Good Old War, Good Old Time

Yesterday was a perfect day. I can't help but sit back after days like this and think, yeah, work may get on my nerves and I'm no millionaire, but when you can enjoy the free time you do have with friends and family, then that's what it's all about. Sorry for getting all sappy ... i just can't help myself :) So Keri came to my apartment around 1, and it was great because she hadn't been over since the winter. We chatted for a while and then walked down to Lindsey's, got snacks at the deli, juice box wine at the liquor store and headed to The Great Lawn to meet Roe. The 4 of us sat on a blanket, on a seriously beautiful day and talked for hours. Fun afternoon.




Around 8:30, me, Rob, Nicole, Lins and her bro Luke went down to Webster Hall to see Good Old War. I've anxiously waited to see them again for about a year. Last spring me and my friend Dan went to a Straight Light Run concert, and a fun trio of folk rockers from Philly opened for them. This fun trio of folk rockers, was Good Old War and a beautiful musical following was formed. My sister Kerry met us there with her friend Phil and his friend Chris, who is in a new wave band called TVTV. They're also playing Webster Hall in a few weeks. As we walked in we were greeted with the raw vocals of Audra Mae, who really looks like my friend Rachel from highschool! I ran into Audra in the bathroom and told her this more than once, lol, a few $3 PBR cans and I like to be friends with everyone! We were all blown away by the next band, Yukon Blonde, with hair all over the place they rocked the house down, in a classic southern rock way. Ironically enough, they are not even from the south, but way up north in Vancouver! They were incredible. They closed their set with all musicians from the 3 bands up on stage jamming together, a great thing to see.

Before Good Old War went on stage, I strolled over to the merch table to buy their latest album, and couldn't help but introduce myself to one of the band members, Daniel Schwartz, their unbelievable guitarist. He was super nice, even told me he liked my dress -- yeah, yeah I know, this isn't Almost Famous, but it was still neat! It's so cool when you actually meet and somewhat talk to members of a band that you listen to every morning on your commute, its a little surreal. They finally took the stage, and their performance exceeded anything I even remembered from last year. A nice mix of music from both albums & even a little accordion before getting off the stage to sing with everyone in the audience. Their sound is perfect for the summer, fun folk rock tunes that you want to sing out loud and dance around to. If that was the mandatory behavior of the evening, I think I passed with flying colors. All three of them are phenominal muscians. Daniel, not only plays acoustic guitar, but an electric guitar he has on a stand all tuned and ready for him to rip into during Weak Man, while his acoustic is still strapped to his body. I think my favorite song is either Looking for Shelter or Window, and I was happy to hear them both.



Right before we left, once again I couldn't resist the urge to say Hi to Keith Goodwin from the band, and snag a picture with my sister. It was a Kodak moment. One of the best/fun shows I've been to recently.




http://www.myspace.com/goodoldwar


After the concert I went with Rob to his cousin's apartment uptown, a dream apartment on the first floor with a patio and backyard, only few New York renters ever see. A nice place to unwind after an action packed day. I only hope that there are more weekends like this as the summer goes on. And even though I barely had enough strength to go food shopping today, it was well worth it.