just two days before this last christmas my family collected in new york where we spent our first night at the new leaf cafe (arguably, my favorite place in all of the city). there we talked and drank and ate and somewhere in the conversation i mentioned this indie band from seattle i had taken a liking to and my brother said something along the lines of oh yeah, i've heard them. i really like them.
that night when i got home inspiration struck. i looked up tour dates, found a concert in boston (where my brother now lives, and where i had yet to visit him) and booked us two tickets.
(there are times when procrastination pays).
on christmas morning i passed him the gift, which he unraveled to the tune of: who are these people?
me: but we just talked about them two days ago. you said you liked them.
him: oh. did i?
such is life. the good news is that the thought was not lost and in two months time i'd take a trip up north for a little quality time.
on this saturday night we hopped in cab to the paradise rock club and stood in line where we were met by the smell of herbal such-and-suchs and a group of people far grungier than ourselves.
i could have cared less. the whole thing was bliss. and my brother having boned up on his the head and the heart knowledge since december was well prepared.
there's nothing like live music is there? the communion between artist and audience. the feel of the drums in the body. the dimensions and layering that few recordings can really illuminate.
they were so good.
they were so, so good.
in this age of over-processed music where artists can rarely match what we hear on their cds--they were brilliant.
when they finished their set my brother turned to me and said: yeah, that was a good christmas gift.
(my brother wouldn't let me take a full video of the band, but in this age of instant media, i pulled one off of youtube from the very night we were there. and since it's connor's favorite song...)
ps: when we were leaving i totally recognized two members of the band just outside the door and in a moment of rare (really rare) social prowess i turned to them and told them just how brilliant we thought they were. and since we were a little star-struck (and crushing on just about every member of the band) just getting to talk to them for a moment was surreal. it was only later that we kicked ourselves for missing out on the photo opportunity. oh well, next time.
if you can get yourselves to a head and the heart concert do it. by all means. run to one.
and my favorite song? rivers and roads. heaven. absolute heaven.
