There's a gold mine in the local scene

I had a fun weekend in the Cities. It was sort of a farewell jaunt, because with Gina gone, and Lindsey heading out, my visiting mainstays are no more. I went out with Michelle to Uptown, visited Andrej's house so I could meet Kerby the dog, shopped at Mall of America, did dinner with Lindsey and Vikas, brunch with Mike, Rebecca, Kyle, Molly, Gena, and Lindsey (Hell's Kitchen makes some damn good porridge), and finally Golden Smog on Sunday night.

I arrived at First Ave. at 7:00 to find myself the third person in line. If only it were like that around here. The show was a lot of fun. There were a few technical issues, and the Smog definitely have some kinks to work out before they'd be a well-oiled machine on tour (it doesn't help that they all switch instruments so often) but they played for a long time - over two hours. It was a real treat seeing a full-length Golden Smog show for the first time. Gary was rocking some sweet striped pants, and it was nice to see Ed Ackerson and Jim Boquist helping out. Plus, Kraig Johnson was standing directly in front of me for most of the night, and I tend to forget that I could happily gaze at him for hours at a time even if he weren't doing anything important.

Although Gary seemed a little annoyed with the technical problems, overall, everyone looked like they were having fun onstage. I didn't know Dan Murphy kicked as much guitar ass as he does. Songs highlights for me included "V" (I think that's the only time I've seen it done), "Looking Forward to Seeing You", "He's a Dick" (which is not about Ryan Adams), "Hurricane", and "Revolution Blues". Oh, and some song they did that appeared to be about sex with an inflatable doll. A Golden Smog show without Jeff Tweedy seemed kind of like a New Pornographers show without Neko Case. They aren't actually necessary for a great show, and they don't leave a hole in the musicianship, but someday I am determined that I will see shows of these respective bands with the elusive members, because I have a feeling it would add another entertaining dimension to things.

Finally, a word to the wise - I've seen this happen time and time again over the years I've been traveling to the Twin Cities - Mapquest is a dirty liar when it comes to Minneapolis and St. Paul. I've been directed the wrong way down one-way streets, given fake exit numbers, and most recently, given completely nonsensical directions to I-94 from First Ave. In case you were wondering, if you drive down 8th Street, and then turn left onto 13th Ave., you do NOT merge onto 94 East in 0.1 miles. Instead you loop back around, get onto 55 East, stop at the sketchiest gas station ever for directions, and find out the real way to 94 East. Maybe that's what Mapquest meant.

Lindsey's tall

She's even a little bit taller than Glenn, as we ascertained after the Tweedy show in Minneapolis last night. Lindsey is one of my oldest friends, and she's had to endure tales upon tales of my concert goings-on over the years, so it was a real treat to finally introduce her to some of the "characters" firsthand. She'd never seen Jeff play a solo show before, let alone in her own town, and she stood up front with us. As a bonus, she even got the pleasure of cracking up as Jeff mocked us from the stage!

The setlist for this show was once again great. I'm sorry I won't be able to see more of the shows after next Saturday, because things are looking very different from night to night. Jeff apparently has a sheet of about 70 songs that he just looks at and picks from depending on what he feels like doing. I think I preferred the Madison show, if only because we were able to see Glenn (and Spencer, when he was on drums) so much more clearly - but Minneapolis had its share of treats. "Acuff-Rose" is always a pleasure to hear, "Box Full of Letters" was a surprise, "Down in a Willow Garden" with a fan on vocals was sweet and really fun, and bringing up Kraig Johnson (a.k.a. The Pretty) for a tender "Pecan Pie" duet was inspired. As for Glenn, I can't wait for his next CD to come out in February. Balinese monkeys are still chanting in my head.

Oh, and I have it on good authority that the inner sleeve of the "Kicking Television" CD sports a crowd shot that Gina and I should look forward to with some trepidation. Mmmmmm...