wear a sweater!!!

Tonight I got to see Built to Spill at this big, drafty, old theater in town. The drafty part was nice because the last time I was there to see Modest Mouse this summer, the entire building was this giant sweat factory. Even my ears were sweating and that's some shit.

Mike Johnson performed first--I was told he was the bass player for Dinosaur Jr.--and he was pretty good. His songs were slow, but I really liked his voice. He played a cream-colored Fender Telecaster, and it kinda made me drool. I really want one of those, especially after hearing how it sounds firsthand in such a large room. Mike and his bass player sat down for the entire set, so it wasn't the most exciting performance I'd ever seen--far from it--but his songs were pretty good, and he kept his set short and sweet.

Built to Spill must have ran up on stage or something, because no sooner than I had went upstairs for a beer, I saw the band with instruments in hand and pretty much ready to go. It took me two songs to swill my watered down Budweiser and head back downstairs (where beer was forbidden to tread) and watch them play up close. I've heard so much about Built to Spill, but I'd never really heard them before. I knew they came out of the movement as Sonic Youth and the Pixies and stuff like that, and I love those bands, so why not? It was only 15 bucks anyway.

It feels odd to go to a show when I'm not at all familiar with the band's music. I mostly went because Built to Spill is a respected name in the music circles I frequent, and I hate it when people in this town complain that there's no good shows and when there is a good show, no one shows up. Oh yeah, there was pretty much no one at this show either, just like both Melvins shows, the Unicorns show, blah blah blah.

The turn out was good enough though. I don't really go to concerts for the crowd anyway. I usually zone everyone else out and focus solely on the stage. I'm completely mystified by live music, unless it really sucks. Then I just get cranky. I've seen plenty of great bands put on so-so shows, and plenty of shitty bands put on great shows. That's just the way it is, I guess. Built to Spill turned out to live up to their billing. They're one of the better bands I've seen live, though their performance wasn't anything special. Sometimes they got too long and jam-y, but for their songs alone, it was worth the money. Doug Martsch played some stirring guitar parts and was kinda like a lo-fi guitar hero. His voice was pretty good too, but it was really secondary to the music; he was able to say alot more with a quick riff or change than his lyrics for the most part. They were also really loud, but not annoying loud, just powerful loud, and dynamic, and that's what I love to see. If you're going to make my ears ring, it had better be fucking worth it.

I also liked how classy they were. No extended set-up time, no mindless banter between songs. Doug just gave simple waves and thank yous. They also played for quite a long time...maybe an hour and a half or more...and they didn't bother with an encore. They didn't really need to. It was nice to see real rock stars not to have to pull all the rock star bullshit (though honestly, I really do love encores--they're just so silly). Now I have to go buy some of their albums and play them really loud.

All the guitar heroics made me want to run home and play guitar. Not that I'm good or anything, but I love to play, and watching Built to Spill got me all inspired. I said some quick goodbyes at the show and did my best to avoid the bars, but I was only a block away when my cell phone went off. It was my friend C. He and G. were out on the town looking for something to do. Turned out they were just a block away. I really wanted to go home, but I told them I'd hang out for a bit, and I'm glad I did. C. was pretty hammered. I followed them over to a bar and G. bought me a drink. Outside the bar, we were talking to some uber fine Asian hipster. She said she was a poli-sci major, but it didn't matter. I was pretty much infatuated. It doesn't take much really; but she was super smart and really pretty, and that's a deadly combination. She went off with her friends and did her thing, we went off and did ours. I had a drink with C. and G., and I think they were both out chasing tail, so they wanted to head off to another bar. I followed them out and parted ways and made the walk home. It's kinda frigid out tonight. It might be in the 30s or something.

I stopped at 7-Eleven on the way and picked up a six pack of New Castle Brown, but forgot to get the toilet paper I keep forgetting to buy. I didn't remember, of course, until I got home. I played guitar for a bit and then kinda took a nap on the couch for a bit, and then I bundled up and at like 3:30 in the morning, made the mile or so walk back to the 7-Eleven to buy two four packs of Charmin. I think I'd rather walk alone in the city in the middle of the night; here, it gets like a ghost town, which is way spookier than the muggers and drug addicts.