from the punk to the bluegrass

Sometimes my concert choices make me laugh... This week saw me rock out Philly-style with Dr. Dog and then come perilously close to some almost slam-dancing at The Thermals show. Tonight I attended the E-Town taping of Chris Thile & The How To Grow A Band/JJ Grey & MOFRO at the Boulder Theater, which was just so... gosh darn civilized. I've listened to E-Town for years, but this was my first time to see a taping. I have no excuse as it's taped in Boulder... no excuse at all.

My first observation was that the Boulder Theater really really really needs to redo their balcony. Really. We figured front row in the balcony would be better seats than the middle of the floor, so we headed up shortly before the show started. The view was nice, but there was an incredibly invasive musty odor that's still lingering in my nostrils. Gross. Then there's the seats. Dear god. Not only is there no leg room to speak of, but the seats - I'm pretty sure - are originals from when the theater opened in the 30's. Ow, my sciatica.

It was quite interesting to see the taping. There was only one major malfunction - at the tail end of the Chris Thile interview, host Nick Forster's mike crapped out. As a result, we had to applaud for "once again, Chris Thile and The How To Grow A Band!", even though they had already left the stage. Haha. On the upside, we got a bonus How To Grow A Band song while they were fixing it! Chris and the guys played several songs from the album - I can remember - Wayside (Back In Time), How To Grow A Woman From The Ground,Watch 'At Breakdown, The Beekeeper, Dead Leaves And The Dirty Ground. I think there was another instrumental in there as well... The highlight for me was a cover of The Band's Ophelia, featuring Gabe Witcher on lead vocals for the only time all evening. A stunning rendition.

In between two mini How To Grow A Band sets was JJ Grey & MOFRO. They were very good, and I really enjoyed JJ's interview, but the "blues-rock" is just not for me. I found myself pretty bored by the time their 5 or 6 song set was over. Songs I know they played include: Country Ghetto, Circles, War, The Sun Is Shining Down. There were 1 or 2 more, but I can't remember what they might have been. For the encore both bands (plus hosts Nick & Helen Forster) jammed out to Muddy Waters' Mannish Boy. JJ and Chris each sang a verse, and when the "spelling" part of the chorus turned up for Chris, he took off with: M-A-N-D-O-L-I-N P-L-A-Y-E-R P-L-A-Y-I-N-G A-L-L T-H-E T-I-M-E. Well, that's what I caught, anyway... I think there was another word or two in there. Then he apologized... lol.

So, besides the leg-numbing chairs and the attic-y smell, it was a fun evening. They're taping an E-Town with Neko Case in a couple of weeks... maybe I'll go. In the meantime, my musical diversity continues tomorrow with the dream-pop of The Besnard Lakes and Dirty On Purpose and Tuesday with the experimental rock stylings of Man Man. Stay tuned.