June 08, 2002
What the?!; the Yum Yum tree; the Young Antiques
Anyone who, for whatever reason, has some idea that I am somehow… ‘cool’… should come watch me stand around by myself at a club. It will disabuse you of the notion rather quickly.
I am so out of my element (and your guess is as good as mine what my element IS) at someone else’s show by myself. I have never been a smooth guy, god knows, or been any good at dating or the scene. And though thankfully those days are behind me, I still feel horribly out of place when I do go out. Never at ease, aware of every appendage and where it’s placed. Ugh. It’s laughable.
Anyway, I went out tonight to a couple of different shows, two bands who I have promised for far too long to come see, and they happened to be at two clubs within walking distance of each other, so I made the trek out to East Atlanta. I went to the Echo Lounge first, to see What The…? play. Lyle, who is the bassist foolish enough to want to go to LA and play for me at IPO, is the lead singer. I stuck around for four or five songs, and then walked over to the Earl to see the Yum Yum Tree, which is Andy Gish’s band who I keep failing to go see. I caught the last half of their set. I was surprised by both bands, even though I had a decent idea of what both of them sounded like.
I stuck around after them to see about half of the Young Antiques set. I haven’t seen them play in about two years, and I really thought they were great back then. Seeing them tonight reminded me why. I like a lot of local bands, some of whom I think really deserve national success, who have really developed a genuine sound. But it’s the Young Antiques who I can’t believe haven’t been snapped up by someone by now. They’re not a band that needs to be tethered to this town. They may play out of state more than I’m aware, I don’t know. But when I see them play I can’t shake the feeling that I’m seeing something much bigger than a club like the Earl (no offense) should have.
I ran into several people, which helped a bit with the awkward “why is that guy alone and what is he doing looking at me” sense I had of myself all night. Greg from Gentle Readers and Josh from Lithp were at the Echo and then went over to the Earl just before I did. I ran into someone I met years ago when Radiant City was still around who used to be in a band called Atticus Finch. And then just before the Antiques went on I ran into Jimmy Ether, which shouldn’t have been a surprise when I think of it. When I left I told him to tell them that I thought the set was great, even though I knew they wouldn’t know who he was talking about. But he said that actually Blake wanted to get in touch with me about playing some acoustic shows, which caught me off-guard. That’s something I would really look forward to. So, hopefully we can get together at some point and work it out. I don’t know whether he knew of me because of jimmy or if he remembered me or what, but flattering nonetheless.
One thing that stands out is that East Atlanta no longer seems to be THE PLACE. It was surprisingly dead for a Friday, especially at the Echo. The Earl was doing better, but I didn’t think the crowd was any better than the show we played there on a Thursday back in October. Does anyone in town have a clue if ANY club is a draw anymore? 10 High still seems to do well enough on the weekend, and it and the Earl seem to be the only two places where people come in who aren’t already fans of a particular band on the bill.
Off to bed.