Baby's got a new friend

Between overnight hospital shifts and a string of evenings out that promises to continue through Friday, I've been keeping some odd hours lately. Luckily this schedule fits right in with weeknight concerts, so on Thursday I caught Kraig Johnson at the High Noon Saloon. I mean, Joseph Arthur! I saw Joseph Arthur at the High Noon, with his band the Lonely Astronauts.

I was tipped to the show last week by Uyen, who alerted me that Kraig was touring with Joseph Arthur, and they would be playing Madison. I am mostly unfamiliar with Joseph Arthur (I have one of his songs from a few years back, but that's it) - however, I'm a longtime fan of Kraig and his various bands, so that was impetus enough for me to check out a show in town.

Once again, I'm glad I did. The crowd was kind of sparse for a Thursday night, but I didn't mind the breathing room, and the Lonely Astronauts definitely know how to rock. I was somewhat surprised by that, though I shouldn't have been. But in my extremely limited Joseph Arthur knowledge I'd always had a vague notion of him as a singer/songwriter/acoustic guitar kind of performer. One look at his Flying V and giant sunglasses altered my show expectations pretty quickly, though.

I can't give a very coherent review of the set, since I knew none of the songs beforehand. But I got the impression it was pretty heavy on songs from the band's most recent album, and they also played a few new songs that aren't on any album yet. "Sunrise Doll" was one of those, I believe. I really enjoyed the energy of the songs, and the band sounded great. Before the encore, Joseph did come out and play a few songs by himself. One was a crowd request for "Even Tho," which he claimed at first not to remember - but he did. One of the last songs the band played was actually a song of Kraig's, with Kraig taking the lead on vocals. It's on the setlist (I swiped Kraig's after the show) as "I Will Carry." Very pretty.

This marks the second time in the past month or two that I've really enjoyed a show I hadn't planned on seeing until a friend suggested it. Keep the recommendations coming, guys!

This is what I do

On Thursday night, Rhett Miller returned to the High Noon Saloon in Madison. I always enjoy a good Rhett show, and this one was no exception. (Actually, last time I saw him was kind of an exception. But I am not a big fan of the Believers.)

Carrie Rodriguez started things off, with an introduction from Rhett himself. I'd never heard any of her music, but was thoroughly entertained by her performance. It's always a good sign when you're not bored by songs you don't know. Though she did her fair share of fiddling, for most of the set she was rocking an Epiphone Mandobird 4-string. Her new album was available in the back, and if I'd had more than $2 in my wallet I would have bought it.

Rhett played a set that seemed pretty long. There was some fun Madison banter, as always, and a nice variety of songs - a bit heavy on the newer stuff, as you'd expect. My favorite singalong remains "Barrier Reef," which was played during the first encore. Rhett ended one song with a Buzzcocks lyric, which prompted someone in the audience to yell out that they're in a commercial now. This, of course, prompted Rhett to tell us about his work for The Man, culminating in a rendition of the Chili's theme song he rewrote for the commercial. He made us promise before he played it that we wouldn't lose any respect for him, but I'm not gonna lie - when he got to chorus, soulfully belting out "Chili's baby back ribs" ... I couldn't help but cringe a little. It was still hilarious, though. And hell, if you're going to do it, might as well really sell that mofo. The best line of the night, however, came from Anya. A song or two later Rhett began playing "Singular Girl." About halfway through it, Anya leaned over. "This one's a commercial for Cingular, right?" Awesome.

Setlist:

Won't Be Home
This Is What I Do
My Valentine
Adelaide
Nineteen
Big Brown Eyes
Buick City Complex
The New Kid
Fireflies
Ain't That Strange
Doreen
World Inside The World
Victoria
Indefinitely
Chili's Baby Back Ribs
Things That Disappear
Brand New Way
Salome
Singular Girl
Book Of Poems
Come Around
Niteclub
Murder (Or a Heart Attack)
Timebomb

Help Me Suzanne
Barrier Reef
Question
Our Love

Jagged
Erica The Beautiful

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.

My, my, my, my slow descent...

I think the New Pornographers may have been contractually obligated to play "The Slow Descent into Alcoholism" Sunday night, since the entire event was sponsored by Jack Daniels. Not that they wouldn't have anyway. There was an awful lot of drinking going on, as you might expect - Carl passed around his bottle of whiskey early in the show, and then made Kathryn go backstage to get the other one. The audience was already well lubricated by that point, believe me.

The private event itself was better than I expected in terms of free stuff. We got vouchers for a free iTunes download when we arrived at the High Noon, and our ticket stubs entered us in a drawing to win a $100 iTunes gift card or a signed guitar. (We didn't win.) There was also a buffet of free food, two free drink coupons per person, free taxi vouchers for the ride home, waitresses handing out free drink samples, and a pool table full of free Jack Daniels merch. I noticed various band members grazing along with everyone else. There were an awful lot of sloppily drunk twenty-somethings in the house by the end of the night, which was kind of icky, but if I flash back to my days at college bars/parties on weekends it suddenly doesn't seem so bad.

The show itself wasn't perfect, but it was a lot of fun. After Archer Prewitt's opening set, the New Pornos took the stage. I had been hoping that maybe Neko would show up, since she played with the band Saturday night in Evanston, but it was not to be. There was a lot of joking and audience interaction, and of course plenty of great music. The vocals were very muddy up front, but that's just par for the High Noon course. About halfway through the first set, Carl broke a string and requested the signed Jack Daniels guitar ... which he proceeded to play for the rest of the night. The guy who won it now has a 50% cooler tale to tell. They were taking requests, and I desperately wanted to hear "Breakin' the Law" ... the only problem being that I couldn't remember the title. I wasn't about to yell, "THE LAST SONG ON MASS ROMANTIC!" so I kept my mouth shut. Next time, New Pornos. Next time.

Best as I can recall, they played:

Twin Cinema
The Laws Have Changed
Use It
July Jones
Jackie, Dressed in Cobras
The Bleeding Heart Show
Testament to Youth in Verse
From Blown Speakers
The Jessica Numbers
It's Only Divine Right (I think?)
The Slow Descent into Alcoholism ("there are a lot of songs out there that talk about how sad it is to be an alcoholic, but there aren't too many songs that talk about why people become alcoholics ... because it's kind of fun")
Mass Romantic
Star Bodies
The Bones of an Idol
Sing Me Spanish Techno
The Fake Headlines
Letter from an Occupant

j'ai un question pour toi

Really fun show from Rhett Miller tonight at the High Noon, as always. I took along a couple of friends, but they ended up sitting at a table in back. If you're reading this, guys, what's the point? Oh well; I stood up front and met some new people. Close enough to see some girls pelting the stage with pennies during "Rollerskate Skinny" and Rhett's collosal eye roll in response. Haha.

One surprise was the fact that the first verse and chorus of "Question" were sung ... in French. Apparently Rhett has signed to Universal, and Universal is largely owned by the French, so he recorded an alternate French version of the song. He also joked that it was his way of sticking it to the current administration.

You know, a lot of musicians kiss the ass of whatever city they happen to be in. But Rhett is either sincere in his affection, or he does more ass-kissing research than anyone I've ever known. He was busting at the seams with Madison anecdotes tonight. How he loves coming back to Madtown ... how he was sorry he couldn't stick around for the infamous Halloween here ... how playing a certain song reminds him of playing at the Rathskellar in the mid-90s ... how he was born in Austin but he always thinks of the UW whenever he plays "19" ... how playing "Stoned" (which was great, by the way) reminds him of Club De Wash, and then apologizing for burning it down ... how the scrambler at Mickey's Dairy Bar "will fuck you up" ... how the first time he ever heard the term "sausage party" was at a post-show party here in the early 90s, when the Onion was just starting up and some of the staff members lived in a church near campus (which, by the way, was right by our place on Pinckney) ... how Rhett would sleep on the pool table there, because he was reasonably sure nobody had puked on it or had sex on it ... recently.

He played some new songs, including his duet with Rachael Yamagata, "Fireflies". It sounds quite promising. He sang both parts, informing us that "when I'm a guy, I'll face this way" and "when I'm a girl, I'll face that way". I was thinking, "Heh, cut your hair and that will seem less real." I considered requesting his Jon Brion cover, "I Believe She's Lying," but then I realized ... I'd much rather hear more of Rhett's actual songs anyway. So I didn't. He played two encores, and I got home right at midnight.

And then I discovered that the White Sox failed to comply with my wish for them to lose at least one game of this World Series. Oh well. I'm very sorry I missed it, but yay!