WWW BEN'S REVIEWS

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Apples in Stereo
[02.12.2007]

Assembly of Dust
[02.04.2007]

The Hackensaw Boys
[01.27.2007]

Paul Luc

[01.20.2007]

Local Honey / Slim Cessna
[01.13.2007]

Bob Seger

[12.14.2006]

Skinks / Rahim / Transcontinental Booze Hounds
[11.25.2006]

The Big Sleep
[11.18.2006]

Local Honey / The Izzys
[11.10.2006]

Cloud Cult
[11.07.2006]

Grand Buffet / Magnolia Electric Co
[10.31.2006]

Norman Nardini
[10.28.2006]

Wilco
[10.20.2006]

Wilco
[10.18.2006]

Kid Congo Powers
[10.12.2006]

Dave Alvin
[09.23.2006]

Wolfmother
[09.22.2006]

Mountain Goats
[09.20.2006]

World Party
[08.27.2006]

Gil Mantera's Party Dream
[08.16.2006]

Whiskey Daredevils / Local Honey
[08.11.2006]

The Silver Jews
[07.28.2006]

The Bottle Rockets / Marah

[07.27.2006]

Slim Cessna's Auto Club
[07.15.2006]

Alejandro Escovedo
[07.10.2006]

Cat Power
[07.09.2006]

Life In Bed / The Transcontinental Booze Hounds
[07.07.2006]

Violent Femmes
[07.01.2006]

Guitar Zack Wiesinger / Pittsburgh Pirates Loss # 54
[06.30.2006]

The Black Crowes \ Robert Randolph \ The Drive-By Truckers
[06.25.2006]

Pearl Jam
[06.23.2006]

The Octopus Project \ Black Moth Super Rainbow \ Amoeba Knievel
[06.19.2006]

The Bottle Rockets
[06.14.2006]

Govt. Mule / Local Honey / Wil E. Tri
[06.08.2006]

Tehran Iran
[06.03.2006]

Astronautalis
[05.25.2006]

Grand Buffet / Cobalt Black
[05.19.2006]

Phil Boyd w/Manny Theiner & Weird Paul / The Codetalkers feat. Col. Bruce Hampton
[05.15.2006]

The Four Seasons Boys
[05.11.2006]

The Supersuckers
[05.02.2006]

The Breakup Society
[04.28.2006]

The Four Seasons Boys / The Gris Gris
[04.19.2006]

Rhett Miller & The Believers
[04.14.2006]

Good Brother Earl
[04.08.2006]

Slim Cessna's Auto Club
[04.03.2006]

"Guitar" Zack Wiesinger
[03.25.2006]

The Minus 5 / The Silos
[03.24.2006]

The Mendoza Line / Great Lake Swimmers
[03.12.2006]

Dave Alvin
[03.10.2006]

Apollo Sunshine
[03.07.2006]

Lyle Lovett / John Hiatt / Joe Ely / Guy Clark
[02.14.2006]

Marah
[02.12.2006]

Marah / Slim Cessna's Auto Club
[11.12.2005]

Ted Leo + Pharmacists / Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings
[11.08.2005]

The National
[11.02.2005]

Modey Lemon
[10.07.2005]

Gang of Four
[10.04.2005]

Joe Grushecky and the Houserockers

[09.24.2005]

Thunderbirds Are Now!
[09.22.2005]

The Walkmen
[09.17.05]

Circle
[09.15.05]

Akron/Family, Great Lake Swimmers
[09.05.05]

Los Lobos
[08.21.05]

Grand Buffet, Magnolia Electric Co.
[08.20.05]

Joe Ely

[08.19.05]

Solomon Burke

[08.14.05]

Billie Joe Shaver
[08.11.05]

Robert Randolph & The Family Band
[08.07.05]

Oneida
[08.06.05]

Richard Buckner
[07.13.05]


NYC Road Trip

[07.08.05]


Stars
[06.23.05]

Aimee Mann
[06.19.05]

Bobbie "Blue" Bland, Michael Penn, Erin McKeown, OPEK, The Mavens
[06.18.05]

The Holmes Brothers
[06.15.05]

Drive-By Truckers, Deep Purple
[06.11.05]

Los Lonely Boys, Martin Sexton
[06.10.05]

Marah
[06.08.05]

Brant Bjork & The Bros.

[06.03.05]

Railroad Earth
[05.20.05]

Andrew Bird
[05.17.05]

Ryan Adams & The Cardinals
[05.13.05]

Rosavelt
[05.12.05]

Green Day
[04.23.05]

The Shins
[04.15.05]

Bonnie "Prince" Billy and Matt Sweeney
[04.14.05]

The Beakup Society, Whiskey Daredevils
[03.25.05]

Apollo Sunshine
[03.12.05]

From The Jayhawks: Gary Louris and Mark Olson
[03.11.05]

Clem Snide, Archer Prewitt
[03.07.05]

Norman Nardini
[03.04.05]

The SPUDS, Norman Nardini
[02.18.05]

The Comas
[02.15.05]

Tarbox Ramblers
[02.12.05]

Black Tie Revue
[01.28.05]

Elvismas, Shade
[01.08.2005]

Chalk Outline Party, Comrad
[12.18.2004]

One Star Hotel
[12.10.2004]

Ted Leo + Pharmacists
[12.03.2004]

Thanksgiving Eve / The Italian Club / Blairsville, Pa

Sue Foley
[11.20.2004]

The Whiskey Daredevils
[11.19.2004]

The Arcade Fire, The Cynics
[11.15.2004]

Steelers v. Patriots
[10.31.2004]

Mike Watt
[10.21.2004]

Magnolia Electric Co.
[10.14.2004]

The Mendoza Line
[10.09.2004]

The Black Keys
[10.07.2004]

The Secret Machines
[10.06.2004]

The Fiery Furnaces, Charles Bissell (The Wrens)
[09.23.2004]

The Mountain Goats
09.20.2006 / Andy Warhol Museum / Pittsburgh, PA

This same show happened about a year ago to rave reviews on the message boards so when I saw that The Mountain Goats were coming back to The Warhol I reserved myself a ticket, knowing that it will sell out. Not clearing this with Wifey was just one of a number of blunders that I have recently been digging my own grave with. But with no opener and an early start on a Tuesday I just didn’t see us getting the babysitting together.

I biked down to The Warhol and in the entranceway is Manny passing out handbills to a show he’s doing that same night but will run past the end of this show. I speak to him for a minute then start walking inside and I hear a couple of girls who entered behind me say “No Thanks” as Manny tries to get his flyer in their hands. Walking past him he yells out “They sound like the Mountain Goats” and he must have gotten a flyer to one of them because one of the girls squeals “Kind of Like Spitting? Ewwww!” And I’m thinking Jesus, the shit Manny put up with to get a couple of people, at best, to one of his shows. God bless him! And you know he’s not making shit off it either.

I get inside the theater and it turns out there’s an opening band and they completely suck, a three piece with a girl at the keyboard singing some whiney shit. I bolt but not before a funny aside by the male drummer about his class that was mostly girls and how for months the guys were taken aside to learn some song on the ukulele while the girls were whisked away to sex ed class. “We never knew where they were going.”

I headed over to UGLY up the street and pounded a couple of $2 Yuengling drafts and got back minutes before the band came on.

Let me first say that I probably would have liked this show much better had I had time to familiarize myself with the new album Get Lonely. Listening to it a few times now I recognize some of the songs that jumped out at me during this show. “New Monster Avenue” particularly as well as “Half Dead” and “Woke Up New.”  Jeez, throw “If You See Light” in there too. It’s a pretty good album.

John Darnielle’s first words on stage were a request for someone to shut the theater door behind me which was bleeding bright white fluorescent light and was causing him some anxiety I guess.  He made some observations about a strip mall hotel he stayed in for days in Reading last year after his Pittsburgh show and included a few insights to his writing process in that one of these new songs was written in the hallway outside of his room because he couldn’t get any alone time from touring partner Peter Hughes.

The whole thing lasted just about an hour and I kept waiting for some payoff that never came. Nothing wrong with two dudes playing well written songs but I just couldn’t get into it. This was a fan’s show. I just wasn't enough of a fan at the time.