"You're friends are young and quirky/ I'm just old and weird"

Last night I walked into New Brooklyn Tavern and I felt a little outta place; well I always feel a little outta place so what was different? First off I was one of like fifteen people who weren’t still in high school. Secondly it was a show for mewithoutYou or as they go by now the Weiss Family. Now I’ve never listend to mewithoutYou (probably because of their ass backwards spelling or syntax or whatever the hell is wrong with their name) but I have always assumed they sucked and maybe they did last night but I was too drunk and too happy that they played “It Ain’t Me, Babe,” some Grateful dead song that I like but can’t seem to remember and then closed their set with “The Weight.” But they were mainly what’s been popping up lately with bands forgoing their Les Pauls and Marshall Stacks for banjos, accordions, upright basses and the lot. They crowd seemed to love it but I was less than convinced. The opening band…well actually I missed the opening band…so the first band I saw was called the Psalters or something like that. Another atrocious name and they had a lot of the same members that played in the Weiss Family and they had the same sort of vibe, while the lead singer reminder me of dirtier Devendra Barnhart. So this brings us to the question at hand: Why in the fuck am I at a shitty show feeling old and creepy?

Damien Jurado, of course. He played in the middle and he didn’t exactly rock the house but I’m sure some kids left with an appreciation for his work. I got into him fairly recently through a Daytrotter session that he did then I went and got his last album which is on par with Elliott Smith’s best work. I can see a relation between the two in several ways: they’re both from the Northwest, they both mainly deal in low-key, down-tempo dirges about women and alienation, and they both can write circles around most chumps trying to tread the same waters. Only key difference Elliott ain’t with us anymore and we all know why that is. Jurado brings to my mind an Elliott Smith who doesn’t even see suicide as an option; like it wouldn’t change anything either. I watched the man from behind the whole time (New Brooklyn was as packed as I’ve ever seen it) but he didn’t seem exactly cheerful. I stood beside him as fans kept coming up to him and asking him questions and he still didn’t seem cheerful, just merely sitting through it all. He only grinned slightly when he was onstage singing his verse of “The Weight” and banging on a tambourine.

That’s enough about his disposition, which I’m really to be no judge. His set was fantastic; he played some new stuff, his “hit” song, “Ohio,” some old time favorite and just a few off his newest album Caught in the Trees. With just guitar and voice, the music was sparse but it sure filled up the room. At certain points he’d get this expression on his face, where he seemed to be all but lost. The room would applaud but it seemed only out of courtesy. I’m not sure sixteen-year-olds with rattails really appreciate what he was “moaning” about and they were just as happy checking text messages until mEWiThoutYoU came on.

I heard the opening chords to one of my favorite songs I’ve heard in the last year: “The Killer” and I didn’t even have to request it. His expression and his voice changed throughout the song. At first the “paper says [he’s] a killer/ but the papers lie.” Then as they head for that North California state line he lets his companion know “that the papers were right” and they’re really heading for “your brand-new burial site.” “YOU CALL OFF THE GUNS/ AND I’LL CALL OFF THE DOGS.” Jurado shouts this phrase at the top of his lung for what seems like an eternity and the fright spread through down my spine. Then he brought it back down to a slow steady pace then walked off stage. A night well spent.