I could enthusiastically word-vomit about 2,000 slimy adjectives—all positive—about last Thursday’s show by The Extraordinaires at Twisted Branch Tea Bazaar. (In fact, I did just that in my review of the gig for tomorrow’s paper.) However, since newspaper is better suited to cleaning up such messes than listing ’em, here are a few other things worth mentioning about the gig:
Click here for photos from Thursday’s gig by The Extraordinaires.
1. There was somewhere between 150 and 200 people sardine-canned into the Tea Bazaar by the time the show started. (Photo here.) By the time the show ended, we most likely smelled like sardines, but felt just as close as a crowd. Lesson learned: Find someone you can sweat next to.
2. There was no single explanation I could put a finger on for why so many people showed up, which is thrilling , because the music industry has no clear idea how to market Radiohead, let alone a band that writes songs with names like "Hi-Five the Cactus." It was neither all MySpace nor Jesse Dukes‘ excellent piece on the groupNPR nor the fact that singer Jay Purdy won lots of fans as a member of Ted Stryker’s Drinking Problems. But all are very good reasons, and certainly contributed.
3. A new PA at the Tea Bazaar. No question about it, now: If you go to the Tea Bazaar during a music night, you will hear music. And no amount of hookah sucking or tea pot rattling will compete with it.
There were other highlights—my favorite was the set-closing performance of "Warehouse Song," hearing half the crowd sing, "The other night I stayed up ’til 12pm," then scream "The sun was overhead!" But if you made it to the show, I want to hear your favorite parts of the show. And if you didn’t, I want your reasons.
Tomorrow, some details about Crosby, Stills and Nash.