Month: July 2008

Opener Sister Hazel put on a fine set of power pop/rock, then we got the big act (after running into Mike Clem at a Pat McGee Band show for the second year running). We were pleased that once again our favorite Todd Wright was sitting in on keys.

Throughout the set Luke Brindley also popped in, adding tasteful rhythm guitar and backing vox.

But the star of the show was Pat, leading the way through a fine mix of his songs, both old and new. I think the highlight was when he came out in the audience to make a connection with a platoon who served with his former drummer’s brother, and ended up standing on the chair next to Jill.

I listen to and read a lot of music sites. Most are blogs, a collection of quick thoughts – a fairly quick look at a topic, then they move on (like, um, mine). The Onion’s AV Club is more like a traditional magazine, with columns (sometimes weekly or at strange intervals). What’s really grown on me since the start of the year is Popless, best introduced with its own tagline:

After 17 years of professional music-reviewing, Noel Murray is taking time off from all new music, and is revisiting his record collection in alphabetical order, to take stock of what he’s amassed, and consider what he still needs.

And it’s exactly what it says, and fascinating to read and listen to, even if you don’t agree with what he says all the time. It is time consuming, but I’ll start the song playing, read the track description, and go look at something else until it’s done (tabbed browsing is your friend). And I guarantee you’ll find that you don’t know every band (and like some of the new ones), and some of it will reinforce your opinions, and sometimes you’ll figure out you really don’t like that artist anymore.