An Evening With the Old 97's

I love the din of a crowd before a show, when the music is at the perfect volume and you get lost in the cacophony of the ebb and flow of a room full of buzzing conversations, not making out a single word, just riding the wave of anticipation. It's a humid night at Headliners and it is reassuring to see Louisville turn out to support touring music during the summer. The first act tonight is Murry Hammond, the bassist of the Old 97's, on acoustic guitar and harmonium, in a down-home style straight from the southwest. He's the kind of guy you want around after a hard day's cattle drive, after you build that fire and read some Grapes of Wrath and need a nighttime soundtrack to look at the stars. His voice suits his songs and the feel of what he's going for and was a perfect first act for the night.

Rhett Miller is the second act of the night, and it's just him and his acoustic. He puts about as much energy into an acoustic guitar as possible, and boy does he make the ladies swoon. It's like a mass reenactment of the scene in Back to the Future when the mom as her younger self swings her hair around and says "Isn't he a dream boat?". That's Rhett Miller, in his smart black collared shirt unbuttoned to his xiphoid process, the bane of EMT's everywhere. All of that said, his voice holds up and his hyper-rhythmic strumming hits all the right pops and sizzles of a snare drum. He puts so much of himself into his solo show that I can't even knock him for his looks and supermodel wife.

Set:
1. Like Love
2. Caroline
3. Help Me Suzanne
4. Refusing Temptation
5. Singular Girl
6. Bonfire
7. Come Around
8. Wave of Mutilation (pixies)

The Old 97's are a permission slip for Rhett Miller to cut loose, and there's no acoustic guitar here, but dual electrics. Their set is some of the most fun, upbeat, outdoor grillin, friends-over-for-a-party music I can think of, the kind that moves your hips and shoulders before you know what's gotten into you. By the seventh song, Rollerskate Skinny, when Rhett is singing "I believe in Love, but it don't believe in me", the crowd is eating out of his hand; he is the Pied Piper of Louisville, the High Prophet of Love Gone Wrong. Rhett's getting sweaty, his voice is getting raspy and the ladies are getting crazy. He is not, however, the cocky pretty boy I expect him to be. He has a genuine humility and appreciation for the moment that I can't look down upon. Toward the end of the set, he says, "In my sweaty fervor, I forgot to ask y'all how you're doing tonight?". It seems that the stage is also place germane for fun. In the end, the packed house at Headliners was treated to a good time had by all, with the crowd singing along to their favorites and the band happy to be the Old 97's.

b


Setlist:
1. Dance With Me
2. Barrier Reef
3. Doreen
4. No Baby
5. Mama Tried (Merle Haggard)
6. Salome
7. Rollerskate Skinny
8. Here's to the Halcyon
9. If My Heart Was A Car
10. missed title patsy cline song(?)
11. Question
12. Because I do (from where I stand)(?)
13. Ride
14. Big Brown Eyes
15. She's the center(?)
16. Book of Poems
17. The Easy Way
18. Always hearing voices in the street

The Last Shot

July 17, 2009
Headliners Music Hall
Louisville KY

Bob Dylan @ Slugger Field, Louisville KY 07.08.09

Research.

Time Machine

It's been a week. A full week. I have spent no money because there's none left to spend, but this macbook pro is a beautiful machine. I love the metallic silver construction, the backlit keyboard, the ease of an apple designed computer. It's been so long since I've used a laptop without it being plugged into a wall that it feels like magic to have a seven hour battery. The screen is brighter, the volume louder, the speed incredibly faster. It also, however, removes some convenient excuses that have allowed me to talk myself out of following through on some ideas.
I've been wanting to take some time and focus on becoming proficient on piano. I taught myself enough to get by and have been putting off a more detailed study and practice of it. Now my laptop is fast enough to plug into the one I have.
I've been wanting to write more and find the discipline to do it, to take time every day and make it a priority.
I've been wanting to record more, throw down another round of quick ideas and flesh them out, expanding to different instruments and sounds and effects and techniques.
I'd like to have more time for photography, to focus on being present and available in any location to pull out that one image that matters.
I find so much value in cooking that I'd like to spend some time studying and preparing and grilling and basting and presenting.
But for all that this incredible macbook pro does, it does not generate time. That's really what I could use more of right about now.