
(Jim Guthrie in concert in Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP, as shown by the Gizzled Boar.)
What with seeing Godspeed You! Black Emperor just a few weeks ago, & last night's Mountain Goats show, I've been hitting up my top five list pretty hard the last month. If I had gone to the Protomen show the other week instead of Olivia's baptism, I'd be three out of four-- I only have four of my top five slots filled, for now. Let me rewind for a bit! It was Marie's idea to go see The Mountain Goats together, me & Jenny & her, but due to work & illness & such, Marie had to back out. Very sad! I managed to get lunch with her at Rye House, however, so we could do the hand-off for the tickets & at least see each other for a bit. Hello, Marie! We did find a nice warm body to fill Marie's shoes-- the lovely Rachel. I've been saying I want to start scheduling more time with Rachel & Nick, & suiting thought to action, invited her to come along. An invitation she thoughtfully returned by buying me drinks. We got to the venue early-- Jenny grumbling that it was so very early, but so be it!-- & had a while to chat before the opening act came on. The wonderfully named Megafaun kicked things off, & were really charming. Their opening number had their front man charging the front of the stage with serial killer eyes, accompanied by hard rocking banjo plucking. Right on! At the climax they-- killed all the amps & played it acoustic? I don't think I've ever seen that before & it was great. Megafaun's stage banter was just weird & delightful-- stream of consciousness ramblings about North Carolina, Mountain Goats fans, how excited they were to be there, just all kinds of fun. & I'm pretty sure that one of them had Ars Goetia tattoos like Edbury. Also, I really liked the cut of his pants, which is a weird thing to be obsessing about in the middle of a rock & roll show. If pressed, I'd describe Megafaun as "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers meets Buddy Holly," or perhaps "Chuck Berry crossed with O Brother Where Art Thou?"
I haven't been to The Bowery Ballroom since the last Mountain Goats show I saw, back in 2006. That was with
