the new soiled dove

Tonight was another one of those decision-making nights. Up until a few days ago, I'd been planning to see Rasputina at the Bluebird. I have never heard their music, but cello rock intrigues me, and I thought it could be fun. Then Leah e-mailed me to see if I was going to the Gary Jules show at the Soiled Dove. I freely admit that, before tonight, the most I'd heard of Gary Jules was his Mad World cover for Donnie Darko, and maybe his songs from Scrubs and Grey's Anatomy. But I had been wanting to check out the Soiled Dove since they moved from downtown, plus the cover charge for Gary was $6 less than for Rasputina. Yup, I'm a cheap bastard.

I couldn't be happier with the choice I made tonight. I picked Leah up and we headed out to the Dove. It is a beautiful venue - very intimate with nary a bad seat in the house. We arrived mid- Jim Bianco set. We caught the last 4 songs: one about stalking, one about a break-up, a beautiful tune called Sing, and finally an unabashed love song. I didn't even realize it was Gary Jules playing with Jim (with some very nice harmonizing!!!) until Leah pointed it out to me. Told you I knew nothing about the guy. Jim Bianco is a funny, funny man. There were times when I forgot whether I was at a stand up comedy show or a music show. I know that banter annoys a lot of concert-goers, but to me it's one of the things that distinguishes a live show from a record. I love banter, and when it it as funny as tonight's, well - there's nothing better. We got a good stalking story, saw Jim deal with the guy next to me sneezing quite unnecessarily LOUDLY in the middle of a song AND asking an inane question (where did you first start playing music?) between songs. He was a treat, and I was a bit disappointed that we missed the first part of his set.

Then Gary Jules. Wow. From my limited experience of Mad World I didn't really know what to expect. I think he spent nearly as much time telling stories as he did playing music. So many stories that I would love to retell, but I have to advise you to just go see Gary for yourself. Some of the highlights include Gary talking a lot about his mom, then admitting that he's a total mama's boy, that the tattoos are just "wussoflage". Wussoflage is my new favorite word. Another great story was about how the Scrubs cast were among the first to see Gary play live, and how Zach Braff included all his friends from that time on the Garden State soundtrack... except for Gary. But he did eventually get into a Scrubs episode - the one with the "sensie" surgeon. You know those sensies - the ones that have tattoos and look like bikers, but talk about their mothers all the time.... Waaaaaait a minute... OK, so you had to be there. So go see Gary already.

The only disappointment to an amazing evening was the drunken couple to my left. Leah and I have decided that we are just magnets to the annoying. They arrived shortly after we did, and proceeded to talk to each other during every song and to make comments to the artists between every song (this is the guy who sneezed mid-song and asked Jim where he first started playing music). Other highlights include trying to sing along to every song without knowing the words and absolutely begging for Mad World - which was when I realized that they were probably there to hear THAT song. Now, I totally admitted that Mad World was pretty much the extent of my Gary Jules knowledge before tonight, but after seeing him play, you kinda forget about that overexposed cover song and appreciate the guy for his real singing and songwriting talents. That is, unless you're the annoying couple to my left.

The real corker was when Gary introduced a song as the one that finally stopped the 8000 e-mails he got every day from teenagers in black eyeliner telling him what Donnie Darko meant to them. The woman of the couple actually yelled out "Fuck you, asshole!". Seriously. I honestly don't think she was being particularly mean spirited, just that perhaps she had been one of the 8000 kids with black eyeliner... but still. Here's a guy who spends a night with a crowd where you can (otherwise) hear a pin drop, telling entertaining stories and singing heartfelt songs that HE wrote... how can you insult a guy like that for perhaps loathing, just a little bit, the fact that what he's best known for is a COVER song?!?!? I love Donnie Darko as much as anyone, but still I can see how Gary Jules would not want a cover song for a cult movie to be the thing that he's remembered for.

As I refuse to let assholes ruin great shows for me, I am taking nothing but good memories from tonight. I hope Gary Jules comes back real soon. If you EVER have a chance to see him, and like to really be entertained, take it. That is all. :)