Let me tell y'all about the lord's messenger, David Terry...he healed my migraine, y'all! Clap your hands! (And the darling guitarist didn't hurt either.)
Extra stressed and/or busy for a couple of weeks. Seems to have tanked the immune system. I'd had a scratchy throat all day, and by the time I got home, I had a rollicking headache as well. And a brewing stomachache. But holy hell, Aqueduct at the tiny, bitty Towne Lounge? I sure as hell wasn't missing that. As long as I hadn't horked up an organ...check that, a vital organ (appendix, you're on notice), I was going.
Graves opened up. I was sure I was way late, but they got started about a quarter after ten. How have I never seen this band? I'm pretty sure I've never seen this band. They open for everybody. Oh...yeah. They're the Opening Band. I never see the Opening Band. Pretty, dark stuff, that initially struck me as late-night desert highway music (with trumpet). Over time, it developed a '70s synth-pop ballad vibe, too (there was one I was absolutely certain would turn into Fleetwood Mac's Dreams (thunder only happens when it's raining...players only love you when they're playing...) but didn't). Lovely and soothing. I wanna see 'em again. But sitting cross-legged on the floor, my headache only got worse.
Boat up after that. Another "statistically inexplicable that I've never seen 'em" band. Remember when I complained about calling bands Pavement-esque? Well, shit. This band was Pavement-esque. Shouty dork-punk vocals. But with a quarter-cup of Barsuk and a generous dash of Elephant Six. I bounced around and had a great time. I wanted to buy a t-shirt even before they played, because they've gone on this baseball-card-themed kick. The t-shirt showed a drawing of a hand about to throw a two-seamed fastball. They had vinyl 7-inches that had the two-seam, the four-seam, and...oh, damn, I should know this one. I think it's a changeup. (ETA: After some research, I'm pretty sure it's a knuckle curve.) They even had baseball cards of themselves. And the sign for their merch was made out of a school-supplies-type folder with Kirby Puckett on it! Aw, Kirby...
Then Aqueduct. Their recorded music is Barsuk-label twee-rawk. Their live shows are just rawk. They just attack everything with a sledgehammer...and synth keys. For what might be the third time in a few weeks, I did something that could actually be called dancing. The cover of Warren G.'s Regulate (which samples Michael McDonald, so it's meta-bizarre...and meta-awesome!), which they've done before, was unbelievable. I was standing right next to the stage, which is six inches tall, so I was, like, nose to nose with these guys. So many favorite songs, rocked so hard...by the time I went home, the migraine was gone.
That was a few days ago. Tonight, totally on someone else's whim, I went to see Eliot Rose at Mississippi Pizza. He had a track on this year's PDX Pop Now compilation. His set was unbelievably adorable! A guy in a shirt and brown vintage-y tie, plus nerd glasses, reading passages that were like instructions to him from a 50s-era educational filmstrip about how he should interact with his audience. So funny! And then he did these incredibly charming songs that were often just him and an electric kalimba. You know, thumb piano. Except electric. He also had these looped synth bits, and three other guys that backed him up on some of the songs. The set was like pure, distilled joy fed through off-key vocals. Elephant Six, please give this man a call! It was his CD release show, and I had to have the CD.
But after a few days feeling fine, figuring I really had just tanked the immune system and a good night's sleep had solved the problem, I was genuinely feeling tonight like I was on my way to a full-blown cold. So I didn't stick around for the second band (made up mostly of the guys backing up Eliot Rose) and their CD release show. Gotta rest up for kickball, going to court (work, not pleasure), and a trip to Seattle for some Twins-Mariners fun. Sadly, Francisco Liriano won't be pitching Livan Hernandez's scheduled start on Monday, because I'd really love to see Franchise pitch. We'll see if I manage to sandwich in Run On Sentence at Towne Lounge on Sunday night.
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