I'll shine up my old brown shoes

It's been a fun week, if a bit sleepless. Thursday I was at Bender's, to see Fallout Orphan, and they had Karaoke going on in the main room. I did The Buzzcocks "Ever Fallen In Love", and pretty well if I do say. Then it was time for the show. It was supposed to have been just a two band bill, but apparently this band had driven in from Portland, only to find that their show was cancelled, so they got added in the first slot. They were called The Loveblisters, and I thought they were awesome. Kind of a jangle-pop thing with some Beach Boys style harmonies. They'll be touring again this Fall, they said, hopefully their next show will be better promoted (and attended). Then Fallout Orphan played, and were great as usual. I don't know why they don't have a huge following, they're so good, and every time I talk to someone new at their shows, they always say how much they dig it, but sometimes it seems like I'm the only one who goes to their shows to see them. The headliner was a band called The Young Republic, a nine piece band out of Boston. Singer and guitarist, Guitarist/Pedal Steel, Violinist/Vocalist, Violinist/Trumpet, Violinist/Percussion (Yes, 3 violinists), Flautist, Keyboards, Bass, and Drums. They had a nice alt-country/country swing kind of thing going, and I liked it, but I thought their songs suffered from overly complicated arrangements at times. They were also horribly mismatched with the other bands on the bill. One other sour note was the side of the crowd, I don't think it ever got over 25, counting members of other bands. That happens sometimes, especially during the week, and I imagine if you're in a touring band on your tour, you have to deal with it. But it must be like rubbing salt in the wound when next door in the main room there were close to 100 people rocking along to karaoke.

Friday night it was the usual happy hour debauchery at the LL, followed by more karaoke at Mori with a bunch of LL folks. Some great singers in that crew, and I even got one of the stagefright-stricken ones to sing along with me on some Cheap Trick.

Last night it was a three band bill at that other club. Started off with The Denver Gentlemen, which is mostly Jeffrey-Paul (of 16 Horsepower) and assorted friends. They were interestng mostly for their instrumentation, singer/guitarist, violinist, drummer, and xylophonist. Definitely not something you see every day. Then it was Born in the Flood, who were awesome as always, and played a couple of new songs. They said they're going to be working on a new full-length this Fall, which should be rocktacular. The headliner was Bright Channel. They're very good at what they do, and they're very popular, unfortunately their style of music does almost nothing for me. Kind of a psychadelic, swirling guitar thing. Without deconstructing it completely, I guess I just like more melody and lyrics.

Alan will get home early from work