8:30PM - The line has grown much, much longer. They finally let us in. I get seats on the second row for myself,
astraether, her dad, and sentientkhan. I'm sitting next to a woman who's there by herself, and she asks me to watch her seat while she goes to get a drink.9:10PM - The first act starts, a singer-songwriter called Matt the Electrician. I heard his first album, and it was sweet but it didn't really grab me. Tonight's performance was great, and I really want to see him perform a full set soon. He started by telling a story about how he and George W. Bush were both members of the same-birthday club, and how "W" wrote a song for him, the hilarious "You're All Going to Hell". Hell was the theme for the evening; there was a kid's song about the "blackest black place deep inside where my good thoughts go to die", a cover of the Rick Springfield song "Jessie's Girl" that ended up becoming a story about his first rock concert and teenage sexual identity, and another cover, a fast bluegrass version of Glen Danzig's classic hard rocker "Mother".
9:45PM - After the Matt set, I finally get up the courage to say hello to the girl sitting by me, starting a conversation about seeing the Spankers. It turns out she became a fan about the same time I did, seeing their shows in San Antonio. Now, she works as a contract nurse, taking jobs around the country for a few months at a time. We'd chat some more later during the set break for the Spankers, mostly about the music. I really need to chat with people more; I tend to be a very focused person, but I need to improve my skills with small talk and being friendly with people I don't know.
10:00PM - The Asylum Street Spankers start their first set. This one is the crew that's just been out on the road in their Re-Assembly tour, including Guy Forsyth. It's a great show, and it features two originals by their newest member, Sick; one about Katrina and New Orleans, and one about what you do when you're in love. The highlight of this set was Christinia and Guy doing their back-and-forth-insult-song "If You Want Me to Love You".
11:30PM - Set #2 begins. This is the one where they're bringing up special guests. After opening with "My Favorite Record" which features Guy Forsyth rapping and a pretty good start for an AC/DC song (I think), they bring up Stanley Smith, then Pops and Mysterious John, then Korey Simeone and Django Porter. Most of the material is their "greatest hits" with each of the members, and it's a musically superb show. if a little conservative (for them) lyrically. Alas, no "Dance This Mess Around",
lizardprincess. The set ends with all of them on stage and unmiked doing "Tight Like That" with each performer getting the chance to solo. The encore is a similar production of the "I'm really quite over this song now" Wammo piece "Beer".1:20AM - leave Ruta Maya, head north on Congress, pick up a slice of Spinach/Mushroom pizza from the window at Home Slice, and head on home.
