May 20, 2008
"Because we had to...
Because I loved you...
Because the damned
alcohol...
Because what ever at all"
-Talk On Indolence
The Avett Brothers are
one of those bands that I
just happened to stumble
upon, pause for a second,
look a little further
and be pleasantly
pleased. Their last
release Emotionalism
showed, well, amazing
emotional depth. It was
chocked full of all those
juicy feelings that we
experience in love and
life: sadness, paranoia,
euphoric happiness, pain,
lust, desperation,
despair, regret. It was
all put out there,
packaged pretty and able
to be exposed one track
at a time. I knew that I
was going to be in
trouble should I ever see
them live.
Then the Southgate House
tour date pounced on me
before I was ready. The
show was sold out a week
and a half before the
show. SOLD OUT? How did
so many people know about
them? I went to their
message board,
craigslist, citybeat's
backbeat, all to post my
desire to get two
tickets. There were
several desperate people
pleading to find tickets
everywhere I looked. I'd
never had luck getting
tickets outside of this
venue, how would I fight
off all these other crazy
Avett Brothers fans? A
man called Cameron called
to get rid of his two
tickets while I was at
work. One hour later I
returned his call: they
were already gone.
"We'll just go to the
venue I guess," Brad
confirms. So, like the
good little indie
devotees we are, we went.
There's nothing else
really to do other than
stand outside for a long
time, watch as people
come and people pass us
and the giant pack of
Avett-loonies that are
all begging for tickets.
Seems many people travel
around behind them,
seeing multiple shows
around the nation.
They've got a fan base
that might be small but
it's mighty. Eventually
some people get lucky and
find a few spare tickets
while outside. We aren't
so lucky, we continue to
stand or sit; we
contemplate giving up and
hitting up some Indian
food, I think that I
might roll down the hill.
Eventually we find out
that if we just walk up
to the table and ask for
two tickets we can get
them, even if there are
signs posted all over
"AVETT BROTHERS TONIGHT:
SOLD OUT!". Nervously,
we walk up to the
will-call table and ask
for tickets. The lady
looks us over, asks "Just
the two of you?" We nod.
We get tickets. We look
at each other in
amazement. We are
inside.
The venue appears to
hardly be sold out. We
find a good spot and we
wait. It gets more and
more crowded, finally the
opener comes on, several
songs later leave the
stage. The place is
packed, I'm immediately
happy we didn't leave to
get food. The lights
dim, then the boys take
the stage. The opening
song is one I know,
called All My Mistakes.
I am floored. The crowd
faithfully sings, stomps,
claps along to the beauty
that is this experience.
The entire evening
bounces, the music varies
between gangly and punk.
The men on stage scream,
sweat, beat their
instruments till strings
fly...then they soften,
their edges exposed and
sweet lyrics slow to be
accompanied by an
acoustic guitar. Like a
musical revival I feel my
soul stir and calm at all
the right times. It was
overwhelming and peaceful
at the same time. I
closed my eyes during
Living of Love. When the
entire room sang "Say
love, say for me love..."
over and over again, the
word love smacked into
me like the waves
crashing on the rocks.
At one point I thought
I'd fall over from sheer
speaker force. It was a
mighty powerful feeling,
being surrounded by that
much amore and seeing all
the lovers cling to each
other laughing & crying.
And here I was in the mix
of it all, soaking it up,
exactly where I was
needed.
The encore was short but
sweet. They played this
song that the lyrics are
bellow, very sincerely.
I got a wee bit choked
up, but in that good way.
I have hope again and
I'm coping with how
things are now. I'm
looking forward to
figuring it all out. I'm
learning how to love
again. These are good
things I've decided,
along with the sand to
come...
If It's the Beaches
Don't say it's over
Cause that's the worst
news I could hear I swear
that I will
Do my best to be here
just the way you like it
Even though its hard to
hide
Push my feelings all
aside
I will rearrange my plans
and change for you
If I could go back
That's the first thing I
would do I swear that I
would
Do my best to follow
through
Come up with a master
plan
A homerun hit, a winning
stand
A guarantee and not a
promise
That I'll never let your
love slip from my hands
If it's the beaches
If it's the beaches'
sands you want
Then you will have them
If it's the mountains'
bending rivers
Then you will have them
If it's the wish to run
away
Then I will grant it
Take whatever what you
think of
While I go gas up the
truck
Pack the old love letters
up
We will read them when we
forget why we left
here...
Heartbeat (Music)
Jimmy Eat World , Death Cab for Cutie , David Gray , Snow Patrol , Decemberists , Andrew Bird , Brand New , Badly Drawn Boy , Belle & Sebastian , Arcade Fire , Avett Brothers , Beach Boys , Beirut , Broken Social Scene , Elton John , the Faint , Flaming Lips , Fruit Bats , Hello Saferide , Iron & Wine , LCD Soundsystem , Long Winters , Mates of State , Mountain Goats , National , Neutral Milk Hotel , Of Montreal , Peter Bjorn & John , Rilo Kiley , Rogue Wave , Spoon , Sufjan Stevens , Wilco , Weezer , Van Morrison , Vampire Weekend , VHS or Beta , Yo La Tengo
Visual loves (Film)
Love and Sex , Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind , The Truth About Cats and Dogs , Amelie , Garden State , Y Tu Mama Tambien , Secretary , When Harry Met Sally , Brokeback Mountain , Teen Witch , The Breakup , The Chronicles of Narnia , Donnie Darko , Swingers , Pride and Prejudice , Addicted to Love , Kinsey , The Life Aquatic , Bowling for Columbine , Chasing Amy , Bridget Jones Diary , Animal House , Teen Witch , Pretty in Pink , Love Actually , Monty Python and the Holy Grail , Knocked Up
Brain food (Reading)
Silent Spring , The Body Project , My Legendary Girlfriend , Bridget Jone's Diary , Blankets , America the Book , The Chronicles of Narnia , Naked , Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim , PS , If We Ever Break Up This Is My Book , High Fidelity , Rumors of Peace , Living Downstream , any Jane Austen
Artists
We are all artists aren't we?
The Devil (T.V.)
only on DVD