I Went To Church

April 28

Rockwell Church, that is. Rockwell Church is Joti Rockwell (all around musical genius) and Nathan Church Hubbard (singer/songwriter/lyrical genius). I went to see them last night on campus, with Scott and Lynne and a couple of Lynne's friends. Lynne went to college with Joti, so I got to "meet the band" (which wouldn't have been difficult anyway, given the venue-- a small lounge with couches and folding chairs).

The show was amazing. The quality of this duo is so consistently high, it's astonishing. As far as I can tell, they don't have any bad songs-- just good, better, and great ones. Some of you take my advice when it comes to music (I can't imagine why; you'd think someone who owns all of Soul Asylum's albums (including the much-sought-after Time's Incinerator) would be disqualified from a position as music recommender). Listen: Get Rockwell Church. Go to their web site, and buy their albums. They've got four, I think. When they play near you (and if you live in the U.S., at least, they're likely to play near you at some point), go see them. They're just as good live. Better, because live they tell stories (about beer pong, and banjos, among other things), and they cover songs by pop icons (last night was a surprisingly soulful and quite hilarious rendition of "Oops, I Did it Again," and in the past they've done "Genie in a Bottle" and Spice Girls tunes). They're awesome.

And for those of you who want some indication of what kind of music they are... hmm... acoustic-folk-rock. Brilliant songwriting. Really. I wouldn't steer you wrong.

Some poor schmuck opened up for Rockwell Church last night-- I guess he was the guy who asked them to come play in the first place, and helped arrange it. Well, kudos to him for that. But then he forced us to endure 6 or 7 of his songs. It was... terrible. The musical equivalent of bad 14-year-old angst-ridden poetry. Not even as good as my 14-year-old poetry, because that showed promise. It was so hard not to crack up while he was playing, but I didn't-- it takes a lot of guts to get in front of people and play songs that you wrote, and I do respect that. But man. Somebody should have told him that he's no good. I mean, it was painful. The lyrics were horrible. I turned to Scott at one point and said "I think the problem is that I don't understand his pain. I mean, in his first song, he told me I wouldn't understand his pain. He was right." But I understood my pain quite well. Afterward, Scott said "See, that's what happens when your friends aren't honest with you. When you play for them, and they say 'That's great, dude!' when they should really just tell you the truth." He also said "I wanted to kill myself, just so it would end."

Now, I can't rock and roll my way out of a wet paper bag, but Scott's a hell of a musician. He doesn't play as much now as he did in college, but he was pretty damned good with a guitar and a microphone back in the day (he still is, he just doesn't do it as much). So while I may have no right to talk, Scott does.

Anyway. The contrast when Rockwell Church started playing after this guy got done... it was so amazing. They're so big, so polished, so powerful (of course, they've been playing music together since elementary school, which helps, I'd bet).

After the show, I could've gone out to have beer with the duo, along with Lynne and some others. Instead, I came home and cleaned my room.

I know, yo. I'm getting old.

But I can still rock, a little, as long as it's before my bedtime.

Marissa's coming to visit today (she should arrive any minute, actually, and if she gets here before I have a chance to upload this, you won't be reading it until this evening). It'll be so good to see her. It's been too long since we've spent time together. First her parents were in town for Easter, and I only had time for a brief visit last weekend. I get some sustained Marissa time today, though, and that will be very good for my soul-- and I hope for hers, as well. This evening I'm going up to visit Heather, and I'm sure I'll get into some kind of frolicsome merriment tomorrow, so don't expect to hear from me until late Sunday or Monday.

Hope y'all have a day as good as I think mine's going to be.