Viva la musica!

Last Saturday, the wife and I went out for a night of music in the ATL. Since I play in two bands and am playing music most nights of the week, I rarely go out to see bands anymore. It’s a big change from going to the 40 Watt literally every night of the week during my freshman year at UGA. I saw a lot of really great bands back then, but when you’re 19 years old and away from home for the first time, a guy standing on stage with a jaw harp could prove to be a revelatory experience.

Of course I miss those days a little, but I am not going to sacrifice sleep anymore to see bands play. As I get older and especially since I’m married, I enjoy hanging out at home in my free time instead of in a smoky club. I know it sounds like I’m slowing down in my old(er) age, but I actually listen to more music and am generally more excited about finding new music than I used to be. And with the popularity of music blogs (largehearted boy, Mystery & Misery and spookihaus are some good ones, but there are alot more) I am finding out about a ton of really cool bands these days.

Anyway, back to last weekend. After getting a late start (11pm), we headed down to the EARL to catch one of my new favorite bands, The Rosebuds, play the EARL’s 5 Year Anniversary show. The Rosebuds are a guitar/keyboards/drums 3-piece from North Carolina who put out a great album last year (buy). As we walked in to the club, they were already playing, but I don’t think we missed much. The Rosebuds were kicking out the jams and the wife had fun watching the “cute kids” up front really get into it. Watching these 20-ish-year-old guys and girls whoop it up was a welcome change from the general cooler-than-thou vibe that exists at many shows these days. They reminded us of our younger days and reminded me about how much music can affect you (more on that later). It was a great start to our evening of music.

After the Rosebuds finished, Grupo Fantasma started setting up. This 12-piece band from Austin, Texas is a sight to behold. It was no small feat to fit the whole band on the tiny EARL stage, but somehow they pulled it off. As they took the stage, the lead singer challenged us to outperform the previous night’s crowd in Huntsville, Alabama. As the crowd enjoyed a good laugh at the easy challenge, I could tell this was going to be a party band. When they started playing their latin/cuban/hip-hop infused music, the entire place exploded. Instantly the crowd became more diverse as the older people who had stayed near the back of the club came forward to dance with the cool kids. A friend said her entire family comes out to see Grupo Fantasma whenever they play. It was so cool to see moms, dads, uncles and cousins getting into this band–especially at the EARL. We stayed for about 3 songs before it was time to take a walk down to the Echo Lounge to see Sufjan Stevens.

I’ve been listening to Sufjan Stevens’ album, Greetings from Michigan: The Great Lakes State, for about 6 months now. His ode to his home state was one of the more interesting of last year’s releases. Some songs have a very layered approach that somehow avoid sounding cluttered while others are hushed, epic and breathtaking. I didn’t know what to expect for this show since it was only going to be Sufjan alone up there.

As we walked into the club, all was quiet as everyone in the room hung on Sufjan’s every word. He stood next to an easel holding a hand-drawn map of Michigan, marked with the cities and places that he sung about. He accompanied himself with guitar or banjo and sang beautifully. His stories were poignant and touching and gave you a glimpse into his songwriting process. I thought of how cool it would be to hop on a plane in New York, fly to Atlanta, and totally command a room full of strangers with your music and stories. It must feel pretty powerful.

Sufjan came out for one encore and happened to play one of my favorite songs. He told a story of his parent’s divorce and how his mom came down to visit the kids at their father’s house in Romulus. It was heartbreaking and beautiful and literally brought tears to my eyes as he sang these words:

Romulus
Once when our mother called
She had a voice of last year’s cough
We passed around the phone
Sharing the word about Oregon

When my turn came
I was ashamed

Once when we moved away
She came to Romulus for a day
Her Chevrolet broke down
We prayed it never be fixed or be found

We touched her hair

When she had her last child
Once when she had some boyfriends, some wild
She moved away quite far
Our grandpa bought us a new VCR

We watched it all night
We grew up in spite of it

We saw her once last fall
Our grandpa died in the hospital gown
She didn’t seem to care
She smoked in her room and colored her hair

I was ashamed
I was ashamed of her

Overall, I’d say it was a pretty successful night of music. We heard some indie rock, threw in some international flavor and capped it off with some introspective, emotional singer-songwriter. Not too shabby for a Saturday evening.

Oh yeah, after seeing Sufjan Stevens we went back to the EARL and got drunk. Like I said, perfect evening.