hold....steady

(photo by Todd!)

I don't get bands sometimes. It's been awhile since I've been to a show at the 9:30 Club where the sound was so poorly mixed. Yeah, I'm not a music producer but I don't have to be - anymore than I need to be an actual chef to assess food. The Hold Steady happens to be a band that is unusually reliant on it's lead singer and lyrics. Even if you know all the songs - and I'm well-versed on most - if you can't hear the words then you're missing about 50% of their talent. What I know about the 9:30 is that they have a built-in sound system so it's not the venue, per se, that's the problem. Another experience sheds even more light on the issue: seeing the same band twice in the same building with the same system. I've seen the Old Crows there twice and the first show was just awful soundwise (and crowd-wise). The second show was so much more enjoyable as they either sorted out the sound, had a new board man, or listened to the venue when it comes to mixing. One more detail is that I have always sat in the same place so it's not a node / anti-node issue (I vaguely remember some of my 11th grade physics). Anyway, the rub is that the band's performance was energetic, the music sounded great, but the vocals were absolute crap, and in the end that's a killer. I was almost willing to write it all off as I was riding the Metro home when I remembered this was a short-notice, early evening, gig the night prior to them playing a festival today but then decided they don't get that benefit.

Here's a picture of something I discovered this morning after my shower:

Just to give you the lay of the land: the bathroom door is located just off the bottom left corner, the bed is off the bottom side, that's a wardrobe's leg you see on the left, and the living room / door from the bedroom is off the top of the photo (I apologize for not taking a more architectural / mall map-type photo). I would hope that everyone has the same initial reaction as I had, "Why has someone left a cup of coffee on the floor in the midst of the walking zone?" Am I (are we) crazy? It wasn't until 15 or 20 minutes later that I told X I may, or may not, have taken of picture of her coffee cup on the bedroom floor. In her little sideways voice she told me that I should be able to Poirot this little mystery. Well, I did look around and see that there was no dead or near-dead body laying on the floor near the cafe. Beyond that, I was useless. The truth sits somewhere between "I guess that's okay then," and "You're completely crazy" and isn't rally germane to the story. I will say this; in my experiences, women are much more likely than men to lay a cup or glass (wine, one each) on the floor. I'm all right with broad generalizations.

I had my fantasy football draft today in case you're wondering.

I'm off to make pizza and then sit about the place.

Love to all.

t