worlds best grandaddy - luther
So, Good Records is one of the best places in the world now. I mean, it was always the coolest record shop around, with the selection of pretty much everything that you couldn't get at your local B&N, but it was always so out of the way and in a kind of scary neighborhood. Now, since the move to Greenville Ave, not only is it in a much more music-kid/girlyman-friendly part of town ( Yeah, you have to park 3/4 of a mile away in someone's driveway, but it's as bad as Deep Ellum ever was ), it's also in an effing cool building with tons of listening stations and a very impressive stage. Not that this post is about the new store, but wow, it really adds to the shows now. Gone are the days of squeezing into a 20' cube and trying to peer over some lanky guys shoulder. Good sound, good stage, good records.
Despite some drawbacks to the evening, everything was pretty damn cool, and a lot more orderly than I expected, for such a "big" group at least. The free beer was present (though the serpentine line finally lead to a somewhat deflating 6oz cup), and so was a picked over BBQ table that smelled quite good, though I shyed away from the littered beef bits and yellow slaw. At one point, a mother (presumably a friend of someone in the band or with the store) had her infant child play the drums for the crowd; it was surprisingly cute. . . for about two minutes, then the kid realized that the more noise he made, the more people looked at him, and that was not good. So, he's up there for, hmm, 30 minutes, maybe 45; and the mom just smiles at him as we all hold our hands over our ears and try to be civil. Anyway, yeah. So, the crowd seemed pretty week, I thought, during our wait at the front of the stage. Right up until the lights went down I was confused about the number of attendees, until I realized that, due to the mounting heat indoors, everyone was having a drink in the parking lot. As the music started, the room became inundated with onlookers: and I thought it was hot before, wow. A warm evening + a big metal room + about 300 people = a freeking oven. So then the music starts.
Jason Lytle and Aaron Burtch are old friends. You can tell just by the way that they talk and joke with one another. In such an intimate setting, with only a drum set and an acoustic guitar, it comes across in the music as well. Hopping through their discography like a midnight Frogger tournament at Iron Skillet, the songs took form in new and charming ways, the interplay of a change in presentation bringing a spontaneity to the tunes. Lytle's voice was charming as it soared timidly through stripped down versions of new tracks and old hat's (there was even a Merle Haggard tune in there, if I'm not mistaken). The setup couldn't be more personal or gratifying, making the whole event seem special. I was actually rather touched to be there, at this parting of band and fans. It almost emitted a sadness, equally from both parties, somewhere in the sing-a-long choruses and the witty inter-song banter. They will be missed by many.
So, some way into the show, I look around at the other people there and realize that I'm a little out of place. I'm right at the front of the stage, more because we got there really early not knowing when the band would go on and the stage leant a chair until the festivities began than out of any dedication to the band, and everyone around me appears to be both singing every word and enwrapped with an overwhelming feeling of pulchritude and bliss. Now, I liked the Sophftware Slump a lot, like, in high school, and I've heard some of this new record and it's cool; but whow, I'm not a super-fan like all these people. I started to feel a little guilty, I have to admit. On top of that, the heat was still building, for some reason, and the band was into a number of songs that I had never heard, and I was real hungry, and so, I regretfully inform you that, I am sorry, I left early. I probably got a good hour in there, but they were not favorable conditions folks. I know, it was a really cool, free show, and historic on top of it all, but I'm a big wussy-boy, and I had tappas on the brain. So I flew the coup. I bet the rest of the show was awesome, though.
We did, however, buy the new Spankrock CD, and the Why? CD, while we were there, so that was cool. And then we ate at a spectacular Mediterranean tappas joint down the street. So, good times, good times. Yeah.