do i have "GROUPIE" written on my forehead?

so i went to see drive-by truckers on saturday at the abbey pub at tim's suggestion. megan & i met @ tim's and drove down together, had dinner @ the pub and went to the show. i had listened to DBT's southern rock opera cds at tim's place earlier, and i was excited because it sounded like really awesome rock 'n' roll. sure enough, it was a totally rawkin' concert. the dudes had so much fun playing, and the crowd was just going wild. i love concerts where the crowd goes wild! like what's a rock concert if the crowd's a muted bunch of tennis match hand clappers, eh? if you're not there to rawk, then why waste your money & time & expose yourself to all that booze & smoke & sweat drenched atmosphere on a saturday evening when you could be at a nice airconditioned movie theatre?



after the DBT set, i was totally gonna buy the southern rock opera 2disc cd, so i went to the merch table. the merch dude for DBT was really nice (he's been touring w/ them as their sound guy too) and he noticed i'd taken pictures so he gave me a free copy of SRO in exchange for a promise that i'd email him some photos. so i got me a "three guitars or a life of crime" t-shirt instead. if you missed the show and you like good ol' southern rock (yes, there are 3 guitars involved) which i do, and some of you may not, but if you DO, then don't miss them when they come to the hideout on tuesday aug. 13th. pray for cool weather cuz that's gonna be a crowded show and you know how a/c in them venues get w/ all them bodies each emitting the equivalent of 100watt bulbs...



well, after the DBT, alejandro escovedo & his band were up. this was their 2nd nite at the abbey, and apparently the had sold out the previous nite, and this nite was pretty packed out too. i had never heard alejandro's music before although i'd heard of him. he was named artist of the decade by no depression mag, which is the alt-country mag named after the uncle tupelo song. i don't know how you can just pick one artist as the defining artist of such a large span of time, but alejandro definitely deserves more recognition than he currently gets in the larger market. this guy knows how to frickin' rock!! holy cowboy punk rawk, man! it was SOOOOOOOO AWESOME!!! i started out in the back of the room, where megan & i were chatting. and i actually ran into eric z., a really cool local musician-theatre dude i know through my friends jenn & john. he was hanging out near the a/c way in the back. as much as i wanted to stay cool, i was so drawn to the music that i slinked my way up to the front (stay low to the ground and you can usually make your way to the front no prob cuz there's more room down there where there aren't torsos & arms involved) and started taking photos.



what i loved about alejandro's music was that he could totally kick it and rock on w/ a song for a while, and then break into the most beautiful sad song you ever heard, and he even did this fun kid's song called the big 1-0 (the chorus goes like "i hit the big 1-0, i feel so old, and candy just doesn't taste as good any more!") which we all sang along to. you can tell that this guy just LOVES to play live. he played two encores, and the crowd would've let him play all night if he wanted to. they were that crazy about him. megan, who'd joined me up front by now, & i were totally digging the show and so high on the energy in that room. tim really came through for us suggesting we go to this show, although he was unable to make it himself.



so after the show, megan & i were standing by the stage chatting, and alejandro's guitar player comes up to us, shakes my hand and says, "hi! i'm alan. did you enjoy the show?" i was a little surprised, but megan & i chatted w/ him a while, and i guess he decided he wanted to hang out w/ us and convinced us to wait for him to get his gear loaded and go eat w/ him. so we took him to zorba's in greek town, since the band was staying in the loop @ the essex inn. it was pretty late, but we each had an omlette, and then we dropped him off at his hotel. he wanted to hang out the next day cuz the band was doing another gig and would be in town another night. so he hired me as his tour guide. unfortunately megan had to be in iowa the next day otherwise we would've all totally hung out. the next day, i went to church (yeah, after going to sleep at 6am...i was an hour late but i really wanted to go...) and hung out at the record stores & then @ powell's used books when alan the guitar player called me. so we didn't really have much time to see anything cuz the gig was an afternoon one @ the hideout, and we ended up just going for some deep dish pizza. steve the cellist & his 12year old son adrian ended up joining us, and then we caught up w/ andrew the bass player, got in the van, and i navigated to their gig.



the children's show was awesome! it was like 100000 degrees INSIDE the venue, and there were a million kids & their parents. that place was bursting at the seams, and folks actually got turned away at the door and were milling around outside. alejandro did some fun songs, including the big 1-0 song as well as a version of iggy pop's "i wanna be your dog" during which he had the kids barking up a storm. it was pretty hilarious.



after the show, the band guys decided to get together in one of the hotel suites & have a jam session. that was so awesome, cuz they did some classic neil young & bob dylan which is always totally cool. i love neil & bob! it was nice to just hang out and talk to the guys about life on the road. it's a hard life, but somebody's gotta do it, i guess. it was definitely a learning experience for me and gave me further insight into the whole rock 'n' roll lifestyle. it's definitely not all glam for most folks playing gig after gig town after town. made me really appreciate what these bands go through to play the music they love playing live for people.



stuff i've been listening to:

summerteeth--wilco (ok, i can't stop listening to this album. can somebody tell me why?)

moontraveler--aaron sprinkle

killing floor--VoL

murmur--r.e.m.

southern rock opera--drive-by truckers

nothing feels good--the promise ring

amelia's boot--erik brandt & the urban hillbilly quartet

straightaways--son volt

a.m.--wilco

summershine--VoL

s/t compilation--VoL

blonde on blonde--bob dylan

blood on the tracks--bob dylan

say your prayers--mike roe

little, big--terry taylor