If Traffic Stopped on U Street Last Night…
It was because Glen Hansard’s enormous voice was coming from inside the Lincoln Theater and all the cars and passersby had to stop and congregate outside to appreciate it. I myself was inside so I can’t testify as to whether traffic actually DID stop, but I wouldn’t have been a bit surprised. I thought July’s Swell Season show at the 9:30 Club was amazing, but last night’s show at the Lincoln Theater topped it. It was the first time I’d been to the Lincoln Theater and it was a perfect place for the show — the acoustics were great (Marketa’s voice in particular was much louder than at the 9:30 Club) and the audience was rapt. Glen and Marketa played with three additional musicians on strings and, like last time, Glen out-Vanned Van Morrison and they closed with a rousing “You Ain’t Going Nowhere” (which you can hear for yourself… Continue reading
More Cowbell
Last Thursday we went to see Rilo Kiley at the 9:30 Club and heck if Jenny Lewis didn’t break out the cowbell. As my friend Sarah emailed me after she saw the same show in Asheville, “You mentioned cowbell. I had no idea she was going to try to bring sexy back using the cowbell.” But try she did and for all I know, maybe she succeeded. Jake seemed to think she did. It was a good show, even though Winona Ryder was apparently in attendance and we did not see her. Brandi Carlile was also good the following night, although the crowd was a little too chatty at the beginning. She performed two of the covers that so captivated me when I saw her in April, “Folsom Prison Blues” and “Hallelujah,” but also sang “Madman Across the Water” and a better-than-the-original version of “Raining in Baltimore.” (August and Everything… Continue reading
Just a Couple of Things
Let’s start with American Idol. I just sat through all two hours of the final twelve male contestants, and a lot of them were so boring that I have already forgotten them. I remember Sundance, Beatbox Boy, the Cute Little Gay Indian Boy, Barefoot Asian Guy, Sassy Jack Osbourne from Greenville, and Cueball. The others were fairly indistinguishable. I liked that Beatbox Boy sang Keane. Other highlights were mostly from the interview portions, like how that one guy said he works “in the restaurant industry.” It’s okay, buddy. You can say you’re a waiter. Ain’t no shame in being a waiter. Kellie Pickler was a roller-skating Sonic girl, and she’s doing alright, even if her jailbird daddy is trying to sell off her baby toys on eBay. It’s like when Eric on Entourage says he used to “manage an Italian restaurant” and Ari’s all, “Dude, you worked at Sbarro.”… Continue reading