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Last night I went to see Magnolia Electric Company with Samantha and Rose. This represents my first successful driving excursion into Philly!
I picked up Sam around 6:30. I followed the directions I got from google!maps, and we actually made it all the way down and into the city and found the venue with no problems. The problems happened when we started looking for parking. We ended up looping around, getting lost and semi-trapped in 30th Street Station, and at one point had to back up to avoid getting back on the highway by accident. Finally we ended up at a valet parking deck a block away from the venue. I was more than a little nervous about leaving My Beloved Car with some strange man, but it was kind of our only option. We still made it to the place around 7:40, so we must have made great time driving down there (doors were at 7:30, which is when we were shooting to arrive).
The show was at the First Unitarian Church at 22nd and Chestnut. Rose was waiting outside when we walked up. Actually, everyone was waiting outside, since they hadn't opened the doors yet. Turns out that shows there are held in a wood-paneled basement room. It was at least as big as the Middle East upstairs, so it was a decent-sized room. There was a stage and some tables at the back with merch, and there was one lone ceiling fan twirling slowly. We pulled up some floor over next to the wall before it got too crowded.
First band was Sheerwater. They had a chick bassist, playing upright bass too, so I was immediately inclined to like them. The first few songs, the singer played a banjo, and I liked those songs a lot and was thinking about buying a cd, but then he started playing keyboard and I wasn't as excited about the songs after that. Pretty, and interesting, but I didn't get all excited. We relinquished our wall seats to stand up for the second band, the Bottomless Pit. Their music was fun, inoffensive, and immediately forgettable. In fact, I can't remember much about them at all. After they were done, we went outside for some air, because it was damn hot in that room, with only the one ceiling fan going.
We headed back downstairs when we heard MEC starting to play, around 9:50. They were a lot more rocking than I had expected, I think. I had only ever heard Songs Ohia, which kind of strikes me as more mellow and haunting than the MEC I heard last night. Rose seemed totally into it, though, and I really liked them too. At one point they were deciding what song to play next, and a few people yelled out song titles, and one girl behind me yelled "Hot Black Silk!" and most of the crowd laughed. I was excited that I got the joke. Jason Molina also kept cracking jokes about how hot the room was. I know how hot it was standing in the middle of the crowd, so they must've been dying up there.
Rose left at 10:30 because she had to teach chem first period this morning, but she only missed a few songs. Sam and I stayed till the end, at maybe 10:45. They didn't do an encore, possibly because they couldn't go backstage and then come back on, because there was no backstage. Sam and I got my car from the parking deck without incident and he was just fine, and then we had no problems getting back on the highway, because we'd already successfully avoided getting back on the highway earlier when we got lost, so I knew just where to go. Sam said she really liked the show, and that it was cool because she's only ever gone to big concerts before and she liked that it was so intimate and that it only cost $10. I'm hoping she'll be able to go to some more shows with me. I dropped her off at around 11:30, and then got myself to bed around 12. I am now highly in favor of the production company that planned this show (they do shows at several other places in Philly, like the Starlight Ballroom), because I think most of their shows have doors at 7:30 and only three bands, which means I get to bed before midnight. Awesome.
Also, I accepted the job at Temple. I start on Monday, a week from today. Go me!
I picked up Sam around 6:30. I followed the directions I got from google!maps, and we actually made it all the way down and into the city and found the venue with no problems. The problems happened when we started looking for parking. We ended up looping around, getting lost and semi-trapped in 30th Street Station, and at one point had to back up to avoid getting back on the highway by accident. Finally we ended up at a valet parking deck a block away from the venue. I was more than a little nervous about leaving My Beloved Car with some strange man, but it was kind of our only option. We still made it to the place around 7:40, so we must have made great time driving down there (doors were at 7:30, which is when we were shooting to arrive).
The show was at the First Unitarian Church at 22nd and Chestnut. Rose was waiting outside when we walked up. Actually, everyone was waiting outside, since they hadn't opened the doors yet. Turns out that shows there are held in a wood-paneled basement room. It was at least as big as the Middle East upstairs, so it was a decent-sized room. There was a stage and some tables at the back with merch, and there was one lone ceiling fan twirling slowly. We pulled up some floor over next to the wall before it got too crowded.
First band was Sheerwater. They had a chick bassist, playing upright bass too, so I was immediately inclined to like them. The first few songs, the singer played a banjo, and I liked those songs a lot and was thinking about buying a cd, but then he started playing keyboard and I wasn't as excited about the songs after that. Pretty, and interesting, but I didn't get all excited. We relinquished our wall seats to stand up for the second band, the Bottomless Pit. Their music was fun, inoffensive, and immediately forgettable. In fact, I can't remember much about them at all. After they were done, we went outside for some air, because it was damn hot in that room, with only the one ceiling fan going.
We headed back downstairs when we heard MEC starting to play, around 9:50. They were a lot more rocking than I had expected, I think. I had only ever heard Songs Ohia, which kind of strikes me as more mellow and haunting than the MEC I heard last night. Rose seemed totally into it, though, and I really liked them too. At one point they were deciding what song to play next, and a few people yelled out song titles, and one girl behind me yelled "Hot Black Silk!" and most of the crowd laughed. I was excited that I got the joke. Jason Molina also kept cracking jokes about how hot the room was. I know how hot it was standing in the middle of the crowd, so they must've been dying up there.
Rose left at 10:30 because she had to teach chem first period this morning, but she only missed a few songs. Sam and I stayed till the end, at maybe 10:45. They didn't do an encore, possibly because they couldn't go backstage and then come back on, because there was no backstage. Sam and I got my car from the parking deck without incident and he was just fine, and then we had no problems getting back on the highway, because we'd already successfully avoided getting back on the highway earlier when we got lost, so I knew just where to go. Sam said she really liked the show, and that it was cool because she's only ever gone to big concerts before and she liked that it was so intimate and that it only cost $10. I'm hoping she'll be able to go to some more shows with me. I dropped her off at around 11:30, and then got myself to bed around 12. I am now highly in favor of the production company that planned this show (they do shows at several other places in Philly, like the Starlight Ballroom), because I think most of their shows have doors at 7:30 and only three bands, which means I get to bed before midnight. Awesome.
Also, I accepted the job at Temple. I start on Monday, a week from today. Go me!
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Date: 2006-09-18 04:28 pm (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2006-09-18 04:34 pm (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2006-09-18 05:14 pm (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2006-09-18 08:52 pm (UTC)From:and i'm so jealous of your getting to see mec. and at a church? that's kind of crazy, even if it's unitarian.
no subject
Date: 2006-09-18 09:02 pm (UTC)From:About the job: have you not seen my most recent post? Eek. Double eek. But you should come visit Max and Sam so I can see you. :)