Here Is What Is

I'll say this: those David Bazan fans sure like to smoke a lot.  It was great to see such a good turnout for a Tuesday night, but with all the smokers present, the back room at The Earl started to resemble a humidor.  I'm not a smoker, but then I'm not exactly one of those faint-hearted people who clear their throat and object every time a cigarette is lit, either. I've breathed my fair share of second-hand smoke and then some, but I think I may have doubled my lifetime intake last night alone.  The woman standing in front of me was chain smoking with such intensity it almost seemed like she perceived her job to be some sort of a human smoke machine, to keep the stage as smoky as humanly possible.

That aside, it was a great show.  Interestingly, during some of his banter between songs, Bazan even mentioned the influence that Brian Eno had on him.  Specifically, he talked about the DVD Here Is What Is that Daniel Lanois made with Eno, although Bazan had to pause to to ask the audience "Do you even know who these guys are?"  Near the beginning of the film, Eno suggests that it should try to show people that art often grows out of nothing, or arises from the simplest of seeds under the right conditions, not from what outsiders might assume are the miraculous inspirations of allegedly brilliant or gifted artistes.  Here is the gist of that conversation:

Bazan basically agreed with this premise, and encouraged the audience to go out and buy themselves some high-end delay pedals and make something, anything, beautiful with them.  Here is what Bazan does with the equipment he possesses:

But, actually, the real reason that I went out last night was to see S Carey, who played a wonderful opening set that was at times ambient and atmospheric, at times gentle and folksy, and at times aggressive and hard rocking.  It's interesting that the drummer of Bon Iver doesn't play drums in his own band, but instead plays keyboards and sings, although he did get up at one point and beat the living shit out a single tom-tom. 

I didn't get home until about midnight, so this evening I'm taking it easy. There are a couple bands playing at The Goat Farm tonight, but there will be bands playing there many more nights to come. Tonight, I rest.