2009 A Recap

or goodbye old friend. I'm going to miss you

Okay, so I've heard a number of people expressing their desire to slam the door on the backside of 2009. I can sympathize. There have been years where I've wanted to kick those particular 12 months square in the nuts with the pointiest of point shoes, torch the calendar and incinerate all thoughts and brain waves connected to the memories of said miserable time frame. I'm looking at you, 2001.

While I can empathize, I can't agree regarding this past year. Granted there have been some really shitty things that have occurred. Several family members and friends have battled some truly atrocious physical ailments, but thankfully they've all walked through that dark hallway to emerge in the light, healthier people for it. I've personally had a number of minor ups and downs for which I've had to adapt, but nothing really earth shaking. This year has actually been a pretty even balance between positive and negative.

2009 has proven to be rather historic. In January we witnessed the inauguration of our country's first black president. Once again a smart, elegant and congenial gentleman is leading our fair land. Through him the the world seems to be allowing us to take a mulligan for the prior eight hellish years. Now if only the Dems in Congress can grow a pair, stand up against the I-hate-everything-you-plan-to-do-but-have-no-viable-suggestions-to-repair-the-damage-my-party-has-flagrantly-done Republicans and do what's right for the country.

A girl can dream.

Then to top it off, both the Steelers and my boys of winter brought home the championship hardware!! Each succeeding in nail-biting, epic fashion--The Steelers with a last minute, incredible catch by Santonio Holmes and the Pens snatching the cup from the very team that shattered their souls the year before. Sweet, sweet redemption!!!

But by far, 2009 has been all about me.

My seven squared year on this blue planet has been a blessing and a blast! Not since 1989 have we had such a great run of musical entertainment.

It started back on Valentine's Day with a high-energy, hyperactive, throw-back concert by The English Beat. Dave Wakeling may be in his 50s, but DAMN he can still knock out the Ska beat.

A link to that post is here.

Then we traveled to lovely, downtown Teaneck, NJ for the first of many Rhett Miller solo shows. The venue was a little less intimate than desired. After sitting through the first three songs, I just had to run up to join the small crowd gathered around the stage and sing along. I cannot sit still when he performs and sadly for the people around me...I have to sing. Sorry. Rhett was a little rattled throughout parts of this particular show. Perhaps it was the venue...perhaps is was the fact he had just flown back from the coast and was flipping tired. But still he gave his all. He never disappoints, but then again you all know I think he is absolutely perfect.

This was the first time we got to meet our new Old 97's buddies, George and Maria. This is also when I taunted Mr. Miller, the forever Cowboys fan, by giving him a Steelers Championship shirt, resulting in him telling me I suck. That still makes me laugh.

A link to that post is here.

The next day held an evening with our other musical love, Francis Dunnery at a little coffee shop in lovely, downtown Phoenixville, PA near Valley Forge. We got to hang with him beforehand, sit in on the sound check and throw back a few cocktails afterwards with Tony our favorite merch guy. Another amazing evening with a fabulous storyteller and guitar master. Francis never disappoints either.

A link to that post is here.

We spent April Fool's Day with the hilarious David Sedaris. He is so entertaining! Dry, witty, slightly twisted...okay, more than slightly twisted. The only way to experience his writings is to hear it read in his own voice. We were in stitches the entire evening.

The merry month of May brought us a gift in the form of a Francis Dunnery house concert in a neighboring northern neighborhood. The location was the same as our first ever house concert. It was nice to see some familiar faces in the game room. He performed his Tall Blonde Helicopter Tour, which consists of Francis telling the story of his rise and fall as a music label's darling, coinciding with the end of his marriage as well as the end of his drinking witnessed through the songs of the album. It's always magical to spend an evening with this wonderful storyteller. The night went so swimmingly, Francis threw in a number of extra tunes.

That makes the score Francis: 2 Rhett: 1

A link to that post is here.

Then there came June. Aaaaaah, June!

Perhaps my favorite month of this entire year. The home of my ultimate Rhett/Old 97's fest. Four performances in seven days. It all started at Vintage Vinyl for an in-store performance by the one and only keeper of my fantasy heart, Rhett Miller. His new solo CD had just been released and he was doing tons of publicity in support of it. He teased us all with a sound check rift of Candy Apple Corkscrew Hair, then razz-ma-tazzed the small grouping with at least a dozen new and old tunes. You can hear Geo calling out a request in the video on my original post.

I was able to make amends for the Steelers shirt thang at the meet and greet by giving him a couple of things for his kiddos.

Then it was off to Hoboken for night two of the original four-night-no-repeat shows. Besides seeing George and Maria again, we finally got to meet my internet friend, Cindy at Maxwell's. We had a blast! She and I stood in the front singing and taking videos. The band was phenomenal--high energy, screaming vocals, sweat spraying everywhere. It was awesome and over waaaaay too quickly.

Part Deux was a road trip to Dewey Beach with my good bud, Kelly. Thanks to Kelly for indulging my fangirl self and tagging along. We stayed two doors down from the club and happened to run into Rhett on our way back from the beach... in my swimsuit... smelling of the sea... with crazy-assed beach, blown hair. Uggh!

The show was incredible, as they all are. We stood front and left center (mole side) with...guess who? George and Maria, who proceeded to get me very, very drunk. :) So much fun!

The link to that post is here.

Parte Tres was held in my own backyard, basically. A freebie at Hartwood Acres. It was a rain soaked, sun drenched evening, but the crowd was into it. George and Maria weren't present, but I met a sweet, sweet fan Annie during the downpour, whom my friends and I adopted for the evening. Another tremendous, kick-ass performance by the boys. Plus Annie and I hung around and got to talk to all the band members.

I know. It's getting monotonous. For you maybe, but for me... I can't get enough of him/them. Seriously.

A link to that post is here.

So the score is now Francis: 2; Rhett/Old 97's: 5

As our new anchor Rick says: Then the bottom dropped out.

We had nothing. Bupkis. Zilch. Nada. Until mid-August when Colin Hay came to town. He's no spring chicken, but his voice is still as clear as ever. We had very entertaining evening, especially watching his Brazilian wife interpretive dance around the stage. Another welcomed 80s comeback.

A link to that post is here.

September brought two great evenings. First up was another Francis house concert. This time in Malvern, PA at the home of his booker, Kate. We've been exchanging emails and phone calls for years, but this was the first time to actually meet her and Larry. It was Larry's birthday, so he got to call the set list. A fantastic way to start our vacation.

A link to that post is here.

Score: Francis: 3; Rhett: 5

We returned home to be treated to the jazzy pop sounds of Ireland's Bell X1 performing at our favorite club, Club Cafe. I was treated to an in-studio performance at WYEP that afternoon, but nothing prepared me for the unique experience of that concert.

A link to that post is here.

The October breeze brought Mike Doughty & his Question Jar show to our fair city. His voice is amazing! And the question jar bit is brilliant. Two hours of wit, scatting, infectious grooves AND a freshly pressed CD of the evening's performance. Sweet!

A link to that post is here.

November offered a mid-month road trip to Dallas for the CF Benefit Concert featuring... RHETT! Oh, like you're surprised. The billing for the event included Dallas locals, The O's and producer extraordinaire Salim Nourallah. Rhett played a private VIP meet and greet, as well as his 90 minute solo showcase. The crowd chatter was disappointing, but he's always worth the price of admission. Plus he was really working his long locks. Have I mentioned he's perfect? No. Added bonus, we got to visit with our dear gal pal, Myra Jean. Cindy drove up from Austin to join us for the affair, too.

Don't we look like we're having fun? We were. I know what you're thinking...what?! no photo of Rhett?! Oh, all right. If you insist.

A link to that post is here.

Score: Francis: 3, Rhett: 6

December. Dear, Dear December. Once again we started our vacation early with a back door invite to a private performance by 90s pop star, John Wesley Harding at WYEP. His classic English literary wit shown brightly that night. We had a great time being the loud table in the back. The evening rekindled our love and appreciation of JWH's music.

Our first stop on our jaunt across the PA pond was Philly and Francis. Sounds like some sort of cocktail, doesn't it? Anywho, other than house concerts, Francis will pretty much only play the Tin Angel. The evening was remarkable, filled with old favorites. It felt as though we were in someone's living room. We left the venue with lighter hearts.

Mid week brought us to another JWH freebie, this time at the university in which he is an artist in residence. The Cabinet of Wonders featured Todd Barry, Larry Murphy, a couple of writers and an hilarious skit written by Wes himself. An afternoon well spent.

A link to the post of these three shows is here.

Score: Francis: 4, Rhett: 6

And then there were the bookend Rhett shows. *sigh*

A quaint used bookstore near NYU hosted Rhett for a benefit for Housing Works. A lot of the people present were there for the opening act, TVs Jill Hennessy, but their eyes were opened to the beauty of witnessing the lovely blue-eyed one's talents. And boy did he ROCK IT! So much so he split the staging apart a bit which knocked his beer to the floor. I've said it before. He is adorable, especially when he flubs the lyrics. And of course we ran into none other than our soon to become old friends, George and Maria!

The end of the week found us north of New York in a frozen tundra named Pawling, NY. The Towne Crier Cafe was the setting for the final Miller-magic moment of my year. He was warm, confident and in his home element performing in front of some of his friends. This was his only Christmas show and we were lucky to be part of it. We hung out a bit with George and Maria, as well as one of Rhett's friends, Marcy afterwards. I can't think of a better way to end the Year of Murray. :D

The link to this post is here. (But, come on! You should remember this one. I only wrote it a couple days ago.)

Final tally: Francis: 4, Rhett: 8

The only thing that would have made me completely lose my mind is if I could have made it to Dallas this week for the outrageously epic four-night-no-repeat-evening-with.. stand the Old 97's played at the historic Sons of Hermann Hall. I have a feeling that experience will never be repeated. And frankly, I'm a little bitter about missing it. But what can you do. I have to keep my job. But if there was a time machine, I would totally go to there.

So that's it. My amazing year of Me. I cannot thank my ever-loving Geo for his unending patience with me as I reverted back to a crazy 16 year old. He is remarkable and the light of my life.

Thank you 2009. Here's hoping 2010 is just as noteworthy.

Another Spectacular Night At Club Cafe

or the hits just keep on coming!!

We are having a great run this year!

Okay, so Thursday night Geo and I shuffled off to our favorite club in the South Side, Club Cafe to see Mike Doughty perform. He used to be the lead singer for Soul Coughing long ago and far away, but now he's carved out quite a career as a solo artist.

Club Cafe is a delightfully intimate venue with very limited seating. We like to get to the club before the doors open to insure we get a front row table. We're old now and can't stand as long as we used to (except for Rhett Miller concerts, of course :D) so claiming a chair is imperative.

Anywho...turns out we were first in line. Odd. So I tried the door thinking the club was already open and lo and behold, who should be standing right in the doorway? Mike Doughty his own bad self! Feeling really stupid, but not stupid enough to pass up a good opportunity, I asked him if he'd mind signing a couple of CDs.

Me being all confident and poised, it went kinda like this:

Me: *blink* *blink* whispering: oh, would you sign my CDs?

Mike: What?

Me: mumble mumble...CDs...cough... sign please... mumble

Mike: Ooooookay. Sure. Did you take your meds today, Honey?

Okay. It wasn't that bad. He graciously complied, during which time I, being the dolt I am, said something super lame like "I just sent you a comment on Twitter." (*sigh* I'm such a nerd.) But again, he kindly smiled in acknowledgment and we all moved on.

Seriously. I'm a Dork. Like, an uber DORK. Ugh.

So the door opens, we plant ourselves at a front table and notice a question jar on stage. THE Question Jar of which I had heard tale. Sometimes when Mike goes on tour without a formal band, he puts a ginormous pickle jar out along with slips of paper for audience members to write inquiries which he answers during the show. It's a great tool for audience interaction. (I said "tool" he he)

Touring with Mike on this leg was a hill-billy looking, outstanding cello player named Andrew "Scrap" Livingston . They started the show with one of my faves "I Just Want the Girl in the Blue Dress to Keep on Dancing". Sadly, in our zeal to depart our abode to get to the cafe early to stake our table claim, I forgot my camera. But luckily there's this groovy thing called the interweb that has this great site called YouTube on which many people upload videos of all sorts of sophisticated things ranging from piano playing kitties to the most painful shots to the nuts ever witnessed. So here's a clip of the very song of which I spoke. FYI: that's Scrap playing with him.

I really love the sound of Doughty's solo work. He has a wonderfully deep voice and sings with an interesting, odd cadence. He scats a bit, too. The music's delightfully rhythmic and layered with jazzy overtones. It gets under your skin and grabs you, in a very good way. It's so infectious you can't not be-bop in your chair. I dare anyone to just sit still while he's playing. It can't be done.

Moving on...

In between songs, Scrap would draw a question from the jar and read it for Mike to answer showcasing his sense of humor and quick wit. Some of the questions were hilarious. The crowd really got into it. Made for a very fun evening. Here's a sampling of queries:

"Where did you eat dinner?" (Primanti's--which of course got a huge reaction)

"What's your pet peeve?" (People who don't follow the rules and yell out their inquiries instead of putting them in the jar.) That got a huge laugh from the crowd because a dude had just shouted a question from the audience and Mike had scolded him literally minutes before Scrap read that.)

If you were a dog, would you prefer Beggin' Strips or Snausages? (Snausages)

Did you ever want to be MC Scat Cat from the Paula Abdul video? (yes)

Did you forgive the crowd at Mr. Small's for not telling you your zipper was down until 5 songs in? (No! then he said something really funny and rude that pertained to a prior question which--believe it or not--I won't repeat. Go figure. But it was really funny.)

The set list included pretty much all of our favorites as well as a few "new to us" tunes: I Hear the Bells, White Lexus, Madeline, Circles, Busting Up a Starbucks, Looking at the World From the Bottom of the Well, Ossining, Real Love (a question jar request)...

Then he asked if the girl who requested Like A Luminous Girl on Twitter was there.

Hey! Wait... What?!

Dude! He was totally talking about me! I sheepishly raised my hand. Good thing, too because he had planned to play that tune in the late show, but sang it for me then. Sometimes that Twitter hickie is a marvelous thing.

Here's a funny thing...after the last song (a cover of Kenny Roger's The Gambler) the sham of the encore was exposed yet again. Much like Bell X1 a few weeks ago, Mike and Scrap decided to just spin around in their chairs then turn back to the audience--showing mock surprise, of course--after an appropriate length of applause and cheering to continue playing.

When it was all said and done he came back out for a meet and greet to sign whatever. The coolest thing though is they recorded the show and burned off copies for sale right then and there. Of course we had to buy one. Besides the proceeds went directly into their gas tank to defray tour costs. It was such a great show, how could we not contribute.

That CD is so much fun to listen to, I wish more artists would provide this same service. Plus they could make so much extra green.

Once again we left the South Side buzzing over another evening well spent. Our musical soul buoyant and sated.

Yeah. We are having a GREAT run this year.