I Ain't Afraid of No Ghosts

We took the trip to Portland last night to see Guster.  It's been a while, at least a couple of years, and I wasn't really sure how they would age.  As it turns out, Guster is still great.  As a matter of fact, Rach declared them her favorite band going.  They played a nice mix of old, new, and middle.

Everything about the show was a testament to why we loved them from the first time we saw them warming up for Barenaked Ladies, about ten years ago.  Since then we've seen them numerous times--I want to say six or so--and every time it's been like seeing old friends.

But last night the circle closed a little: a band called Jukebox the Ghost opened for them, and because I subscribe to the YepRoc Records mailing list, we were a few of the only people in the audience who'd heard them prior to the show.  It went like this: YepRoc sent out a link for video of Jukebox playing on Letterman.  I clicked, and was instantly hooked: ("Schizophrenia")


So after seeing that, being a netizen in good standing, I YouTubed them and found some of the songs from their older album: ("Hold it In")


I really enjoyed them, and Weather Lad REALLY dug them.  I ended up buying both albums on iTunes, and then found out that Jukebox the Ghost would be opening for Guster when we saw them!  At that point, I became more excited about seeing the opening band than at any time since Soul Asylum opened for the Spin Doctors.  But the coolest part of the night was just before the show, when we were finishing dinner at Mesa Verde.  I looked up and saw a couple of young, geeky guys headed to a table at the back.  It dawned on me that it was two of the members of Jukebox!  I said to the kids: "Those guys are members of Jukebox the Ghost, and they ROCK!"  They asked if we were planning to go to the show, and made a little small talk ("Hey, my name's Ben, too!"...really nice guys!), then went back to their table.  After a little convincing, the kids went and got Ben and Tom's autographs, and on the way out WL asked if they'd play his favorite, called "Lighting Myself on Fire".  They said "well, we hadn't planned on it, but we'll definitely think about it now!"

Lo and behold, about seven or eight songs in, and with us completely blissed out, they pulled out WL's request, which was no small feat since the song goes about six-and-a-half minutes, coupled with "My Heart's the Same".


So earlier I said the circle was closed a little.  What I meant by that is Jukebox the Ghost will be touring with Barenaked Ladies on their upcoming tour.  BNL was our first introduction to Guster.  Guster was our first (live) introduction to Jukebox.  It makes me wonder who we'll discover when Jukebox is a headlining act.  And they will be.

Don't Call Them Twinkies

With my Red Sox out of the playoff picture, and nearly all the other teams left on my short list of most-despised teams (though the Padres and Giants are fine, Texas is okay, and the Reds have suffered some horrible times since their last go-round) the Twins are my team this October.  Incidentally, I can't wait to hear Dane Cook utter those immortal words: "There's only one...Oc-TOE-berrr!" I hope that brilliant campaign hasn't been mothballed, even though I think it's been Dane's only paying gig over the past four years or so.

So it was kind of cool to hear the Baseball Project, a supergroup of alt-rocker/baseball fans (Peter Buck, Scott McCaughey, Linda Pitmon, and Steve Wynn), had enlisted Craig Finn of the Hold Steady to write and sing a song with them.  The result is predictably contrived, as will be a band that sings only about baseball, but it is obviously written with love and with Finn's inimitable pop-culture referential style.  Whatever, for what it is, it sure kicks the hell out of "Play Ball",  and "Sweet Caroline".  I'll still put "Tessie" and "Dirty Water" up against it--or maybe along-side it--but I envy the Twins their playoff run and the love of one of their bigget fans, Craig Finn.  Click to hear the new best baseball rock anthem, in Hold Steady style: