11/16/07 - The Whigs, Wild Sweet Orange, Calhoun (no really)

like i said, this was a fantastic night, for a lot of different reasons.

started the front-loading activities at bone daddy's, getting ignored by the waitress who'd rather spend her time with the punkass bitches in cocked-to-the-side straight-brim ball caps. yeah, the usual. headed to dada alone, also as usual - DP bailed on me, somethin aboot 3.5 hours of sleep or somethin.

completed front-loading activity sittin in my car on elm street (love dada, but can't afford to drank there, not my beloved licker, anyways).

talked to beard at the door, told him i felt like a dick, but i should be on the list. never done that before, but i needed to. luckily amanda was there at the bar, and somehow she remembered who i was, but she let me in anyways (har!). felt bad about actin' the cheapskate, but they were totally cool about it. pretty sure i told beard way more about my life than he wanted to know at that point.

got to talk to amanda quite a bit (at least it seemed like quite a bit to me, and i'm sure it did for her). there was a lot of blog-talk - you people wouldnt understand. just kiddin. i knew somewhat about the viciousness that's in the local music scene - i read weshotjr's comments section - but i had no idea of the extent of the vitriol. she had story after story about the hatred, the slander, the backstabbing. people going out of their way to tear others down. i was amazed. i just dont get it. if those people would just take a step back and look at things with a wider perspective, they'd realize - in the grand scheme of things, those who are involved in the local indie music scene occupy a very small corner of society - it's like your own private club, full of (relatively-speaking) like-minded people who share a love of and a commitment to music of one kind or another. you are all "in this thing together" - why would you want to tear down your own brudders and sisters? passionate debates and rivalries are fine, even a good thing for the scene, but in the end, you've got to support each other. maybe it's a middle-age perspective thing - as you get further on in life, i think you adopt a more live-and-let-live attitude. well, except for punkass bitches in straight-brim ball caps. oh and bluetools, too. yea, F those guys.

enough of that, eh?

first up was Calhoun, and what i kept thinking to myself during their set was, this. is. why. i. do. this. This is IT. their music was life-affirming, magical, blissful, soul-filling. exactly what i needed. song after beautiful song, i was in heaven, standin there with eyes closed and a giant stupid-ass grin on my face. they play a blend of earnest folk and pop rock that just envelopes you with its melodies, harmonies, and straight-out rockin guitars. it's a performance like this that makes it all worthwhile. i could've left then and been happy. great call by amanda, who booked them after hearing wild sweet orange. they played a lot of songs from the cd they're workin on - can't wait for that. needles to say, i'll be seeing these guys as much as possible in the future. got to talk to tim briefly after the set, and told him how much what i just heard meant to me, and i'm sure he thought, well at least we have the drunken 40-year-old market sewn up.

next up was Wild Sweet Orange (love that name), from alabammy. loved these guys. very similar in style to calhoun, maybe less folk-influenced, just some beautiful, melodic guitar-led pop. 5-man, usually 3 guitars plus bass. loved the (unique) voice on lead (reminds me of someone, just can't place it). great set. sorry i don't have more to say, i just know i totally dug it. definitely will catch them again the next time they roll thru town.

at this point, i was descended upon by a few music-scene-wannabes from work (kidding!), some of whom began to provide a demonstration of the mating rituals of the north-american fitted-shirt-wearing suburban professional. fascinating!

headlining was The Whigs, from georgia. apparently, one of rolling stone's "ten bands to watch". 3-man band with an unbelievably large sound. definite strokes, white stripes vibe sometimes. sometimes a bluesy, rolling stones vibe, too. good stuff. coulda done without the 20 minute monologue beforehand, tho. dude was gettin on my noives. dono what he was sayin.

went with batman to Zini's pizza across the street afterwards (after seeing that the mating ritual was becoming frenzied). this will have to be a regular stop for me now after dada shows. nothin hits the spot at 2 in the mornin like a great slice of pizza, and they have that there.

was gonna go on about the life-affirming human interactions that went on, but i'm sober now, so i'll spare myself the embarrassment. but there were many examples of how positive human interaction can be its own form of therapy (who knew?). from the kindness of relative strangers, who make the effort to engage you in conversation and even pretend to be interested, to the actions of friends helpin a socially-inept brudda out, well, i'll just say it was a night that definitely improved my view of humankind.

told ya it was gonna be gay.