November 4, 2008
The Dears @ the Independent
SP came up for Madonna's show in Oakland on Sunday. Yeah, she's great.
He stayed over Sunday night so he and I could go to the Dears' show at the Independent on Monday night. I got home from work later than I wanted, and we hustled out the door. We went to the Haight for a quick bite—or rather I had a quick bite—at Squat and Gobble. Stopped by Trax for a drink and then headed down to Divisadero for the show.
The first act was called Tamryn, or at least I believe that was the lead singer's name. My first impression was Amy Winehouse does Siouxsie Sioux but without all the Amy Winehouse mess. She had a low haunting kind of voice that was enjoyable. SP bet me a hundred bucks to yell out "Dear Prudence" in between songs. I would have preferred "Christine" or "Swimming Horses." She sang two songs, started a third, and then the power went out. Apparently, it went out on the whole block. We waited around for about 15 minutes, and the power came back on. Tamryn sang one more song and was done. Fine, good show, whatever. Let's have a beer.
So, the Dears were setting up their stage, and halfway through, the power went out again, throughout the block. The stage manager came out and said they were in contact with PG&E, and that the power would be back on within 20 minutes. So we stepped outside and breathed some fresh cool air, and talked for a while. When we walked back in, we were just in time to see the lead singer of the Dears, Murray, come on stage with his acoustic guitar followed by a stagehand with a small flashlight. The cute stagehand held the flashlight above Murray's head, and Murray sang us four songs, and wowed us all. That little bit was worth the hassle of the power outage. SP and I saw him do an acoustic set at Amoeba last year, and it was riveting even among the hustle and bustle of the expansive record store. Right as he finished his fourth song, the lights came back on, the band came back on stage, and they played for almost another full hour. It was a fantastic show.
And then the third band, the "headliners" of the show, Secret Machines, came on, and well, we left. I guess we weren't impressed. And the drummer looked like Animal from the Muppet Show, only far less cute.
Got home around 11:30, went to bed, got up super early—at 5:45 a.m.—so I could beat the rooms to the shower so I could vote before work, but he was up before me, and now I have to vote after work. No matter, I'm still excited to throw in my voice for this election. I love to vote.
That's all.
