Ryan Adams "Goodnight Rose"

Nothing like a roomful of drunk geeks.

Or in this case, a roomful of drunk music geeks.

This week, Barbara Dacey is at the Non-Commvention in Philadelphia.  It's a gathering of radio folks from non-commercial stations and record company folks who promote bands that these stations might play.  And the labels bring bands who have new records to perform for this industry crowd.

What's it like?

It's been a few years since I've been to the Non-Comm, but the last time I was there was when Ryan Adams had his album "Easy Tiger" out.

I'm not sure if this was a period before or after Adams got sober, or what state of mind he was in at this point.  One could only guess, based on his stage presence.

He came out, to a packed and awaiting theater, filled mostly with excited industry/fans, and a large, lucky-feeling contingent of listeners.

He and his band, The Cardinals, took seats on the stage, sitting in a semi-circle, their chairs pushed as far to the back of the stage as possible, creating a gulf of hardwood between the band and the first row of concert-goers.

The lights on the stage were turned down as low as they could possibly go.

Adams himself sat in his chair, wearing a hoodie with the hood up.

And sunglasses.

And he also appeared to be wearing a shower cap.

??

He said nothing to the crowd for the entire show, except right before the last song, when he gave a fairly insincere, prefunctory sounding, "Thanks.  We're really honored to be here.  Good night."

He left the stage after he sang his last line, but before The Cardinals had completed the final song.

A forty minute set was over in 39 1/2 minutes.

Back at the hotel, in the bar, the debate began.

"Can you fucking believe that guy?  Rude!"

"What?  Were you listening?  They were amazing!"

It was true.  They sounded impeccable.

"But doesn't a performer have a responsibility to entertain? "

"Or at least be gracious?

"Or at a minimum, not show contempt for the audience?"

"You guys are hung up on bullshit.  He's there to play music.  And the music was incredible."

"Moving."

"That was a bullshit set."

And on and on it went like that.  Drunk people who do nothing but talk and think about music for a living, talking about something they could sink their teeth into.  And doing it while kinda drunk.  If you were on the inside, it was a blast.  If you weren't interested, it was probably intolerable and interminable.

That's what Non-Comm is like.


Hear the song on Youtube.

G Love & Special Sauce "I-76"

While PJ is on vacation, he's writing about songs that taught him something . . .

Writing about Philadelphia yesterday, coupled with my family drive down the East Coast for vacation, reminded me of this one.

I've only been to Philadelphia once.  But I know the names of all the surrounding highways and routes, thanks to this ditty from G Love and Friends.

They could try to do a song like this about how to drive through Boston, but as the meme says . . .

Hear the song on Youtube.

Spottiswoode & His Enemies "Youngest Child"

Here's another song I was reminded of, while cleaning last week . . . 

My wife is a Public School teacher, and most of her career has been spent in a Grammar School setting.

From time to time, we'll be out in public and she'll run into one of her kids.

"Mrs. Finn!  What are you doing here?"

As if teachers don't, you know, grocery shop.  Or go to restaurants.

When we think of musicians, we think of them doing normal musician things, like playing on stage.  Or being interviewed at a radio station.  Or riding in a van to the next gig.

Generally, when you think of a musician, you do not picture them ironing.

But yeah, musicians need to iron too.  Especially the dapper ones.

Barbara and I were representing mvyradio at a convention that brings together non-commercial and independent radio stations, and the record labels and artists who appear on those stations.  It's called Non-Comm, and in 2005 it was being held in Philadephia.

Non-Comm is 3 days of a handful of panels, discussing the state of the industry, and a whole bunch of music showcases---abbreviated sets of music from artists that have new records.  They start as early at 10 in the morning, and go on well past midnight.  Much of it takes place right in a hotel conference room---not exactly Red Rocks, but it's a really great chance to see for yourself if this much-buzzed-about artist is "the real deal."

Not being ones ever let an opportunity to relax and enjoy ourselves get in the way of working a little extra, we had set up some interviews with some of the performers.  And because the whole convention takes place in a hotel, we did the interviews right in Barbara's hotel room.

And that's where we met Johnathan Spottiswoode, of Spottiswoode And His Enemies.  He was charming and dry and English, and he was happy to join us for an on-the-mic chat.

But he was most happy that he could, after the interview, iron his shirt before his showcase performance.

So while I thoroughly enjoyed the interview and the acoustic songs he played in it, and I enjoyed the full band performance later in the day, I most enjoyed chatting with him casually, as he pressed his outfit.

Because there's nothing more real-deal than that.


Hear the interview in the mvyradio archives.


Hear the song on Youtube.