Current mood:	impressed
Current music:	Sufjan Stevens - John Wayne Gacy Jr.
Entry tags:	sufjan stevens

The Day I Was Blown Away By Sufjan Stevens & The Illinoise Makers
Tonight I went to the Bowery Ballroom for the first time. What a great venue. Sizable but not at all seeming to hold 550 even though it easily did with plenty of walking room for a sold out show. So classy, such great sound. The show was a top 3 show (Ryan Adams solo/Brussels/2002 and Radiohead/2003/Landgraaf being the other two) in for me with an amazing wall of sound, a fun and beautifully dynamic show and inspiration as I arrived home very late and went directly to my guitar. Sufjan Stevens I salute you. The show was great with the 9 person band (!!) dressed up as cheerleaders and doing funny peprally cheers between songs. The use of dynamics was specifically very impressive and the joy that was coming from the stage into the crowd was so infectious. I enjoy his Illinois record now much more than before. I love how a great show can do that. I especially love Shara Worden's background vocals all over the album and show. Buy or check it out HERE. See below for a download off the album.

The opening acts were very entertaining though Smoosh, two little 11 and 13 year old sisters, managed to attract a certain pedophile demographic which creeped most of the audience out. The girls were quite good but there was this one guy in particular who was just real creepy. He was middle aged and singing along to all the words in the first row desperately trying to make eyecontact with one of the girls who obviously recognized him from another show. Turns out he was the first in line that night and he was also sighted at, and kicked out of, the Spin Magazine offices where Smoosh performed days earlier. Nora talked about it HERE.

Albums listened to Today:
Xploding Plastix - The Donca Matic Singalongs (Really cool electronic music from Norway!)
Carol Thomas - Demo
Frank Sinatra - The Best Of The Columbia Years 1943 - 1952 (disc 1)

Download of the Day
Sufjan Stevens - Chicago (MP3) Via CentralVillage
Sufjan Stevens - The Lord God Bird (exclusive NPR track) (MP3) Via BrooklynVegan