last night i went to a show by myself in NOLA for the first time in almost 4 years. there are pros and cons for me to go by myself. i don’t like going to a show of people i don’t know without anyone to talk to. i had no problem going to see Ryan Adams in Houston by myself, cause sometimes i like not having to worry about geeking out if a certain song’s played or if something bad happens at a show, then i have to explain it and/or feel embarrassed about it. incidentally, the last time i went to a show by myself in NOLA was to see RA. full circle i guess. last night though was Ten Out Of Tenn, a group of 10 Nashville musicians touring together. i asked around but no one could go. so i went, parked the car, grabbed a pastry at starbucks, and walked in about 7:25 for an 8:00 show. it was in the Parish room at the HOB, and i’ve seen a lot of shows there get crowded, so i didn’t know if one of the musicians would have a really strong following. i walked in though and the place was sparsely populated. even at the peak of the show it might have had 75 people. i sat down on a bench and sent texts to people while i waited. kind of tough to pass the time with no one to talk to. i’m thankful for the friends that texted back!

they were selling High Life for $2.25 a can was the bar special for the night, so that was kind of awesome. i stopped by the merch table before the show to scope out what they had, and they pretty much only had cds. they had a special to buy all 10 cds plus a compilation for $55. luckily they took credit cards, because i only brought $7 in cash with me (another reason i was stoked about the $2.25 High Life). i thought the $55 deal was good, but i needed to hear these guys before i bought anything.

i was wondering how the show would go, with 10 people all playing their own stuff, would there be set breaks, would they have to tear down the stage, would each person get 10 minutes? how it worked though was better than all of that. they all played, the whole time, and just rotated who sang. various members were up in different combinations and played different instruments. i loved that sense of community. you could tell they all genuinely respected one another’s music, and there was a good reason. they were ALL good. really, i thought each of them were great, some more than others. i kind of have a crush on Butterfly Boucher after the show. she and Matthew Perryman Jones were on stage seemingly all night playing guitar or bass, and each of them sang their own songs too. Andy Davis got the crowd to sing part of his song, which was a challenge cause there weren’t that many people. it was funny when he first did it. Katie Herzig’s voice was really good. i love hearing amazing voices live. i think the highlight of the show was KS Rhoads leading the band in “The Bayonet and the Cigarette”. it was awesome. very bluesy and raw feel, punctuated by him playing harmonica then freestyling at the end.

i was most excited to see Griffin House, but after his first song i got a bad impression. he did a war protest song, but the lyrics made me want to have a talk with him. i was talking with blog friend Mandy today, about how protest songs now just seem like they’re written to be cool. there’s plenty of war protest songs from the 60s, and the war now is about so much more than what the song was saying. it just came off as arrogant to me. at least that was my first impression. his 2nd song was good, and i left with a good overall feeling about him, but that first song bothered me.

during the last song (MPJ closed) i walked over to the merch table and bought the $55 deal. i felt it was worth it, cause i liked more than 5 of the people enough to buy their cd, and alone the cds were $10, so really i was doing it for the economic sense. plus i like supporting artists at a show, cause i know they make more money selling merch and touring than if i buy the cd somewhere else. after the show was finished, i got my parking validated (ridiculously awesome deal apparently not many people know about) and walked back to my car and made it home by 11. not a bad night at all.