch. We decided we didn't need Autumn Defense tote bags. While we were finishing dinner, the AD did their soundcheck. It was full of covers (and "Written in the Snow") - I remember Pat singing a portion of "In My Life," for example.

A little later, Nicky found us and told us that a table had opened up in the main room right next to theirs. We happily migrated, and had great seats with a fine view of the little stage for most of the night. There were two openers that night, which I hadn't expected - foolishly assuming that "Ferraby Lionheart and the Singleman Affair" was one whimsical band. As it turned out, not so much. The Singleman Affair started things off around 9:45. They were pretty good, although the films projected on the background screen during their set were kind of distracting. Especially the films that actually included the band members. Ferraby Lionheart came next. (Side note - I really hope that's his actual name.) He wasn't bad, though his songs seemed a bit generic. Unfortunately, in true Momo fashion, by that point I think there were about ten people in the room paying attention to him at all.

The Autumn Defense had their full band assembled, and were loud enough to drown out most talking and bottle clinking. I have yet to actually listen to their new record, but I recognized some of the songs from seeing them played live in the past year or so. The band definitely added a lot, I thought. We also heard some "oldies" like "Tuesday Morning," "The World Will Soon Turn Our Way," "Bluebirds Fall" from their split EP with Hem, and of course "Written in the Snow." I still want them to play "Wellspring" again someday, but somehow I don't think that's going to happen. They ended with a quality Fleetwood Mac cover, "Sentimental Lady."

I've been somewhat negative about the ambiance at Cafe Montmartre in the past, but on Thursday I thought everything worked out well. There were a decent number of people there (at least before 12:00 or so), but it wasn't super crowded - there was room to breathe, and plenty of open sightlines. And due to the aforementioned band, any talking was more or less drowned out. Hey, one for three so far. It's not bad for a batting average.