August 2009: Back Into the Swing of Things, Part II

Regardless of their inconsistent sound issues, I returned to the Rock and Roll Hotel the next night for their Third Anniversary show with Jukebox the Ghost and other, mostly forgettable DC bands.

Judging by this show, I am not really missing anything by going to see national and international artists instead of local ones. One of my friends, who is also a local musician (who I adore), gave me lots of shit for never going to see local bands. I would go see them more often if they were better. But they just aren't. And coming from LA and NYC where local artists also have national and international recognition, DC bands just don't live up to my expectations. The only band I really disliked was Bellman Barker. Tereu Tereu and Title Tracks (aka Georgie James without Laura Burhenn) were mostly just benign. Jukebox the Ghost were clearly the best band on the bill, but even they failed to keep my attention for their entire set.

Sometimes I think that I'm expecting too much...that a band I do not know is not going to be able to draw me in the first time I see them. But then I recall that I saw a then-unknown band called Pearl Jam at CBGBs in 1991 and immediately ran to Tower Records to buy their album on cassette tape. I remember the first time I saw The Low Anthem, Damien Rice, David Ford, Thao Nguyen, The Wrens - I knew none of their music (or maybe one song) before I saw them live, and they turned me into an adoring fan with one show. Mine are not impossible expectations. But none of these bands met them, and I left before Jukebox's set was done. I found some friends at a bar down the street and danced until 2am. That was way more fun than the show at RnR Hotel on Friday night.

Two artists that did blow me away the first time I saw them (despite the fact that I knew none of their music in advance) played at Ottobar in Baltimore on the 15th. The Low Anthem went from unknown opening act to the highlight of the show when Lisa Hannigan played the 9:30 Club in March. This time, I knew what to expect, and it was even better than I expected.

First, they didn't have the bad amp and mic problems that they seemed to have the last time I saw them. Everything was crystal clear. Since they're all multi-instrumentalists, they don't have a traditional stage setup with the lead singer in the center. Rather, they move around from instrument to instrument, and the person singing lead is sometimes on the side of the stage, sometimes on the drums. It's never the same from one song to the next. Since they also play obscure instruments sometimes, they're really good at keeping their audience guessing where they're going and what they're going to play next. They were so good that I left the show already excited about seeing them again in November when they open for Blind Pilot at the Black Cat. They are not to be missed.

As if The Low Anthem weren't enough for my $10, I also got to see one of my other favorite recent discoveries, Langhorne Slim. My first Langhorne Slim show was a rare solo affair at IOTA in April, so this was the first time I saw him with a band. The band gave the show a much different energy. It was exciting and energetic. By the end, Langhorne was covered in sweat from jumping around the entire show. The band had fun and it was infectious. Even when they played new songs from their forthcoming album, the audience was captivated and excited to hear them. It was another great show from really great artists.

I also discovered that Ottobar is an unexpectedly great venue. The sound was great, and although the space seems sort of like a room patched together with wire and gum with a trailer attached at the back, it was a really great space and the staff was friendly. I will definitely go to other shows here in the future.

The next day, I headed back out to Maryland for the Route 29 Revue at Merriweather Post Pavilion. I wasn't really interested in the headliners at all, but was excited to see a bunch of great artists at the same show. Justin Jones & the Driving Rain played to one of their quietest and most respectful audiences ever and sounded great. The Felice Brothers played a great set that got the whole place hopping. I really like their live show a lot. It was the first time for me seeing Grace Potter with the Nocturnals, and it was very different from the sound of a solo show. It may be a little over the top for my taste. Not simple enough. But that girl sure has an amazing voice. I also got to see Iron & Wine again. Everyone who doesn't know Iron & Wine always expects a band to hit the stage. It didn't help that they had mostly set up Levon Helm's band's gear before Iron & Wine went on, making the audience expect more than just one guy and his guitar. Although I do like a few of his songs and found him to be charming, in a live setting, his music just puts me to sleep. Grace Potter and the Nocturnals should give him a little of their energy.

Our Lady Peace played at the 9:30 Club the next night. I kind of wanted to go but didn't want to pay for a ticket, so I entered some random contest to win tickets. And even though I won, the band never told me. I only found out during a random Google search for myself during which I found an announcement that I had won tickets. So weird. Sure enough, there were two tickets for me at the guest list window. I gave my extra to some dude in line behind me who was going to buy a ticket.

Before the show, I thought that maybe I only knew two OLP songs off the top of my head. Turns out I know at least 5. And that may be more than lead singer Raine Maida knows, because he counts on the audience to do a lot of the singing for him. It was a rather strange show, between me laughing every time I recognized another song, and Maida's sloppy vocals.

You can tell that this band is accustomed to playing before much larger audiences than the <1,000 people who were at the 9:30 Club that Monday night. They're pretty flashy. It seemed clear that Maida was used to thousands of people singing along, because he kept just holding the microphone out during almost every song. It left me disappointed with even the few songs I actually knew. I would much rather hear them actually play (and sing) those songs, than hear the backing track for the karaoke versions of them with virtually no one singing along. It was just weird.

Fortunately, the following weekend I had an unanticipated surprise when I scored a ticket to one of Nine Inch Nails' Wave Goodbye shows.
This, the first of their four final shows in New York, was at the teeny tiny Bowery Ballroom - capacity 600! NIN in a 600 person venue. I couldn't even have seen them in a venue that small in 1991. The show had been sold out from the second it went on sale, but I got in by some miracle, and was one of the first 50 people inside, so I got a prime spot. I chose to stand on the front row of the balcony because I had no desire to die in a crush of NIN fans that night.

The Horrors opened, and Trent Reznor and his fiancee came upstairs to watch their set from the soundboard. It was awesome. It's so great that he genuinely loves and supports all of the bands he chose as openers. And I think the audience liked them, as well. But they were just the appetizer.
As soon as NIN took the stage, the audience on the floor moved forward like a giant wave. It was quite a sight from the balcony. I am so glad I wasn't down in it. The show itself was overwhelming enough without being crushed by a bunch of dudes. At one point I thought the railing would give way and all of us in the balcony would tumble down into the small ocean of people below, but the railing was sturdier than it felt. The stage was too small for the band and all of their equipment. They did not fit up there, but somehow they made it work.

NIN pulled out some of their oldest songs, some songs they hadn't played live or hadn't played in a long time, and of course they played their "hits." Reznor and Co. gave us all of their energy. Less than an hour into the show, Reznor wrung out the sweat from his shirt, and went on to play for more than another hour. It was amazing and I am a very lucky girl to have been there.

The month of August ended with the surprisingly great Virgin Mobile Free Fest at Merriweather Post Pavilion. I generally detest "festivals" (in my view, SXSW is not really a "festival" since it's not me and 50,000 strangers in a field in the heat and overpriced food trying to listen to bands while avoid drunk crowd surfers with no shirts on), which is why I rarely go. But this one was 100% free and featured a few bands I wanted to see, so why not? If I didn't like it, I could leave and not lose anything but a little of my time. But I did think that it would be a total clusterfuck because it was free and because it was at Merriweather, which I didn't think would be an ideal location for an all General Admission crowd. How on earlth do you handle GA with seats at a festival?

It turned out to be surprisingly great. I picked up a friend and got to Merriweather around 5pm. We parked and peed at the Mall before going to the show. Getting in and even sneaking in some crackers was totally easy. We wandered around for a little bit. And while there were plenty of people there, it didn't feel like a crushing number of people. Maybe it's the woody landscape of Merriweather.

Fortunately for me, I didn't really care to see any of the bands playing in the Pavilion, so I didn't have to deal with the hour-long wait to get into the seated area of the pavilion. We inched closer to the stage during Public Enemy's set, which was more like 3-5 Public Enemy songs sprinkled in with at least a half hour of "commercials" for Flavor Flav and his DVDs, the group's reissued CD, etc. At one point Chuck D said, "This next song is..." and I didn't even care what he said next. I just responded by yelling "Just play a song! Just one! Any song! Thanks!" It was absurd, but the reviews I read afterward didn't make it sound as absurd as it was. I mean, who crowdsurfs to Public Enemy??? really? dumbass teenagers, that's who. And I hope they all got severely injured. Crowdsurfing is DUMB.

I managed to squeeze up to the front row, dead center for The National's set, which more than made up for the fact that the last two times I saw them, I had to sit in the safety of the balcony. I didn't think their music would play well to a festival crowd, but I was wrong. They were fantastic, and probably earned a new crop of young fans who were just really waiting for the next act, Girl Talk.

Who came up with this lineup anyway? Public Enemy to The National to Girl Talk to Franz Ferdinand? Insane. After about an hour of music from The National, who sounded spectacular (I swear they get better every time I see them), I escaped the front row so as not to be trampled by high and drunk teenagers. Goddamn they like shitty stuff. It's just a dude and a computer, but you'd think it was the messiah. And for a guy whose primary instrument is a computer, you'd think he'd have better graphics/visuals to go along with his "performance" but it was mostly bad rotating words like CELL PHONES! WTF? I watched from the comfort of the VIP area at the back of the lawn. He hardly does anything you can't hear online or on one of his CDs. There were one or two new tracks in there, but nothing worth losing your head over.

Finally, headliners Franz Ferdinand shut the place down with an awesome set of great dance rock. I'd never seen them live before, so I moved closer to the stage. It was pretty easy since all of the drunk teenagers wore themselves out with Girl Talk, leaving just some drunk old dudes and people who really wanted to hear the band. Franz Ferdinand put on a great, if short, show. I didn't stick around for their encore because I wanted to beat the traffic of 30,000 cars out of Columbia, MD. Even without the encore, it was still a great set and probably one of the best of the fest.

August 2009: Back Into the Swing of Things, Part I

I went to many more shows in August, and actually remembered to bring my camera to a couple of them! Since I went to more than a handful of shows, I'll break this post up into two parts...

After a nasty encounter with the nastiest of all nasty concert-goers, I vowed that I would never pay to see Tori Amos again. I used to go to any of her concerts that were within driving distance, but that was more than 10 years ago. I've seen her about 20 times. She has gone from spontaneous and exciting to pretty predictable. She's turned into a caricature of her former self. She jumped the shark years ago, and her fans are unbearable. I also said that I'd only go see her if she played in my living room and none of her other fans were allowed to come AND I got to choose the set list. But one of my friend promised to get me in for free and keep her nasty fans away from me, and I figured two out four or five demands was enough.

The last time I saw her at DAR Constitution Hall, it was among the worst Tori shows I'd been to. Nothing was surprising. Nothing was spectacular. The audience had to suffer through one of the most dreadful set lists ever. Only a handful of songs were even good. But this show was probably the best one she's done in DC since 2001. Although some of the tracks off the new album sounded like a tribute to Rush, and I wish she would give "Jamaica Inn" a proper burial (or just toss it over the edge of a cliff...whatever), the show was actually really good. Old favorites like Raspberry Swirl, Spacedog, Bells for Her and Icicle were revivified. Gold Dust was gorgeous. Flavor, while a great song on the new album, dragged live, and her "ad-libbed" "motherfucker"s at the end of Strong Black Vine were just a calculated attempt to be as edgy as PJ Harvey (she is not). It was a surprisingly good show and definitely worth my time (if not my money).

A few days later, Mogwai melted my earwax and busted my eardrums at the 9:30 Club. I will not take any lame substitutes for Mogwai (i.e., Explosions in the Sky). Give me the real deal or give me nothing. Mogwai is the real deal and they did not disappoint.

My mom was in town the next weekend and Tracy Chapman was playing at the 9:30 Club. My mom loves Tracy Chapman. And although I hadn't listened to her music in years, I had never seen Chapman before, so I was excited to see her live. To my surprise, the show was sold out (at $40 a ticket, too. The audience was clearly old and rich). And it was a great show. She delivered all of her popular songs from decades past, and put a new twist on some of them. She was in good spirits the entire night, and so was the audience. She played for about two hours, and included songs from her new album and a cover song in the set list. She was spectacular.

A few days later, I caught another one of the best shows I've seen this year at the Rock and Roll Hotel

I've been waiting more than a year for Noisettes to return to the States. I caught a rare acoustic performance of theirs at SXSW 2008, but had never seen them electric and with a full band. The sound was very muddy that night, and singer Shingai Shoniwa commented on it several times.
Although the band delivered one of the best shows of the year in about 60 minutes, including the encore, I think it would have been a longer show if the sound that night were better. I'm sure the enthusiastic audience could have convinced the energetic band to come out for a second encore, but I think Shoniwa just had it with the sound problems. Regardless, she still put on one hell of a show, and the audience couldn't have been more pleased. Ethereal electro-pop due Phantogram opened. They sort of reminded me of Lamb, and sometimes the vocals reminded me of Hope Sandoval from Mazzy Star. They were pretty good.

Part II Coming Soon!

Four July 2009 Shows, Only One Photo

So the month of July started with the surprising and unexpected death of my friend Jesse. I only went to three shows in July (technically four shows, I guess). I didn't bother to take any pictures. I was just there for the music. I wish I had gone to more, but I didn't.

First up: Jack White Super Group 2.0: The Dead Weather @ 9:30 Club on July 14th. I like the White Stripes. I like The Kills. I like Queens of the Stone Age. I should like The Dead Weather. But I'm still not sold.

First, I really wanted to go to this show, but did not think that a band with NO album out yet should charge $35 for tickets to their shows. I don't care who is in the band. I don't care if it's Jesus or Barack Obama or my best friend. Prove that it is worth the money to hear you play music first. So I didn't by a ticket. I only went because a friend gave me a ticket for free.

Second, while the band performs better than a new group cutting their teeth, the music just didn't draw me in. Everyone else I know who was at the show said they thought it was "amazing," "phenomenal" or "excellent," but not one of them could name a single memorable song out of the entire set. NOT ONE.

Finally, the band played for less than an hour, including the encore. Other new bands can do that because they're new and don't have a lot of material, but these guys could at least play a few covers to make it worth the price of the ticket. I'd rather pay $10 or $15 to see some unknown new group with songs I have heard and like than pay $35 for some "super" group that is less than the sum of its parts. It was a fine show, but I'm grateful I didn't pay. It was not worth the price of the ticket.

A show that was worth the price of the ticket was the show the next night at DC9. I went to see Audrye Sessions, one of my favorite new bands. Paper Route headlined the show and had a lot of fans there. But I think I was one of the few people there just to see Audrye Sessions. I first saw them last year at the 9:30 Club with my friend Jesse, so I felt like I really needed to be at this show. I will go see them always. I love Ryan Karazija's voice. He sings along with his guitar, sometimes not articulating words, but just making music, like his voice is just another instrument in the band. He makes a big and captivating sound. It is beautiful. It was such a great set from them. The only thing I would have added is my favorite song, Relentless, to the set list. I picked up their latest CD (for only $5) even though I already had all of the songs. They remixed a bunch of them and the order of the songs is different, and I love it. I can't wait until they come back.

And while Audrye Sessions alone was well worth the price of a ticket, Paper Route were great in their own way, too. They were very energetic and very tight. I saw them once during SXSW 2008 at a Lou Reed tribute, but had never heard their music. They were really good at what they do. I think their brand of poppy melodic rock probably appeals to a young audience (they seemed really popular with college age boys). After the show, they played an entire additional acoustic set in their gear trailer on the street. They invited everyone into the trailer. I'd never seen anyone do that before. It was really fun. If you like their sound, they're definitely worth seeing live.

On July 22nd, Justin Jones & (a pared down version of) the Driving Rain were supposed to play both before and after the Nationals v. Mets game at the Bullpen across the street from the ballpark. We went early to catch their pre-game set, but the sound system wasn't working, so we just hung around and chatted in the sun before the game. The sound system was working after the game, but everyone was drunk by then, and the belligerent crowd kept asking for cover songs. I'm sure that Justin got at least a few new fans from this gig, but it was not the ideal setting for him.

To end the month, I went to see M Ward at the 9:30 Club. It was a pretty short set, but it was a really good show. He sounded great. I really can't say anything more about it than that. I just wished it were a longer show.

The Remainder of June

Sooooo, it's been awhile. I've been going to shows but haven't been posting anything for the past three months. I wrote up a few posts about the rest of the shows in June, but I never posted them. After I found out about Jesse's passing, I just didn't feel like blogging, even though Jesse loved the blog. But behind the scenes I've still been going to shows, and I'm just going to post monthly recaps for the past few months.

The first of the un-blogged-about shows was Billie Holiday Reincarnated: Madeleine Peyroux @ Lisner Auditorium, June 20th. A friend had an extra ticket. It's not a show I would ordinarily go to, but I rarely pass up free live music. Peyroux's voice is smooth like honey. The place was sold-out and every seat was filled, so we couldn't even sneak forward from our seats way in the back. But from up there I noticed what appeared to be a firefly or two in the venue. It was magical...up until Peyroux got some feedback in her mic and her inner diva came out and lashed out at the sound guy. She restarted the song, but the mood changed markedly for what little remained of the show.

The next night was something I'd waited for for three years - The Boys I Like the Most: Phoenix @ RnR Hotel
I'd been waiting for about 3 years to see Phoenix. The last time they were in the States, I was living in LA. I was driving home from work one day, and drove past the Wiltern the night they were playing there. When I saw their name on the marquee, I kicked myself for not getting tickets, but figured I'd get to see them next time. I just didn't think next time would be in three years.

The show was sold out. Sold out shows at RnR Hotel generally suck because there's no proper air circulation, the sound in the front is terrible, and you can't see unless you're in the very front. Since I'm short, I had to be in front. I was surprised that I was the first person in line less than two hours before the doors were supposed to open. Which reminds me of a few other things that suck about sold out shows at the RnR Hotel: they have somehow convinced the DC Fire Department that the capacity for that room is 400 people. It is not. It just isn't. Ottobar in Baltimore is a bigger space that has about half the official capacity of RnR. Who did RnR pay off to get allowance to sell so many tickets to their shows? Also, the club has NO system for their line, and the staff was unnecessarily mean to those of us who were just trying to figure out where we should stand while we were waiting for doors to open. Oh yeah, and they never open the doors on time. I knew all of these things before the show, and generally won't go to sold out shows at RnR Hotel, but Phoenix is one of the rare exceptions to that rule.
Despite my serious criticisms of the venue, I still felt really lucky to be at this show. It was amazing and one of the best shows I've been to this year. It was insanely hot in there. I was in the front, and I was surrounded by sweaty boys. I can't even imagine what it must have felt like in the middle of the room. The stage is so low that I was practically on the stage, and the band kept giving us bottles of water to pass around, so we probably had it better in the front couple of rows than the people in the middle did.

The band played most of the songs off their latest album, and several from the album before that. I think I'm the only one who missed Everything is Everything and would have gladly traded Funky Squaredance for that song. It was a very high energy show. The audience was pumped the entire time, giving the band every ounce of energy they had. The energy during the encore was truly insane. The entire place was jumping up and down during 1901, and it was the ideal way to end the show. All of us had soaked through our clothes with sweat by the end.

Even though it was a crazy show in a lot of bad ways (the heat! the mean staff! the muddy-as-shit sound!), it was one of the best shows of the year. It was just special. Even though I got very little sleep that night, I was energized the next day. I knew I had taken part in a rare, intimate performance. It was one of those shows that I will look back on and say, "I was there." It was phenomenal.

***

Long Live the King! Who's Bad? Michael Jackson Tribute Band @ 9:30 Club Finally, at the end of June, Michael Jackson died seemingly out of the blue and on the same day that Farrah Fawcett passed away. This Michael Jackson tribute band had been booked at the 9:30 Club for awhile, and honestly I never would have gone to see them had Jackson not passed away two days before the show. As soon as the news hit that Jackson died, the show sold out immediately, and a second show was added. I went with a few friends to dance and celebrate the music. It was fun until they decided to try to do a bunch of Jackson 5 songs. The energy lagged and never seemed to pick back up until the very end. It got very sloppy at points. But it was still a fun party. It really was all about the music, and that's all I wanted.

In Memory of Jesse Jacob King

I learned the other night that my good friend, Jesse Jacob King, aka Jesso, 28, drowned while spear fishing near his home in California. I spoke with him just a few days before he died, and his accidental death came as a huge shock. I met Jesse at the 9:30 Club in December 2003 at a Damien Rice show. It was 25 degrees outside. We were in the front row. He was gorgeous. He was 22. He recorded the show on his MiniDisc player, and it is the only known recording of the entire show. Rice was terribly sick that night, so Lisa Hannigan sang most of the songs. It was a rare and special show. After the show was over, Jesse jumped up to grab a candle from the stage, and he gave it to me. Damien Rice's manager ran around the stage grabbing back set lists and candles that the audience were taking from the stage. I told Jesse to give the candle back and he said, "No, keep it! It's yours!" I felt bad, but I still have that candle to this day. I imagine it's the only one that made it home with an audience member that night.

Jesse and I exchanged numbers that night. We talked often, but didn't see each other again until the following April when I got an extra ticket to see Ani DiFranco for free at the 9:30 Club. I wound up in Ani's DVD Trust which was partially filmed that night. After the show, Jesse drove us to The Diner...or maybe we went to Tryst. He saw an "Out of Iraq NOW" bumper sticker on the back of a Stop sign. He pulled it off and put it on the bumper of his car. He was in the Coast Guard, but he was as much of a hippy communist as I was.

He had an orange spray paint can with him all the time in those days. He spray painted a little figure on the street next to where his car was parked. Just bringing a little art into the life of the next person to park there. He also painted one on the street in front of my house.

Jesse was always creating something - art, jewelry, delicious drinks or food. One night, right before I moved to LA, Jesse came over to make me dinner. He was in the Presidential Honor Guard, so he was there whenever a foreign head of state visited George W. Bush. He brought me a program from the reception for the President of China when he visited. When Ronald Reagan died, he was one of the guards who had to stand near the coffin in the Capitol building for hours on end as people shuffled by paying their respects. He told me it smelled horrible.

That night he made me lasagna. It was one of the best lasagnas I'd ever had. We ate it, drank a bottle of red wine and then went for a ride on his motorcycle in Virginia on the George Washington Parkway. It was thrilling and terrifying and amazing.

Then I moved to LA. I left my boyfriend in DC and I missed home terribly. I had one foot out the door as soon as I got there. Then one day I got a package at work. I had no idea who it was from. I opened it and it was two gorgeous photographs that Jesse had taken of the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial. He had them blown up, wrote inscriptions to me on the back, framed them and mailed them to me at my office to remind me of where I was coming from and to wish me luck on my new journey. It was amazing. All the women on my floor commented on how sweet that was and asked if my boyfriend had sent them. "No. My friend Jesse, who has a girlfriend, sent them." In fact, his girlfriend helped him frame them and send them to me. I have kept those photographs in my office even to this day, even after moving back to DC from LA more than two years ago.

A few months later, Jesse and his girlfriend came over to my place for dinner and, as usual, he came bearing a gift. He handed me a plastic bag. Inside was an old brick. I had no idea why he was giving me a brick. Jesse told me that he was sent to New York City for work for a day or two. He'd never been to New York before, but he knew I was from there. He saw some building being torn down, so he ran over and asked one of the contractors if he could have a brick. He brought me the brick so that I would have a piece of home with me in LA. It wasn't pretty, but it was beautiful. When my boyfriend visited he asked me why I had a rotten brick on my bookshelf. I explained, but he didn't understand why some guy with a girlfriend who wasn't trying to get in my pants would do that. He wasn't lucky enough to have a friend like Jesse. He didn't understand.

Jesse moved out to California to finish out his time in the Coast Guard. His girlfriend joined a cult, and eventually he did, too. They tried to get me to join, and it was the most stressful time in our friendship. Jesse was love. He wanted love and wanted to share love. He tried to convince me that I should join. I told him it was a cult. I said I really didn't like that he was a part of it, but that he could do what he wanted as long as he didn't pressure me to be a part of it. It was the closest to a fight we'd ever come. We never fought. We discussed, but we never got angry and never yelled at each other. I couldn't talk to him when he was in the cult. So we didn't talk for about six months.

He called me occasionally, but I needed distance. One time he called me to tell me he had painted a picture he wanted to give me. "It's really big and it would look great on that red wall in your living room." I never asked him for the painting. Then one day, I was on a solo road trip down the coast of California. I didn't make it to San Simeon in time to see the Hearst Castle. I knew Jesse lived close by in San Luis Obispo, so I called him. He insisted on taking me out for dinner. We had sushi and talked for the first time in months. He admitted it was a cult and said that he wasn't doing it anymore. I was relieved, although still a little cautious. But I had my friend back. Although Jesse never had a lot of money, he insisted on paying for dinner that night. He was just so grateful to have me back in his life and have me as a friend again. I was grateful he wasn't in a cult anymore.

I left LA less than a year later. Jesse came to my going away party. He was always happy for me no matter what I was doing. He thought he'd eventually return to DC, too. But he stayed in California. We talked often about life and love. He sent me postcards when he travelled. He sent me text messages out of the blue any time he thought of me.

I went back to LA to visit a few times. In October 2007, I was walking around the Hollywood farmer's market with my friend Nicolle. It was hot and sunny and crowded. All of a sudden, someone slapped me hard right on the ass. I turned around quickly, ready to smack or punch the asshole who thought that was appropriate behavior, and it was Jesse! He didn't live in LA. But he was there with a huge smile on his face. "I knew that ass from a mile away!" I jumped on him and gave him a huge hug. It was amazing to see him and so unexpected.

Jesse came to visit me in August 2008. He was the world's greatest house guest, in addition to being one of the best friends I could have ever hoped to have. He came bearing gifts. This time it was a bottle of wine. He and his other Coast Guard buddies had helped to pick grapes at a local vineyard. The winery had named a vintage of wine from those grapes "The Guard." It was Restaurant Week in DC and we had reservations for dinner at The Oval Room. We brought the wine with us and hoped that they'd waive their outrageous corkage fee, but they didn't. Jesse rebelled by pouring the wine himself even though our server was visibly annoyed by this. It was one of the best meals I've ever had. Although Jesse wasn't a man of financial means, he enjoyed occasional indulgences. He loved good food and wine. He wrote, "Good food and alcohol are important because life is too short to eat/drink the cheap stuff." We looked good. We glowed that night. It was wonderful.

While I was at work during the day, Jesse was exploring the city again, going to museums and stuff. I came home and found him drinking a cocktail on my porch. He made me one and we sat outside chatting and getting eaten alive by mosquitos. We were bitten on the soles of our bare feet. After we finished our drinks, we headed to dinner at Dukem and then to the 9:30 Club. We went just for the fun of it. I had free tickets. I wanted to show him the 9:30 Club my way. We'd been there together twice before, but that was years ago. We made it there during the last couple songs of the first band. But we loved the second band, Audrye Sessions. I bought a CD, but later discovered that I had two CDs. I gave one to Jesse, and he almost refused to take it. He was so grateful for it.

The next night we met in Chinatown and had dinner at Matchbox before heading to the club to check out The Hold Steady. I'd never seen them. He'd never heard of them. It was a sold out show. It was worth checking out and the price was right. We were entertained by the opening band, and had fun meeting and talking to the cultish, obsessed Hold Steady fans who all had matching t-shirts, but after three songs and multiple elbows to the head, I looked at Jesse and said, "I don't get it!" Neither did he. "Do you want to leave?" I asked. "Let's go!" We got out of there so quickly. We laughed the whole way home. We guessed that we just didn't drink the kool aid. Even though we hated the band, we had so much fun running home and laughing about it.

The next day, Jesse went down to Richmond to celebrate Best Friends Day with his friend Pete. I secretly hoped he would stay. My home felt empty when I got home that night. But I opened my computer to find a note from Jesse written on a Post It, thanking me for such a wonderful time. He put another one in some other secret place. I keep thinking there are more notes hidden elsewhere in my apartment that I just haven't found yet.

On Valentine's Day this year, I got a hand-made postcard from Jesse. I called him to thank him and he was incredulous. He mailed it on February 13th in California. How did it get across the country so quickly? It was magic. I still have it on my refrigerator.

I got a call from Jesse last Saturday. I was running errands. He was visiting his mom who was in Manhattan Beach on business. He just wanted to catch up. We talked for about an hour. I told him I loved him. He said, "Love you, sis." And then on Thursday night I received an email from his uncle telling me of his death. I've been in shock.

Jesse lived life to the fullest. He was one of the happiest, thoughtful, most grateful and most generous people I have ever known. He died doing something that he loved in the ocean, which was like a second home to him. I feel like he gave me more than I ever gave him during the 5.5 years that we knew each other. He always took every opportunity he had to have fun. He was like the perfect brother or boyfriend that I never had. He was one of my closest friends, and I expected that I would be friends with him for decades to come.

I'm sad that I won't ever hear his voice at the other end of the line again and won't ever hug him or laugh or dance with him again, but I'm trying to remember to live my life the way he did - with love and without fear. I am so fortunate to have known him and to have had him in my life. I am grateful for everything that he gave me and for all of the amazing memories I have with him. There's so much more than I have written here. I had to write this somewhere, and I thought this was the best place to share this. I loved Jesse King and I know that he loved me. And for that I am grateful.

UPDATE: Read and watch the news story about the memorial on July 5th.

Holly Miranda and AA Bondy @ IOTA

I've written about my love for The Jealous Girlfriends and Holly Miranda before, so I was thrilled to find out that she'd be opening for AA Bondy at IOTA. It takes a special artist or show to make me to go to Northern Virginia. AA Bondy would have been good enough on his own, but Miranda made the night so much more special.

The last time I saw The Jealous Girlfriends, Miranda mentioned that she was working on a solo album. I was so excited because her voice is one of my favorite things about their music. But I hadn't actually listened to much of her solo stuff before the show. I had no idea what to expect. She had two musicians accompanying her on guitar, vocals and violin. It was unexpected and totally awesome. Their contributions were beautiful without being totally distracting. She didn't have any percussion save for the occasional jingle bells and foot tapping. She also played an electric guitar exclusively, which only made me wonder how her music would sound if she also played an acoustic guitar occasionally. I picked up her new EP, which is excellent. Her full-length album was produced by one of the guys from TV on the Radio, but she's still unsigned and the album still hasn't been released. That hasn't stopped some people from noticing how awesome she is. I can't wait to hear it. She has a fun blog that you can check out in the meantime.

AA Bondy performed solo, which I wasn't expecting. He had at least three harmonicas and at least three glasses of scotch (a 12 year old Macallan) by the end of his set. It allowed him to set his own pace, which was markedly different from the album and from the prior performance I'd seen. It was an intimate show with a small but faithful crowd. It was the first time in years that I'd seen seats set up for the audience at IOTA. He played a few new songs from his album that's coming out in September, as well as audience faves like Vice Rag.

My favorite moments of the night were the ones that were unplanned. Holly Miranda, sitting in the second row of the audience, requested Bruce Springsteen's I'm on Fire. Even though they hadn't rehearsed it, Miranda and her guitarist Timmy got on stage and sang it with Bondy. It was beautiful, raw and imperfect. Miranda's violinist was sitting in the back and playing along to Bondy's music, and Bondy said "I hear you back there Marques," and invited him on stage for his last song. Marques plays violin like it's a part of him - he sings with it. It was so beautiful that I think even Bondy himself was taken aback by it.

I was surprised that the turn-out for this show was so low. AA Bondy was impressive the last time he was in town opening for Cold War Kids at the 9:30 Club, and I thought he would have drawn a larger crowd. But I guess it was a busy night for music in DC with Elvis Costello, Jenny Lewis and Taylor Swift all doing big shows that night. So the turn-out was low, and those who showed up sure were a chatty bunch! I have to say that IOTA's audiences are even worse than the crowds at the Black Cat when it comes to chatting loudly while the artists are performing. IOTA is worse only because it has the addition of noise from the neighboring cafe, with which it shares a bar. It was almost unbearable. Both Miranda and Bondy glared at the loud chatters, but they were too busy chatting loudly to notice. The loudest of the bunch eventually left halfway through Bondy's set only after I finally went over and politely asked them to keep it down. After they were gone, only the dedicated fans were left. In the end, the chatters didn't win, and we got a really special show.

TV on the Radio @ 9:30 Club

TV on the Radio is a band that I feel like I should like more than I do. I've never been able to explain why I don't. Even though Dear Science was one of the better albums released last year, I still only listened to it a few times. And even though I liked it, I just didn't like it enough to keep listening. Fortunately, TVOTR put on one hell of a live show, so it didn't matter much that I was just a casual listener.

I missed Dirty Projectors at the NPR Music day party during SXSW, so I was excited to see that they were opening. The audience was ambivalent about them at first, but the band totally won them over in the end. They are nerdy and totally awkward, but the girls sure can sing. The mastermind of the group, frontman David Longstreth, sounds as though he's never taken a guitar lesson, but rather taught himself to do whatever he wanted to do. His playing is simple and sparse and sounds as though it may the result of a muscle spasm of the hands, but he thinks he's a genius, and he's not alone. Despite their irregular rhythms and serious lack of any communication with the audience (Longstreth spoke once, more than halfway into their set), they won over the early naysayers behind me and a lot of others in the crowd. I really liked them, and would definitely go see them again. After the show, someone who works for the club told me that Bjork was there to see them. Too bad she didn't come out to do a song or two with them.

By the time TVOTR came on, I was pumped and ready to go. They sounded fantastic, especially when playing high-energy rock songs. Even though I was in the balcony, I was dancing and jumping and clapping along. It was a really fun show. Although I did notice that The Golden Age does kinda sound like Michael Jackson's Wanna Be Startin Something, as noted by this blog. The only negative thing I had to say in the end was that the encore was too slow. It was really anti-climactic. When they came out with a slower song, I hoped that they would really rock out on the last two songs. But they just didn't.