here's what i learned this evening.

My Morning Jacket is just not for me. I have been trying to get into them for the past 3 years, to no avail. But even though their studio stuff didn't catch my interest, I kept hearing about how great they are live. So when I found out they were playing the Ogden I decided to give the live show a chance. I went with Leah, who like me has never gotten into the band, and the "other" Bridget, who knows some of the band members (she used to live in Louisville). And...

Yawn.

The first few songs were good, but then began the jamfest. I'm a 3 1/2-minute-pop-song kind of girl, not a jam kind of girl, and found myself very bored about an hour into the set. Fortunately for me, Leah was bored too, so we took off. Unfortunately it was about 5 below outside (no exaggeration) and we had no clear plan for getting back to Leah's place. So we decided to duck into the Irish Snug for a cocktail and to discuss our options.

We had taken the bus to the Ogden, but they ran less frequently later in the evening, and we didn't really know for sure what the schedule was. We decided to call a cab. An hour later, when the cab still hadn't shown up, Leah called Bridget and she so kindly came to pick us up. :) My legs are still numb from being outside. Cold sucks ass.

Oh, and I also missed a chance to meet in "real" life my friend Evonne from Via Chicago. She came to ass-cold Denver from lovely, balmy California for the shows. Between our arriving at the theatre at the tail end of the opening act and leaving early, we just didn't get a chance to meet up. Oh, and also, I missed Josh Ritter on Letterman because we waited for an hour for the stupid fucking cab that never showed up. Sad, sad.

The moral of the story is that I am glad that I gave MMJ a chance and no longer have to wonder what I'm missing. And also that I should always have a plan for getting back to my car when the temperature is below zero. The end.


Now playing:



It's been waaaaaay too long since I listened to this album. Conor's got a new record, Cassadaga, out on April 10, and an EP, Four Winds, due out on March 6. w00t!! So so so many songs to choose from this album to lyricize... but let's just go with the opener:

At The Bottom Of Everything

So there was this woman and
she was uh, on an airplane and
she's flying to meet her fiancé
sailing high above the largest ocean
on planet earth and she was seated
next to this man who you know
she had tried to start a conversation
but really the only thing
she heard him say was to order his bloody mary
and she's sitting there and she's reading
this really arduous magazine article about a
third world country that she couldn't
even pronounce the name of and
she's feeling very bored and very despondent
and then uh, suddenly there was this huge mechanical failure and one of the engines gave out
and they started just falling thirty thousand feet
and the uh, pilot's on the microphone and he's saying,
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, Oh My God, I'm Sorry"
and apologizing and she looks at the man and she says,
"Where are we going" and uh, he looks at her and he says,
"We're going to a party, it's a birthday party.
It's your birthday party, happy birthday darling.
We love you very, very, very, very, very, very, very much."
and then uh, he starts humming this little tune and it kind of goes like this, it's kinda...

One, Two, One, Two, Three, Four
We must talk in every telephone, get eaten off the web
We must rip out all the epilogues from the books that we have read
And to the face of every criminal strapped firmly to a chair
We must stare, we must stare, we must stare

We must take all of the medicines too expensive now to sell
Set fire to the preacher who is promising us hell
And in the ear of every anarchist that sleeps but doesn't dream
We must sing, we must sing, we must sing

And it'll go like this, alright,
While my mother waters plants my father loads his gun
He says, "Death will give us back to God, just like the setting sun
Is returned to the lonesome ocean."

And then they splashed into the deep blue sea
It was a wonderful splash

We must blend into the choir, sing as static with the whole
We must memorize nine numbers and deny we have a soul
And to this endless race for property and privilege to be won
We must run, we must run, we must run

We must hang up in the belfry where the bats in moonlight laugh
We must stare into a crystal ball and only see the past
And in the caverns of tomorrow with just our flashlights and our love
We must plunge, we must plunge, we must plunge

And then we'll get down there,
Way down to the very bottom of everything
And then we'll see it, oh we'll see it, we'll see it, we'll see it

Oh my morning's coming back
The whole world's waking up
Oh the city bus is swimming past
I'm happy just because I found out I am really no one

Brilliant.