the oh so quiet show

[Pre-note: Everthing in the world should have autosave, like gmail. _Everything._ Or…google should make a blogging tool that has autosave. Apparently I have the Scribe firefox extension but haven’t been using it. Hm.]

I’m not sure when I first heard of Rogue Wave, but…[looks at watch]…I don’t think it was more than two months ago. I bought their latest album, Descended Like Vultures, so I’d be more familiar with their music at their concert last night at the Bowery Ballroom. After listening to it for roughly a day, I decided I loved it. Because. It’s. Um. Pretty? Happy sounding? I know that description is about as helpful as describing a cookie as yummy and delicious, but you can make a better judgement if you listen to their music yourself. You can download some songs at “betterPropoganda”:http://betterpropaganda.com/artist_page.asp?id=416. No, wait, you _will_ download some songs; that’s an order. If you don’t like them, that’s alright, but I’ll sic these “lightsaber-toting squirrels”:http://www.eckernet.com/images/theforce.jpg on you. They’re lethal and surprisingly skilled in the art of lightsabering humans.

I went to the concert primarily to see “Mazarin”:http://www.mazarinband.com/ (pictured), but all the bands were great. You know, all…three. Local band (as in, Lower East Side local) “Shelby”:http://shelbynyc.com/ was first to play and I liked them. If I could describe them beyond that, I would, but I can’t. Read more press at “their website”:http://shelbynyc.com/pressframe.html or listen to their songs on “myspace”:http://www.myspace.com/shelbynyc.

Next was Mazarin, whose latest album “We’re Already There”:http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0009W5K54/ is one of my favorite this year. It was one of those immediate “OH GOD I LOVE THIS I DON’T KNOW WHY” moments (such moments don’t have to be grammatically correct). There was an additional “guest keyboardist”:http://flickr.com/photos/roboppy/69751021 besides the four band members. The lead singer, Quentin Stotlzfus, wore a hat and I thought it was funny for some reason. (HATS = COMEDY GOLD.)

While I obviously enjoyed them, there was this problem all night where…I thought my eardrums were going to explode. No, it’s not like I’ve never been to a concert before, hence why I always bring earplugs (took me a few years to get to that point though). I rarely see other people wearing earplugs, so I’ll conduct a little survey: do you wear earplugs at concerts when necessary, ever want to wear earplugs when you don’t have them, or never wear them because you hate them? While I know earplugs degrade the quality of the sound (no, really?), the experience of not feeling I’m setting myself up for premature deafness outweighs listening to the music live in unadulterated form. I figured that out after I took off my earplugs for Rogue Wave’s encore. I don’t always need earplugs, depending on the venue and artist (Kings of Convenience = non-earplug bliss), but I usually try to get as close to the stage as possible when I go to Bowery Ballroom…which may not be such a good idea.

In conclusion: yay, Mazarin! I would’ve been happier if I could hear things more clearly, but that’s my problem. Random thing: the guitarist was using an ebow at one point. I forgot what song it was for, but I don’t think I’ve seen anyone use one before (and recognized it), so that was…interesting.

Uh. Back to the concert (which was not composed of blurry humans, although the photo says otherwise). The crowd loved Rogue Wave (or the girls behind me were really into them; I think they were friends with the band) and I did too. The band was very friendly and every now and then, members would switch instruments. Because…why not? They gave the impression that they were having lots of fun, which I don’t see very often (I suppose most bands do have fun performing, but they may act serious while doing it). They played most of the songs from their latest album but also played many from …the other stuff I don’t have. I suppose that means I should get them. If you get the chance, you should see them during their tour. They brought their own Christmas lights. DON’T YOU LIKE CHRISTMAS LIGHTS? YES, YOU DO.