How's My Living? » teddy thompson

CHIRP Playlist: Friday, February 3, 2012

Sarah — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 16:44:57 +0000

Hear my delightful music selections every Friday night on Chicago’s own CHIRP Radio, from 8 – 10 pm Central time. It’s awesome. Next week’s my birthday. I’m definitely playing whatever the heck I want.

9:53 PM Scout Niblett Cherry Cheek Bomb from The Calcination Of Scout Niblett (Drag City)
9:49 PM Radar Eyes Secrets from Radar Eyes (HoZac)
9:42 PM Kid You’ll Move Mountains Volts from Loomings (self-released)
9:39 PM Comet Gain Ballad for Frankie Machine from Howl of the Lonely Crowd (What’s Your Rupture)
9:37 PM Dan Mangan Tina’s Glorious Comeback from Nice Nice Very Nice (Arts & Crafts)
9:33 PM Chin Up Chin Up We Should Have Never Lived Like We Were Skyscrapers (Stephen Snydacker Mix) from Chin Up Chin Up (Flameshovel)
9:29 PM Apparat Black Water from The Devil’s Walk (Mute)
9:25 PM The Roots The OtherSide (featuring Bilal Oliver & Greg Porn) from undun (Def Jam)
9:20 PM Brandi Carlile Dying Day from Give Up the Ghost (Columbia)
9:19 PM Tegan and Sara Living Room from If It Was You (Vapor)
9:14 PM First Aid Kit King of the World from The Lion’s Roar (Wichita)
9:09 PM Teddy Thompson (From Now On All My Friends Are Gonna Be) Strangers from Up Front and Down Low (Verve Forecast)
9:05 PM The David Mayfield Parade Blue Skies Again from The David Mayfield Parade (9th Grade)
9:03 PM Buddy Holly Not Fade Away from Greatest Hits (MCA)
9:01 PM Virgin Forest Big Old Mama from Easy Way Out (Partisan)
8:58 PM The Scotland Yard Gospel Choir …And The Horse You Rode In On (Album) from …And The Horse You Rode In On (Bloodshot)
8:54 PM Hockey Too Fake from Mind Chaos (Capitol)
8:49 PM Royal Baths Black Sheep from Better Luck Next Life (Kanine)
8:45 PM Casiotone For the Painfully Alone Scattered Pearls from Etiquette (Tomlab)
8:40 PM Chappo Island Opiate from Plastique Universe II: Pisces Princess (self-released)
8:37 PM Poliça I See My Mother from Give You the Ghost (Totally Gross National Product)
8:32 PM Noe Venable Five on the Dime from No Curses Here (Intuition)
8:29 PM Cate Le Bon The Man I Wanted from Cyrk (The Control Group)
8:25 PM Andrew Bird Bein’ Green from Muppets: The Green Album (Disney )
8:21 PM Band of Horses I Go To The Barn Because I Like The from Everything All the Time (Sub Pop)
8:17 PM Maná Mariposa Traicionera from Revolución de amor (Warner Music Latina)
8:14 PM Adrian Younge Presents Venice Dawn Mourning Melodies in Rhapsody from Something About April (Wax Poetics)
8:09 PM Broken Records You Know You’re Not Dead from Let Me Come Home (4AD)
8:06 PM Unicycle Loves You Sun Comes Out (And I Don’t Care) from Failure (Mecca Lecca)
8:02 PM Quiet Company The Easy Confidence from We Are All Where We Belong (self-released)

CHIRP Playlist: Friday, January 6, 2012

Sarah — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 16:50:48 +0000

Another night, another couple of hours of music. Hooray, Friday.

I’ll be back for an extra long show next week, from 8 pm to midnight. More banjo! More whistling! More everything!

9:55 PM The Don’ts and Be Carefuls Old Heart Young Heart from Sun Hits EP (Hot Congress)
9:50 PM Frank Zappa Trouble Everyday from Strictly Commercial (The Best of Frank Zappa) (Rykodisc)
9:45 PM Jon Langford & Skull Orchard 1234Ever from Old Devils (Bloodshot)
9:42 PM Teddy Thompson Everybody Move It from Separate Ways (Verve)
9:38 PM Wooden Wand & The Briarwood Virgins The DNR Waltz from Briarwood (Fire)
9:30 PM Zun Zun Egui Katang from Katang (Bella Union)
9:25 PM Radiohead Idioteque from Kid A (Capitol)
9:21 PM Thao with the Get Down Stay Down Burn You Up from Know Better Learn Faster (Kill Rock Stars)
9:17 PM Steve Hauschildt Too Short a Season from Tragedy & Geometry (kranky)
9:14 PM Lonely Drifter Karen Dis-In-Motion from Fall of Spring (Crammed Discs)
9:12 PM Clogs Cocodrillo from The Creatures In The Garden Of Lady Walton (Brassland)
9:05 PM Beats Antique Egyptic from Blind Threshold (Antique Records)
9:01 PM Oneohtrix Point Never Nassau from Replica (Software)
8:57 PM Dum Dum Girls He Gets Me High from He Gets Me High (Sub Pop)
8:54 PM Mutts Real Bright from Pray for Rain (8eat8)
8:50 PM Joe Firstman Now You’re Gorgeous, Now You’re Gone from The War of Women (Atlantic)
8:44 PM Cass McCombs Robin Egg Blue from Humor Risk (Domino)
8:39 PM Gordon Lightfoot The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald from Summertime Dream (Wounded Bird Records)
8:34 PM The Mountain Goats and John Vanderslice Scorpio Rising from Moon Colony Bloodbath (Cadmean Dawn)
8:30 PM And So I Watch You from Afar Think:Breathe:Destroy from Gangs (Sargent House)
8:25 PM Controller.Controller Disco Blackout from History (Paper Bag)
8:20 PM John Legend & The Roots Wake Up Everybody (featuring Common & Melanie Fiona) from Wake Up! (Columbia)
8:15 PM Eligh & Amplive Tattoo Song from Therapy at 3 (Legendary)
8:09 PM Neko Case Look For Me (I’ll Be Around) from Blacklisted (Bloodshot)
8:04 PM Case Studies California Ghost Story from The World is Just a Shape to Fill the Night (Sacred Bones)
8:00 PM Josh Joplin Group I’ve Changed from Useful Music (Useful Music)

CHIRP Playlist: Saturday, November 26, 2011

Sarah — Sun, 27 Nov 2011 16:32:01 +0000

I filled in for my friend Bobby on the radio yesterday afternoon. It was fun. These are the songs I played.

3:55 PM Neil Young Hitchhiker from Le Noise (Reprise)
3:51 PM Monument Monument Full of Life from Call Off the Roses EP (self-released)
3:48 PM Deer Tick Main Street from Divine Providence (Partisan)
3:42 PM Mirah Cold Cold Water from Advisory Committee (K)
3:38 PM Owen No Language from Ghost Town (Polyvinyl)
3:34 PM Murder By Death Brother (May 23rd) from In Bocca Al Lupo (East West)
3:28 PM Voltaire This Sea from To the Bottom of the Sea (Mars Needs Music)
3:26 PM The Beach Boys Wonderful from The SMiLE Sessions (Capitol)
3:21 PM Great Lake Swimmers Falling into the Sky from Bodies and Minds (Misra)
3:18 PM Shearwater Castaways from The Golden Archipelago (Matador)
3:16 PM Heavy Times Skull Hair from Jacker (HoZac)
3:13 PM The Promise Ring Happiness Is All the Rage from Very Emergency (Jade Tree)
3:08 PM Radiohead No Surprises from OK Computer (Capitol)
3:05 PM Gotye Eyes Wide Open from Making Mirrors (Eleven)
3:00 PM Tycho Coastal Brake from Dive (Ghostly International)
2:57 PM The Gentle Guest Down at the Still from We Are Bound To Save Some Souls Tonight (Amble Down Records)
2:51 PM Dosh Country Road X from Tommy (Anticon)
2:48 PM Netherfriends Chicago, IL from Middle America (Plustapes)
2:43 PM Vandaveer Fistful Of Swoon from Divide & Conquer (Supply and Demand)
2:39 PM Teddy Thompson Delilah from Bella (Verve)
2:36 PM Wilco Jesus, Etc. from Yankee Hotel Foxtrot (Nonesuch)
2:32 PM Dessa Dixon’s Girl from Castor, the Twin (Doomtree)
2:27 PM The Head and the Heart Lost In My Mind from The Head and the Heart (Sub Pop)
2:23 PM The Decemberists E. Watson from Long Live the King EP (Capitol)
2:19 PM Thao with the Get Down Stay Down Know Better Learn Faster from Know Better Learn Faster (Kill Rock Stars)
2:15 PM Kathleen Edwards Going to Hell from Voyageur (MapleMusic)
2:10 PM Sierra Swan I Will Follow from Girl Who Cried Wolf (Swan World Records)
2:06 PM Peggy Sue Song & Dance from Acrobats (Yep Roc)
2:03 PM A.A. Bondy I Can See The Pines Are Dancing from When the Devil’s Loose (Fat Possum)

CHIRP Playlist: Saturday, October 1, 2011

Sarah — Sun, 02 Oct 2011 16:23:58 +0000

Thanks to everyone who tuned in to my inaugural (internet) radio adventure on CHIRP Radio. If you’re interested to know what kind of music I play whenever I get three hours behind the controls of Chicago’s best radio station, then read on. I’ll be back on the air on Saturday, October 8th, from 9 am to noon, Central time.

8:56 PM Neil Young Southern Man from After The Goldrush (Reprise)
8:52 PM Jessica Lea Mayfield Blue Skies Again from Tell Me (Nonesuch)
8:51 PM The Jayhawks She Walks in So Many Ways from Mockingbird Time (Rounder)
8:47 PM Tinariwen Tamiditin Tan Ufrawan from Tassili (ANTI-)
8:44 PM Martha Wainwright Jesus and Mary from I Know You’re Married But I’ve Got Feelings Too (Zoe)
8:40 PM Serengeti Flutes from Family & Friends (Anticon)
8:33 PM Andrew Bird Not A Robot, But A Ghost from Noble Beast (Fat Possum)
8:29 PM Brandi Carlile Looking Out from Live at Benaroya Hall with the Seattle Symphony (Columbia)
8:25 PM Milagres Halfway from Glowing Mouth (Kill Rock Stars)
8:20 PM The Bowmans Make It Last from Far From Home (self-released)
8:17 PM Wilco Black Moon from The Whole Love (dBpm)
8:14 PM Justin Townes Earle Poor Fool from Midnight At The Movies (Bloodshot)
8:08 PM Allá Es Tiempo from Es Tiempo (Crammed)
8:04 PM Vienna Teng 1BR/1BA from Dreaming Through the Noise (Zoe)
7:59 PM Active Child Johnny Belinda from You Are All I See (Vagrant)
7:54 PM Gotye Somebody That I Used to Know from Making Mirrors (Ais)
7:52 PM Buffalo Rome Plant White Roses from Obscurities (Merge)
7:45 PM Ohbijou Balikbayan from Metal Meets (Last Gang)
7:41 PM The Avett Brothers The Weight of Lies from Emotionalism (Ramseur Records)
7:37 PM Low Majesty / Magic from C’mon (Sub Pop)
7:33 PM White Mystery Take a Walk from White Mystery (self-released)
7:28 PM Okkervil River Your Past Life as a Blast from I Am Very Far (Jagjaguwar)
7:25 PM Peter Wolf Crier Beach from Garden of Arms (Jagjaguwar)
7:20 PM Booker T. Jones Representing Memphis (featuring Matt Berninger and Sharon Jones) from The Road from Memphis (ANTI-)
7:15 PM Teddy Thompson Separate Ways from Separate Ways (Verve)
7:07 PM Braid Universe or Worse from Closer to Closed EP (Polyvinyl)
7:04 PM St. Vincent Northern Lights from Strange Mercy (4AD)
7:01 PM Anais Mitchell Hades & Persephone from The Brightness (Righteous Babe)
6:57 PM Dessa Into the Spin from A Badly Broken Code (Doomtree)
6:53 PM The Grey Race On the Chin from Give It Love (Unfiltered)
6:51 PM Tom Vek World of Doubt from Leisure Seizure (Co-op)
6:45 PM Nico The Fairest of the Seasons from Chelsea Girl (Polygram)
6:42 PM Laura Marling Rest in the Bed from A Creature I Don’t Know (Ribbon)
6:39 PM Jeff Pianki Missing Parts from Paper Window. (self-released)
6:35 PM Alpha Consumer The Crown Salesman from Kick Drugs out of America (self-released)
6:30 PM A.A. Bondy Surfer King from Believers (Fat Possum)
6:25 PM Dusty Bibles Wintersong from Sinus Rhythm EP (self-released)
6:20 PM April Smith and the Great Picture Show Drop Dead Gorgeous from Songs for a Sinking Ship (self-released)
6:17 PM Beirut Goshen from The Rip Tide (Pompeii)
6:14 PM Neko Case Runnin’ Out of Fools from Blacklisted (Bloodshot)
6:09 PM The Mountain Goats Psalms 40:2 from Life Of The World To Come (4AD)
6:03 PM Girls Just a Song from Father, Son, Holy Ghost (True Panther Sounds)
5:59 PM Ha Ha Tonka Usual Suspects from Death of a Decade (Bloodshot)

June in Review

Sarah — Sat, 02 Jul 2011 17:50:57 +0000

Another sort of quiet month around here. Here’s a quick little playlist of what I’ve been discovering and loving this past month.

This Week in Great Music: 5/30 – 6/5

Sarah — Mon, 30 May 2011 16:14:31 +0000

Monday, May 30
Justin Townes Earle, Andre Williams and the Goldstars; Millennium Park. 6:30 pm, free
Robbie Fulks, Kathleen Keane; Hideout. 7 pm, $10 suggested donation

Tuesday, May 31
Friendly Fires, Wise Blood; Lincoln Hall. 9 pm, sold out

Wednesday, June 1
Meh.

Thursday, June 2
Teddy Thompson, Melissa McClelland, Luke Doucet; Schubas. 9 pm, $15

Friday, June 3
Brett Dennen, Dawes; the Vic. 7:30 pm, $22
Raphael Saadiq; Park West. 8 pm, $30
Band Called Catch, Jackpot Donnie, Mike Mangione and the Union, The Damn Choir, The Lakeshore Band; Cubby Bear Wrigleyville. 8 pm, $5-7
Ozomatli, Making Movies; Congress Theater. 8:30 pm, $20
Grace Potter and the Nocturnals, Chamberlin; House of Blues. 9 pm, $25-35
Teddy Thompson; SPACE. 10 pm, $15-28
Thao and Mirah, Bobby, Led to Sea; Empty Bottle. 10 pm, $13
Jerome Holloway, Lauren Frost, simplesinger; Schubas. 10 pm, $10

Saturday, June 4
Las Guitarras de Espana; Mayne Stage. 7:30 pm, $25
Leo Kottke; Old TOwn School of Folk Music. 8 pm, sold out
Bailiff, Secret Colours, Box Jellyfish; Lincoln Hall. 10 pm, $8-10
Kopecky Family Band, Stolen Silver, Wildlife; Schubas. 10 pm, $8-10

Sunday, June 5
Kris Delmhorst; SPACE. 8 pm, $15-25

March in Review

Sarah — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 18:01:09 +0000

It’s been a bit of a quiet month around here. I blame the Mountain Goats. Because I can.

At any rate, here’s a glimpse of what I spent March listening to.

Music Memoirs: Concerts

Sarah — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 04:07:24 +0000

Today’s questions from Music Memoirs are all about concerts.

What’s the best concert you’ve attended?

I’m going to cheat and name two.

1.Over the Rhine in Kent, OH; April 2005: I traveled a ridiculous distance by car to go see them, was sleep deprived after spending one night driving straight through from Pennsylvania to Michigan and spending the next night sleeping on a floor or a couch or something, followed by more long and tedious driving (in a snowstorm, no less) from Michigan to Ohio. I was more than a little delirious by the time of the concert. This was my first ever Over the Rhine concert, and I was in the company of great friends who loved the group as much as I did. Being an almost-hometown show for the group, there was a very special vibe in the theatre that night. I couldn’t tell you much about the set list now, only that I sat spellbound in a creaky old Ohio theatre listening to new and old songs from one of my favorite bands.

2. Andrew Bird at Millennium Park, Chicago; September 3, 2008: I could name any Andrew Bird show that I’ve seen so far, as they’ve all been “the best” for their own reasons, but this one wins simply because it introduced me to the sheer genius that is an Andrew Bird live show. I’d been a fan for a while, since around the time The Mysterious Production of Eggs was released, but had never had the opportunity to see him perform live before. I’d always managed to miss his shows in Chicago for some reason, but this was a free show downtown, and I wasn’t going to pass it up. From the second that man stepped out on stage and began performing, I knew I was going to see something amazing. I don’t know how anyone could have walked away from that show without being completely blown away.

What’s your dream concert lineup?

There is no good answer to this question. But let’s see… I would probably organize a Dream Festival Lineup if I sat down and really thought about it. One day would be performances from the whole Wainwright clan there, plus their friends and associated acts. Like one of their Christmas concerts, only better and longer. One day would be Classic Rock Music That I Love, Even If Those Artists Aren’t Alive Anymore. And one day would be be so hip and indie that it would make Pitchfork cry. The end.

Smallest/largest concert you’ve attended:

For smallest, I’m going to exclude things like cover bands in bars in my college town, and instead go with the category of “Anything I’ve Ever Seen at Schubas”. I think the Teddy Thompson show I went to was potentially the smallest show I saw there, as I distinctly remember being able to breathe and maybe even back up a few paces from where I was standing. But for the most part, I think all the crowds have been more or less equal there. Even the uber-sold-out Andrew Bird show didn’t make me feel as crushed and claustrophobic as I have at other larger venues (yes, I’m talking to you, House of Blues and your incredibly drunk, rude patrons).

As for largest, if you exclude Lollapalooza, it would probably be the Vote for Change tour (My Morning Jacket, Jurassic 5, Ben Harper and the Innocent Criminals, and Dave Matthews Band) from October 1, 2004. It was held at the Bryce Jordan Center in State College, PA, which has a capacity of 16,000+ for concerts. Anything I saw at Starlake Amphitheater (now known as the Post-Gazette Pavilion) may beat that: it apparently now has a capacity of 23,000+, although I don’t know if it had the same capacity back in the 90s.

One artist you’d like to see in concert:

Hm. I’ve been fortunate to see most of my favorite artists perform. (Of the top 10 from my stats on last.fm, I’ve seen 7 of them.) I’d kind of like to see someone huge and iconic from the classic rock era — Elton John or the Eagles come to mind — but only if I could be sure to have a seat where I could actually see things instead of just looking at the giant screens, and also if that awesome seat didn’t cost ridiculous amounts of money. Of recent artists that I’ve been enjoying, I’d like to see Florence and the Machine, and Thao with the Get Down Stay Downs (who are coming to town but on a night when I’ve already got other plans). I’d also like to see Jason Webley, who doesn’t get out to the Midwest often. I can never just pick one of everything. :(

Music Memoirs: Underappreciated Artists

Sarah — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 02:01:59 +0000

Top 5 under-appreciated artists/bands and why you think they are under-appreciated.

For some reason, I can only come up with three off the top of my head, but they sure are three under-appreciated artists!

Over the Rhine: A husband/wife duo from Cincinnati, OtR is one of the few musical acts who can bring me to tears over just how gorgeous their music is. In college, I went on a road trip from central Pennsylvania to Kent, Ohio, just to see them perform. (Well, there was a side trip to a conference in Michigan, but the OtR concert was the real highlight for me.) I’ve seen them perform four times now (putting them in a tie for second place, behind Andrew Bird at five – soon to be seven, thank you Milwaukee – and tied with Rufus Wainwright, also at four) and their show never gets old. Despite being in the music business for 20+ years, Karin and Linford still manage to stay almost completely under the radar of the mainstream, for no good reason whatsoever. Their music is heartfelt and honest, and I don’t think that they release a single song or album without making sure it’s something that needs to be heard. Some of the most consistently strong releases I’ve ever heard.
Brad Yoder: A singer/songwriter from Pittsburgh. He’s been releasing music since 1992, but I’m pretty sure he’s completely unknown outside of the Pittsburgh-area coffee-house-type music scene. I’ve had the pleasure of meeting Brad and seeing him perform a few times (we recruited him to play at a few coffee house/open mic events at my undergraduate institution) and he’s just the most lovely person. His music is in the folk/acoustic sort of tradition, though with a bit of sarcasm and humor and unexpected lyrics in there. (One of my favorites: “she loves Jesus more than me / the Lord gets an A+, and I get a B / it’s hard to compete, ‘cause he’s in the Trinity” from “She Loves Jesus More Than Me”.) He has a ton of MP3s available for free on his site that you should check out, and if you’re in the western Pennsylvania area, you should absolutely go and see him sometime.
Teddy Thompson: Folk/rock singer from New York, by way of California and England. Son of Richard and Linda Thompson, renowned folk artists in the 60s/70s, Teddy receives relatively little attention, although “In My Arms,” the single from his latest album, did receive some ratio rotation and had a great music video, if there’s anywhere that plays music videos anymore. At the heart of his music is a great, traditional folk sound, but he’s not afraid to experiment with country (Up Front and Down Low, a release of all covers of classic country tunes) or pop (A Piece of What You Need). I think he’s underappreciated simply because of lack of attention from his label. Over the Rhine and Brad Yoder are both independent artists who can promote themselves as much or as little as they see fit. Teddy Thompson is on a major label that seems fit to kind of let him languish out there on his own.

Play along with weekly questions at The Music Memoirs. Check out some Youtube videos of these under-appreciated groups behind the jump.

Over the Rhine – New Redemption Song (video by me!)

Brad Yoder – WWJD

Teddy Thompson – So Easy (video by me!)

Concert Review: Teddy Thompson and the Grey Race, Schubas

Sarah — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 01:51:52 +0000

Everything started late, which was a bit of a frustration. They didn’t start letting people in until about 8:45, and the show didn’t start until 9:15 or so. The crowd was really diverse and skewed towards older (late 30s and up) people. There were very few other people my age there. Kind of strange, though it made for a nicer atmosphere. Quite honestly, people my age kind of tend to be jerks at concerts.

Anyway, sometimes it must suck to be an opening band, seriously. (Despite that, I’d totally do it in a heartbeat, seriously.) There were maybe… 30 people in the room when The Grey Race went on. I felt a little loser-like standing in the very front, but there were no seats left (I had one, but lost it when I got up to go to the bathroom) and everyone else was congregated in the middle or back, drinking and talking.

Oh well, sucks for them, because The Grey Race rocked the heck out. They’re a trio on the album, but were a quartet for the show, and their performance was really really good. Very alt-folk-rock-ish, a good mix of loud and chaotic and softer songs. A lot of reviews compare their lyrics to Elliot Smith, which I can see. They’re very … witty yet self-deprecating at times. I’d heard a handful of their songs on Myspace and liked them, so I was vaguely familiar with their music before going in. They definitely didn’t disappoint. They’re all standout musicians – reviews talking about Jeff Hill routinely note that he’s one of NYC’s best, most sought-after bassists, and I believe the rest of the band is similarly decorated (I’m only familiar with Jeff because of his work with Rufus and other assorted Wainwrights), and really, just watching the rest of the band play really gives away how talented they all are – but they work together seamlessly. No competing egos on stage there, they’re just there to play great music, and it totally works.

“Was anyone here last night?” Jon Darling, the lead singer, asked at one point in the show. No one responded. “Good,” he said, “that means I can tell all the same jokes.” And then proceeded to not actually tell any jokes. Jon later was introducing a song and mentioned that they made a video for it, which was on Youtube. “No, it’s not anymore,” the drummer said. “I think the label took it down. Lack of interest or something?” Oops. The drummer might’ve been wrong, I haven’t investigated Youtube yet to find out, but Jon was mildly outraged in his restrained New Zealand-ish way that the video might have been yanked for some reason. The drummer, who makes hilarious drummer faces, by the way, mentioned when pimping the CD that the packaging was all biodegradable, because “ten years from now, we don’t want anyone to remember that we did this.”

Anyhow, they closed out their set around 10 or so and got ready for Teddy Thompson to come on. The place was getting a little more crowded then, but even by the end of the show there was still a lot of room to move around in the front, which was … kind of mind-boggling to me. There was no one pushing, no one breathing down my neck, no one shoving up against me to get closer. It was just so crazy and different from what I’m used to. I kind of liked it, though I missed that sort of wacky energy that’s nice to feed off of. Jon from The Grey Race comes back up to tune guitars – that’s when you know it’s a low-budget indie sort of gig, when the band members do all that stuff themselves! (Well, the fact that it’s at Schuba’s, where there is no backstage and the band members simply walk through the crowd to get on/offstage should tell you that, too.)

In the intermission, some guy came around and switched out all the set lists, and then went and turned on a bunch of bright pink neon lights situated around the stage. “Beware the light show!” he said when he moved past me to turn on the lights right in front of me. It was… really, excessively bright. Ow. After a while, the whole of The Grey Race came back out with Teddy for his set – that’s dedication, doing your own opening set and then doing back up for the rest of the show. The show was really very good. I’ll admit my musical tastes have spoiled me; the kinds of artists I tend to love are the ones who release albums that actually represent what they sound like live. The whole singer-songwriter thing, people who cut their teeth performing live in unforgiving clubs and bars. That sort of stuff. Nothing’s more disappointing than finding out your favorite band is so over-produced in the studio that they sound completely different – and usually worse – live. Anyway, as much as I love fantastic performances, I also love performances that are flawed. One criticism of Rufus, for example, is that he messes up so frequently – forgets lyrics, misses chords, mixes up verses, etc. I read a review on a blog once that said effectively “I didn’t pay £40 to see him forget the words”. But to me, that’s what makes the artists human. They’re not perfect. They’re not machines. They’re going to forget words and chords and mix things up. As much as I want heroes and people I can look up to as a musician, it’s also nice to have the reminder that they’re just like us. Only usually with more money.

So color me terribly pleased when Teddy spent the first several minutes on stage trying to tune his guitar. “I think he’s using the wrong guitar,” the drummer commented in a stage whisper… directly into the microphone. “No, no, I changed it up, remember?” Teddy responded, going back to tuning. After trying to tune again, then stopping (“This song’s in the same key, isn’t it?”), he went into What’s This?!! (which is my favorite song from the new album, partly because of the extraneous punctuation in the title and partly because it has the line what’s this, what’s this, am I happy or something? Oh shit, oh shit!) and In My Arms (the first single from the album, not to be confused with Rufus’ completely different song called In My Arms, though to add to the confusion, Rufus is in the video for Teddy’s In My Arms playing the pipe organ, and it’s all just really music-cestuous and I love it, the end).

More after the jump…

He did most, if not all, of the songs from the new album. “There’s a new album out next week,” Teddy said. “It could have been this week, but it wasn’t. Instead it’s next week, when it could have been this week, but it’s next week. So we don’t have it yet for you to buy, because it’s not out yet. But we have free … free … buttons? Pins! Pins! We have free pins. With guns on them. Go get your free pins.” His convoluted long-winded last week/next week/this week spiel about the album boiled down to: the label said it’s coming out next week, and that’s that.

Apparently Tuesday would have been the show to go to for a chance at the LOCAL GIRL SHOW YOU GOOD TIME?!?! gig; Teddy mentioned that they all went out after Tuesday’s show. “Some of us are still awake. Some of us are still drunk,” he said, eyeing Jon. No one answered when someone in the crowd asked where they went, so there go my hopes of figuring out what a potential hot spot is for cute folk-rockers when they’re in Chicago. Someone also kept calling out for him to play “Separate Ways.” Teddy pondered this for a second, then leaned in to the mic. “No,” he said. “Shan’t.” (In a fact that I always forget, he was born/raised in London, and thus more prone to saying great things like shan’t. For some reason I never expect him to sound British. I sort of expect him to be Canadian, simply because of his association with the Wainwrights.)

He’s a fabulous guitarist, though I don’t know if you could have expected anything else, growing up with famous folk-rocker parents. Watching him play is really fascinating and it makes me want to pick up the guitar again and try to learn to play more than the few chords that I know. He makes these very serious, angry guitar-playing faces when he’s playing. Very focused on his music, the words, the everything. But the second the song’s over, he’s just very serene and smiley and calming. Seriously, watching him talk between songs was relaxing. The complete difference in his countenance was fascinating.

Teddy didn’t talk a lot between songs, (“I think I’ve said all the important things I had to say,” he said towards the end of the set) though he seems to take a page from the scatter-brained Rufus Wainwright book, starting sentences and stories and anecdotes and then changing his mind or getting distracted and not finishing. At one point Jon picked up a ukulele and everyone sort of snickered. Because it’s a ukulele. “That’s my ukulele,” Teddy said. “I lost mine,” Jon said, tuning it. “It’s so small, it’s easy to lose,” Teddy pointed out.

Aside from songs from the new album, he did So Easy (which on its album has Rufus and Martha on backing vocals), and a few other older songs. There might have been something from Up Front & Down Low (his country covers album), but I haven’t listened to that one enough to know. There was one song – I think it may have been the last song, actually – that they got a minute or so in to, when they just stopped. “We messed that up. We’re going to start over.” I couldn’t tell what they messed up, but something did sound different when they started up again. One song —and I’d be able to pick it out on listening to the album again – started with all these scattered futuristic noises, complete with Startled Posing on Teddy’s part. You would have had to be there, it was adorable. Teddy did a song from the new album called Turning the Gun on Myself, and quipped about how uplifting the subject matter was. After another slow song, he paused while fiddling with his guitar. “Well, that sure shut you up,” he said.

His encore was Everybody Move It, solo acoustic, followed by a reprise of In My Arms. Everybody Move It is what I head described once as a “folk rock party song”, and the solo acoustic version gives it a whole new feel. It turned it into a sad folk rock party song, somehow, by having it be this pared down thing. I liked it! When he did In My Arms again, he talked about how it was a throw-back to another era, when girl groups in the 60s really only ever had three songs to sing at a concert, so they’d just keep performing the same three songs over and over, and their encore would always be their single, because it was the song people knew.