This Girl's Life Among the Electrical Lights

FBB Scrivener and I caught the New Pornographers show last night. Fantastic, electrifying, energizing show! I semi-sang and semi-danced and semi-grooved in the dark, while Scriv socially butterflied the playhouse (I didn’t know coeds from our state engineering university were so hot) and introduced concertgoers to one another.

This isn’t going to be a well-written concert review; I’m a bit too overwhelmed at work and with life to Paste this one. If you’re looking for a great write-up, check out Bad Tempered Barbara’s review. You should read her blog daily. If you want to be a cool kid.

I didn’t playlist the show, so I’ll just tell you that New Pornographers performed all the good ones (except for “Chump Change”), from one end of their catalog to the other. My favorite number was “The Laws Have Changed.” I always along with Neko on that one — and I kept up with the much-adored lass during that song. Luckily, the band was quite loud and my voice didn’t offend my fellow concertgoers.

Speaking of Neko (because I know you boys are wondering), she was casually dressed in jeans and a top. She played the tambourine. I could play the tambourine in a band — but I’d play it more like Betty Cooper, banging it on my hip instead Neko’s style with the heel of her hand. “Sugar, Sugar,” anyone?

I once dined at the fabulous Walter's Hotdog Stand, across the street from New Rochelle High, the school on which the Archies comics is based.

The band had a comfortable, friendly vibe, which spread among the near-sellout crowd. They staged the indie Canadian version of a George Clinton show, with some members (including the wonderfully coiffed Dan Bejar) coming on and off the stage throughout the two hours (and two encores).

We missed the first act, but I enjoyed the second act — Emma Pollack (according to the Barbara Zombie, she used to be in the Delgados). Lovely Scottish accent. I’ll probably download some of her stuff this week.

To summarize: Show was good. Tickets should be purchased in your hometown. Neko is still hot. Anyone looking for a tambourine girl?

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Who's Gonna Mess with My Stuff Now?

Grief is becoming part of my week. First I mourn the death of the Green Monkey Music Project, then the great, Nudie-suited Porter Wagoner, and now I find we've lost Robert Goulet, too. Let's mourn his passing in style by viewing his last great role:

Who's going to be my excuse now for messing with my stuff? Pistols at Dawn or Grant Miller might work — but I don't know if either gent can soft-shoe it like Robert could.

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Nobody Rocks It Like R.E.M. Rocks It

R.E.M.'s first (official) live album was released a couple of weeks ago. I've been surprised by how many neophytes have told me they didn't realize how good my beloveds are on stage. Sad, isn't it? So, dear readers, here's a live clip from the boys to prove they rock it like nobody rocks it.

Don't you just adore Peter's striped pants? And Dan's willingness to laugh at his once ass-whupped self?

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The Day the Music (Really) Died

It’s with a sad heart that I direct you to the final Green Monkey Music Project. Blog diva BeckEye mastered this mix, a musical battle of the sexes. I was too late tossing my hat into the ring, but I wasn't missed. The tunes choices are fantastic. I urge you to check it out.

Green Monkey Music Project, we hardly knew ye.

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Mix Tape Friday: The Monster Mash Mix

Halloween, next to Christmas, was my favorite holiday when I was a kid. When you spend those first ten years (well, okay, nearly fifty years) living in an imaginary world, there’s nothing better than getting to wear a costume — and you got candy, too! I spent weeks thinking of just the right costume. My favorite get-up was as a gypsy — mainly because I got to wear lots and lots of Mama’s (1970s-era, mind you) baubles.

And so I also spent weeks pulling tracks for today’s Halloween mix tape. Splotchy smartly jumped the gun with his (now, sadly, defunct) Green Monkey Music Project’s Can’t Wait for Halloween mix. This posed a bit of a problem, as several of these (brilliant) tracks were on my initial list. But I love a challenge. And I set some rules:

• Cannot use any song included on the GMMP Can’t Wait for Halloween mix — or “Monster Mash” or “Thriller.”
• Must include the same number of tracks as on Splotchy’s mix (51).
• Cannot use any track featured on previous Mix Tape Fridays. (Damn my rules and OCD tendencies; “Attack of the Ghost Riders” and “Blood Makes Noise” would have been cool on this mix.)
• Cannot include an artist twice — except, of course, for R.E.M. Because R.E.M. is always the exception to the rule.

And now, dear music zombies, here’s your Halloween weekend mix:

NAHPI: Do They Know It’s Hallowe’en?

The Specials: Ghost Town

David Bowie: Scary Monsters and Super Creeps

The B-52’s: Devil in My Car

The Black Lips: I Saw a Ghost (Lean)

The Minus 5: Dr Evil: Doctor of Evil

Beulah: A Good Man Is Easy to Kill

Natalie Merchant: Sympathy for the Devil

Roky Erickson & The Aliens: Night of the Vampire

R.E.M.: I Walked with a Zombie

Wilco: Spiders (Kidsmoke)

Ted Leo & The Pharmacists: I’m a Ghost

The Pixies: Ed Is Dead

XTC: Poor Skeleton Step Out

Daniel Johnston: Casper the Friendly Ghost

Serge Gainsbourg: Bloody Jack

eels: My Beloved Monster

Belle & Sebastian: Sukie in the Graveyard

Imogen Heap: Spooky

Talking Heads: Psycho Killer

Suicide: Ghost Rider

Neutral Milk Hotel: Ghost

The Rocky Horror Picture Show OST: Over at the Frankenstein Place

Jeff Buckley: Witches Rave

Elvis Costello: Spooky Girlfriend

John Wesley Harding: Your Ghost Don’t Scare Me No More

The Mountain Goats: The House That Dripped Blood

Pavement: The Killing Moon

Neko Case: Ghost Wiring

Guided by Voices: Bright Paper Werewolves

Jenny Lewis + The Watson Twins: Run Devil Run

The Decemberists: Shankhill Butchers

Annie Lennox: Love Song for a Vampire

Belly: Witch

Badly Drawn Boy: Bewilderbeast

The Patti Smith Group: Ghost Dance

Kingsbury Manx: Baby You’re a Dead Man

Richard & Linda Thompson: Wall of Death

Robyn Hitchcock: My Wife and My Dead Wife

The Replacements: Rock ‘n’ Roll Ghost

Sufjan Stevens: They Are Night Zombies

The Lollipop Shoppe: You Must Be a Witch

Afghan Whigs: The Vampire Lanois

New York Dolls: Frankenstein

Count Five: Psychotic Reaction

R.E.M.: Burning Hell

The Sonics: The Witch

The Vaselines: Monsterpussy

George Clinton: R&B Skeletons

Gorillaz: Dracula

The Rolling Stones: Dancing with Mr. D

Here are your zipped bags of tricks and treats, kiddies — so don’t TP my lawn or egg my car.

UPDATES

1. Because there are so many tracks on this mix, I split the songs among two zipped files. If you want all 51, you’ll have to download the tricks and the treats.

2. Another site copied the links to many of my Dylan covers, which is eating up my daily bandwidth at MyDataBus. You may need to come back this weekend to complete your downloads. Sorry!

Be sure to listen to The Minus 5’s “Dr. Evil: Doctor of Evil.” Rumor has it the song is one of Little Steven’s fave tunes. BTW, if you haven’t heard Little Steven’s syndicated garage band show, track it down; always something cool spinning on those turntables.

"Do They Know It’s Hallowe’en?" was a great eMusic find two years ago. It was released in 2005 by Vice Records, under the band name The North American Hallowe'en Prevention Initiative (NAHPI). All proceeds were donated to UNICEF. The NAHPI includes appearances by Arcade Fire's Win & Regine; Redd Kross' Steve McDonald; Beck; R.E.M.'s one-time drummer Joey Waronker; Buck 65; Rilo Kiley's Jenny Lewis & Blake Sennett; David Cross; Roky Erickson; Devendra Banhart; Sloan's Chris Murphy; Elvira, Mistress of the Dark; Smoosh's Asya & Chloe; Feist; Sonic Youth's Thurston Moore; Gino Washington; Sparks' Russel Mael; Les Savy Fav's Syd Butler; Subtitle; Islands’ J'aime Tambeur; Sum 41's Stevo; Malcolm McLaren; Inuit throat singer Tagaq; Peaches; That Dog's Anna Waronker; Postal Service's Jimmy Tamborello; Wolf Parade's Dan & Spencer; Yeah Yeah Yeah's Karen O.

R.E.M.'s "Burning Hell" has one of the most cerebral opening verses ever recorded in Athens: Women got legs / Men got pants / I got the picnic / You got the ants.

Don't miss the very end of Daniel Johnston's "Casper the Friendly Ghost." It’s my favorite five seconds of this mix.

Because I shot my Zevon wad back in September, I was unable to include “Werewolves of London” or “Excitable Boy” on this mix. It’s always fun to find the loophole in rules — even those you set for yourself — so here’s the promo video for “Werewolves of London”:

And now I'm off to get a big dish of beef chow mein. Happy Halloween, kids.

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The Cup 25: Parting Glances

This post marks the debut of new series here at A Cup of Coffey, where I’ll occasionally (read: when I have nothing else to write about) post about my favorite movies.

One night in early 1986, that year’s beau and I hit the double feature at The Screening Room. We’d read good reviews about one of the films, My Beautiful Laundrette. The first film screened was an independent we hadn’t heard of: Parting Glances. I was so captivated by Parting Glances, I barely remember that first viewing of My Beautiful Laundrette (even Daniel Day Lewis at his sexiest!).

Why am I writing about Parting Glances tonight? Because our beloved blog vivant, Coaster Punchman, is on the host committee for a special screening of the restored film — playing next week, Oct. 29, in New York City.


Some of the cast may be in attendance. I wish I could be in attendance. You can be in attendance. Get the details here — and take my seat, you lucky NYCers. Take it from CP and me: Don’t miss it. Get dolled up. See a great movie. Hobnob with great actors. Cocktail with CP and Poor George. Show Manhattan what a great host CP is.

Parting Glances is the first film I saw that realistically dealt with AIDS. Four years before Longtime Companion, six before the Broadway debut of Angels in America — more than a year before Reagan uttered the word in public. But Parting Glances didn’t win me over just because AIDS was part of the story. It's not an issue film; it's a slice-of-life movie. The characters — particularly Michael and Nick — won my heart, and have stayed alive for me these twentysomething years.

The story revolves around a gay couple, Michael and Robert, who live in New York City. Robert's about to go to Africa for a two-year work assignment; Michael’s staying in NYC. Michael's ex-beau, Nick (played by Steve Buscemi), is a rock star and MTV fixture; he also has AIDS. Michael cooks for and takes care of Nick. The love those two share is touching, sweet, real.

Steve Buscemi made his screen debut as Nick. He’s been one of my favorite actors since this role. Don’t you love it when you discover a young actor in an early role, and follow every step of his career with him?

I love slice-of-life films. This movie takes place over two days. Much of the film revolves around a farewell party for Robert hosted by the couple's friend, Joan (Kathy Kinney, who later played Mimi on The Drew Carey Show. I could never believe the Mimi character because I knew the Joan character — a loving, vivacious, kind woman).

Parting Glances was among the first five DVDs I bought, and I think it was one of the first films I bought on VHS. It has been on my Top 25 list since 1986. What puzzles me is Logo never plays the movie — although Longtime Companion seems to play weekly.

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The Divine Miss E

C’est si bon to see a legend live. That’s how I spent my Saturday evening: in Symphony Hall, experiencing the still-sexy, still-sizzling, still-scintillating Eartha Kitt perform with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra.

The woman still has it.

Orson Welles called her “the most exciting woman in the world” — and he nailed it (the description, not the woman, not that I know of). This tour is to celebrate Eartha Kitt’s eightieth birthday. The birth certificate proves it — but her body hides it well. Very well. She still has legs someone thirty years younger would love to have. Her dress was slit up to there — and she made there proud.

And, damn, did she work it. She slivered. She shimmied. Flirted, teased, tantalized. She even Charleston’ed. I want to wear eighty just like Eartha Kitt.

Her stroll onto the ASO stage wasn’t the first time I saw Ms. Kitt that day. High school BFF Janice and I saw her while we shopped around Virginia-Highland Saturday afternoon. Eartha was a bit more … earthy ... during those pre-show hours — sans makeup, her hair pulled back. Lord, is she tiny.

Eartha performed two sets, singing tunes such as “C’est Si Bon,” “All by Myself,” and “Just an Old-fashioned Girl.”

Her voice is still strong, still unique — and she growled for us a couple of times, too. The sold-out crowd (deservedly) gave her several standing Os. As she left the stage after her final set, I mentioned to Jayne that I loved the set, but would have loved to have heard my fave — and out-of-season — “Santa Baby.”

God loves me. Eartha came back on stage for the encore — and purred “Santa Baby” for us.

Grrrrrl.

My one regret: I didn't take my digital camera with me, assuming the ASO would discourage photos in the hall. Dammit if Eartha didn't come out post-show to pose for photos and meet her fans. She's the coolest of the cool.

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Mix Tape Friday: The Rainbow Connection

In honor of this weekend’s AIDS Walk, I’m goin’ all rainbow on you with a mix of colors. I unfortunately found out about the AIDS Walk too late to raise funds, but I plan to walk this Sunday to show my support and to remind folks that, yes, people can still contract AIDS.

However, if you wish to donate funds for my Making Strides for Breast Cancer Walk next Saturday, click here. I’m shameless — and determined to raise $1,500.

I take these mix tapes way too seriously, so of course I set a couple of rules for putting together this one: (1) five songs per color; and, (2) avoid more obvious color choices (“Purple Rain,” “Orange Crush,” “Red Rain,” “Blue Suede Shoes,” "Purple Haze"). It was damn hard to narrow down blue tunes (sorry, Lucinda, but Barbara would be all over me if I cut “Blue Monday”).

Okay, let’s stop writing and begging — and let’s start dancing and singing.

• The Rolling Stones: She’s a Rainbow

• Bees: Voices Green and Purple

• Gogol Bordello: Start Wearing Purple

• One Block Radius: Purple and Orange

• Nas: Purple

• Snoop Dogg: Don’t Blow My High (Purple Haze)

• New Order: Blue Monday

• Rod Stewart: True Blue

• Tommy James & The Shondells: Crystal Blue Persuasion

• R.E.M.: Pale Blue Eyes

• Leonard Cohen: Famous Blue Raincoat

• Tom Waits: All the World Is Green

• Robyn Hitchcock & The Egyptians: Dark Green Energy

• George Baker Selection: Little Green Bag

• The Lemon Pipers: Green Tambourine

• Elvis Costello: Green Shirt

• Donovan: Mellow Yellow

• Yo La Tengo: Yellow Sarong

• Wussy: Yellow Cotton Dress

• Music Machine: Double Yellow Line

• Pearl Jam: Yellow Ledbetter

• Beck: Burnt Orange Peel

• 10,000 Maniacs: Orange

• Moonbabies: The Orange Billboard

• Alexi Murdoch: Orange Sky

• Tori Amos feat. Damien Rice: The Power of Orange Knickers

• Cat Power: Red Apples

• Neil Young: Red Sun

• Pernice Brothers: Red Desert

• The Replacements: Red Red Wine

• Sweet 75: Red Dress

• Wire: Pink Flag

• The Flaming Lips: Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots (Pt.1)

• XTC: Pink Thing

• Stephen Malkmus: Pink India

• Nick Drake: Pink Moon

• Sarah McLachlan: The Rainbow Connection

Not up to clicking and downloading each track? Here’s your pot of zipped gold.

There are some great psychedelic garage bands on this mix. If you don’t yet own the Nuggets box set, Haahnster and I strongly encourage you to save your allowance and pick it up before the month is out.

Find the Stipe! That's obviously Mr. Stipe singing the "Pale Blue Eyes" cover — but Michael's also backing another colorful artist. Can you find his backing vocals? Bonus points if you can also find the visiting Peter Buck.

"Green Shirt" is probably my favorite Elvis Costello tune evah. It's the song that took me from liking his very early hits to being obsessed with everything he recorded. It also reminds me of those fun, carefree college days. Give it a listen if you're not familiar with it.

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Bumper Sticker Du Jour

Finally — a campaign I can get behind!

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Easy as 1-2-3

There’s another great Green Monkey Music Project over at Splotchy’s place. I got to play this time — and I earned my GMMP Master Badge badge in the process. If only I could get that Making a Fire badge, too …

This mix is a fun, elementary one: alphabetical tracks. Herr Splotch asked the contestants to pick a geometric to get our ABCs.

I wound up with Z — last, but certainly not least. I whined at first (how many songs beginning with Z can you think of?), but in minutes I had thirteen tracks. I decided not to take the easy “Ziggy Stardust” route (although my Wilco and Bauhaus covers are pretty cool, and one can never go wrong with Bowie).

I narrowed it down to what I think are five cool Z tunes:

• R.E.M.: Zither
  
• Brooklyn Funk Essentials: Zurna Preserve
  
• Guided by Voices: Zap
  
• Stan Getz feat. Astrud Gilberto: Zazueira
  
• Young Marble Giants: Zebra Trucks

Show of hands for those surprised to find an R.E.M. track among my Zs? Anyone?

Here’s a bonus that didn’t make the cut:

• Louis Armstrong: Zip-a-dee-doo-dah

If I had read Splotchy’s e-mail more closely, I would have known I was on the hook for just one track — but who could cut any of these beautz?

Click on over to check out the As through the Zs.

Show of hands for those who love Splotchy and GMMP!

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Ryan Adams and the Beloveds

Is there anything better than a lovely autumn Sunday? It’s still a bit too hot here for October, but that didn’t stop my good day.

I spent the afternoon — the lovely, sunny, warm afternoon — at a neighborhood arts festival a few miles from my ‘hood. The Occasionally Beloved Engineer’s band played early in the afternoon, and I hate missing an opportunity to feed my inner groupie. The OBE’s band played a solid hour of damn good cover tunes — everything from The Clash to The Killers. I should pout, though, since OBE didn’t play an R.E.M. tune for me.

The Occasionally Beloved Engineer jams with his boys.

I also got a chance to hook up (and share a beer) with Scrivener and his daughters (his daughters drank apple juice) at the festival. His girls are lovely and lively, and I enjoy every minute I spend with Scrivener.

The heat and the beer went a bit to my head, but luckily I had just enough time for a late-afternoon nap before my night out.

Is there anything more luxurious than a Sunday afternoon nap?

And that night out was Ryan Adams and The Cardinals at the Fox Theater. Pal Cindee scored some good seats, and we prayed for weeks that we’d score Good Ryan.

We scored.

Ryan performed two sets, for a total of about two hours. He covered much of his catalog — “Sylvia Plath” and “Cold Roses,” “Two” and “Bartering Lines,” “Wild Flowers” and “Let It Ride” — and several more.

I think Ryan likes me. I’ve scored Good Ryan both times I’ve seen him — last night and last summer. Supposedly, Bad Ryan took the stage his second night last summer … because, I’m sure, he knew I wasn’t there.

My favorite song of the night closed out the first set. I went to the show with the most rabid Oasis fan in Atlanta, and the band starts playing the opening notes of “Champagne Supernova.” We’re squealing and jumping up and down — much like Scrivener’s daughters on the playground. But wait … the words aren’t quite right. Ryan and the band teased us with that opening to “I See Monsters.” Excellent!

Ryan didn’t talk much during the first set, but chatted a good bit during the second. He thought the Fox was “a nice joint.” He seemed relaxed and healthy. They didn’t play an encore and received some boos when they didn’t return to the stage — but a check of setlists from this year’s tour showed he isn’t doing encores this year. I would have loved to hear him play “Wonderwall” — but I’m glad he played well.

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Mix Tape Friday: Mighty Aphrodite

I think we need girls gettin' groovy to guide us into the weekend. There’s no real theme here today, other than we’re featuring only female vocalists. Well, maybe there is a theme; these are some of my favorite songs.

You go, ladies!

Kirsty MacColl: In These Shoes

Jill Sobule: I Wanna Be a Supermodel

Imani Coppola: Legend of a Cowgirl

Amy Winehouse: You Know I'm No Good

Labelle: Lady Marmalade

Lucinda Williams: Hot Blood

Madonna: Music

Holly Golightly: A Length of Pipe

P.J. Harvey: Big Exit

Moe Tucker: Too Shy

Rilo Kiley: The Moneymaker

The Pretenders: Mystery Achievement

Suzanne Vega: Blood Makes Noise

Yeah Yeah Yeahs: Maps

Björk: Human Behaviour

Annie: Chewing Gum

10,000 Maniacs: Candy (Everybody Wants)

Bananarama: Robert De Niro's Waiting

The Pipettes: ABC

The B-52's: Deadbeat Club

Regina Spektor: Better

Sam Phillips: I Need Love

Joan Osborne: Right Hand Man

Joan Jett & The Blackhearts: Do You Wanna Touch Me

Aretha Franklin: Chain of Fools

Gladys Knight & The Pips: On and On

Throwing Muses: Ruthie's Knocking

Francine Reed: Wild Women

Here’s the Moxie’d mix zip, in case you’re not up to downloading each individual track.


Find the Stipe! Where’s my darlin’ Michael hiding out and singing with today? Bonus points if you can also find Peter Buck.

Lucinda Williams’ “Hot Blood” is one helluva sexy song. I love the way she purrs “Washin' your clothes, gettin' all the dirt out.” And, speaking of helluva sexy songs, Joan Osborne’s “Right Hand Man” nails it, too.

The B-52’s “Deadbeat Club” is a sentimental favorite. Cosmic Thing is their album about Athens, and this song reminds me the things I did and places I went during my UGA days — toga parties, Allen’s, parties in Normaltown (where I first saw The B-52’s perform). Ah, my misspent youth.

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I Come to You on Bended Finger

You’ve seen the pink ribbons, you’ve heard the pleas. October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and many of our beloved bloggers are doing their part to raise funds for breast cancer research. The Pugged cousin recently completed the Breast Cancer 2 Day, walking thirty miles and raising more than $1,000. Blogging lovelies Tenacious S and Lulu are touting their assets again at Boobie-Thon (boys, if you haven't visited this site, you must ... away from the office, of course).

Now it’s my turn.

I’m lacin’ ‘em up and walkin’ for a cure. I’ve signed up for the Making Strides Against Breast Cancer three-mile walk — Saturday morning, October 27. Yeah, I know; the cousin lapped me ten times — but I’m older than she is. And I showed my cleavage last year.

Here’s where you come in.

I’m taking advantage of our virtual friendship and begging for donations. I want to match Marni’s $1,000. Give a little, give a lot; every dime helps. I promise to make you proud. And I'll give you all the props this blog will allow.

Click here if you wish to donate to my cause.

Cancer is a big concern in my family, so this is important to me. We lost my dad to liver cancer two years ago. My sister-in-law (so far, successfully) battled breast cancer. My great-aunt had breast cancer, and eventually died from another form of cancer. My mother’s mother and grandmother both succumbed to cancer. It’s a horrible disease — so we need to grab every opportunity to fight back.

If you're in the Atlanta area, join me at the walk! Or sponsor someone in your town. Just do something.

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Maybe You've Noticed

my virtual disappearance during the last week — scant posts, scant visits to your blogs. It's just been one of those weeks. I should be back in a day or two.

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A Bit of a Glitch

MyDataBus is messing with me today ... on par with the rest of the week. We'll get this week's mix tape — a Might Aphrodite classic-in-the-making — up and running as soon as possible, once I slap that online glitchy b*tch into shape.

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A Bird, Some Truckers

My concert season seems to be as nonstop as Bob Dylan’s tour. Let’s catch up on a couple of great shows I have yet to tell you about.

Andrew Bird @ Variety Playhouse (Sept. 13)

This was my first time seeing Andrew Bird. To be honest, I wasn’t all that familiar with him until FBB Scrivener gave me a CD of MP3s filled with aural goodness last fall. I was hooked. So of course I jumped at the chance when Scrivener asked if I wanted to join his entourage for the show.

And what a show it was.

It’s hard to describe Andrew Bird. In an industry where “original” is overused … he’s truly an original. He whistles as brilliantly as he plays violin and guitar. His music is as much of-the-moment indie as it is something from the 1920s. I spent much of the show with my eyes closed, letting his songs take me to other worlds, other times. (Crikey. I just went back to writing like a pretentious college paper critic, didn’t I? But it’s true, kids.)

The show was brilliant. At times the lighting reflected his image on the side walls, giving us a bit of a Polynesian puppet show. I tried snapping shots of the shadows … but you’ve seen my concert photography enough to know the shots didn’t come through.

In case you’re not familiar with Andrew Bird, here he is on David Letterman a few months back:




Drive-by Truckers @ Variety Playhouse (Sept. 28)

Can you believe that this Georgia-bred and Athens-worshipping gal has never seen the Drive-by Truckers? I’ve loved their albums lo these many years, but had yet to see them live. The Northwest Doppelganger gave me sh*t about that, so I knew it was a must for 2007.

Thank God I have pushy pals.

I’m sorry, Dale, but I missed your beloved Amy Sedaris. I was handed a rush project late Friday, and didn’t get out of the office until nearly 8 p.m. But Baby Got Books’ Tim had a grand time with your girl.

This was one of the most entertaining shows I’ve seen in a while. Patterson Hood (this month’s crush) was in fine form. I haven’t seen anyone have that much fun on stage since Glenn Tilbrook back in January. He was charming. He was funny. He broke my heart and made me laugh with his songs. As did the rest of the band. For two and a half hours. As my co-concertgoer said, “They sound like Charlie Daniels and The Byrds had a bunch of children.” We’re both Southern-bred, so we know our Southern rock.

The band played a lot of new songs from their upcoming album (and a couple that didn’t make it), as well as some of their fans' faves. I walked out eagerly awaiting that 2008 release.

Patterson Hood, workin’ it.

See that Chia-Petted head in the bottom right corner of the photo? His hair looked … fake. I so wanted to yank the back to see if it came off. But I’m weird that way.

The crowd was very UGA, rather homogenous. The guys sported khaki shorts, Hog's Breath Saloon T-shirts (seriously, two to every one Allman Brothers T-shirt), sandals, high-fives, and pumping fists. The gals were overdressed, working the floor in four-inch platform sandals and dresses that I would hang in the T-shirt section of my closet.

Guys, please explain the Y-chrome phenomenon of shouting lyrics into each other’s faces. I don’t get the thrill of someone an inch from your mouth, shouting the lyrics being sung. And yet I see those college boys doing it all the time. Is it to give their pumping fists a breather?

Get online now, kids, to check your local listings for Andrew Bird and Drive-by Truckers. You need to get out of the house. You need to experience something new. You need to get all raunchy and Southern. Tell ‘em Beth sent you.

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I Hate Missing the Good Parties

So, Coaster Punchman and BeckEye were lovely dancing queens. And Evil Genius fed the beast with all those cool Chicago boys we crush on.

*sigh*

I hate being left out of the good parties.

Well, I attended an Atlanta’s blogger event last week, too. I had lunch with my cousin — the now-dog-tired Marni of It’s a Pug’s Life — and we talked her friend into starting his own blog. We even gossiped about some of you. Cheeseburgers in Paradise was the happenin’ spot during that hour, kids.

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