No Not With The Light On

I don't usually go out to shows on a week night because I usually have to get up early for work the next day...and I'd like to think I've grown into a "responsible adult". This past thursday night was the exception to the rule though, because sometimes when "CHANCE" puts an opportunity in front of you, you have to take it and see where the magic takes you. Thursday on the way home from work, Missy and I were trying to decide where to go for dinner - we were both famished and feeling much too lazy to cook. As usual, we found ourselves at THE GRIT. As soon as we entered the restaurant we were greeted with smiles and "hey!"s from a table full of strangely familiar faces. It finally took a minute or two for Missy and I to realize that 1) these people were from out of town, 2) we knew some of these people, or at least knew of them, 3) they must be in town to play a show! Turns out that the members of IJI, WATERCOLOR PAINTINGS, and THE BLANKET TRUTH were all sitting at that table, finishing up their meal. We quickly found out that they were actually hoping to run into me and Missy downtown (something that's all too easy to do in a place like Athens) because they were playing a show that was *JUST* thrown together...it was going to be Iji (pronounced EEE-HEE), Watercolor Paintings, Theo from NANA GRIZOL, Julian Koster from THE MUSIC TAPES and NEUTRAL MILK HOTEL, and unknown "others" playing a potluck at the SECRET SQUIRREL...and that best of all, the show started super early - at 8PM. I thought, "yeah, I can do that!"...only in Athens...



Amazingly, the show started on time, with Theo kicking off the festivities...people sang along to a few of the Nana Grizol tunes he performed:

SQRRRL 5380 from Raoul de la Cruz on Vimeo.

Julian took the floor next, setting up next to a surreal Turkish MINARET, with hands that came out of it and gently stroked a keyboard. He played his SINGING SAWS along with some sort of GYPSY ACCORDION MUSIC emanating from the tower. I could not help but think of the song "Istanbul (Not Constantinople)" the entire time...

SQRRRL 5381 from Raoul de la Cruz on Vimeo.

Julian and a friend performed a rendition of the Christmas classic "LET IT SNOW" for the crowd:

SQRRRL 5391 from Raoul de la Cruz on Vimeo.

Afterwards, Santa Barbara, California's Watercolor Paintings, charmed the crowd while sitting on the side of the stage:

SQRRRL 5393 from Raoul de la Cruz on Vimeo.

SQRRRL 5395 from Raoul de la Cruz on Vimeo.

SQRRRL 5396 from Raoul de la Cruz on Vimeo.

SQRRRL 5397 from Raoul de la Cruz on Vimeo.

Seattle's Iji were up next and they were raucous and loud...you couldn't help but bounce in your shoes...

SQRRRL 5402 from Raoul de la Cruz on Vimeo.

SQRRRL 5412 from Raoul de la Cruz on Vimeo.

Just when we thought the night was over, John Fernandes of Olivia Tremor Control pulled out a BASS CLARINET and started playing along to a cassette which he threw into an 8-track recorder...as his set got underway and the lights were dimmed, I decided that I better call it a night, knowing that I would have to get up for an early morning meeting in just a handful of hours...