i may be a bird in a cage but at least it's your cage

jooooooooooooosh ritter. srsly, people, this fall has been a frakking gold mine of concerts for me: okkervil river, the lucksmiths, mason solo and acoustic, josh ritter. if doughty could have seen his way to scheduling a north carolina date -- i'd have driven to asheville or charlotte or wilmington for him, even -- i could have died happy on the 8th of november, jesus christ. (this doesn't even include the bands i'm missing or missed, due to finances or cancellations or being lazy and having shows sold out before tickets could be procured: stars, nada surf, the decemberists, bright eyes, hank iii & assjack/the reverend horton heat. IT HAS BEEN A GOOD FALL FOR THE MUSICS, OKAY?)

so josh, josh, omg, JOSH.

wait, hold on, first i gotta take care of some business -- DEAR CHAPEL HILL HIPPER THAN ME HIPSTERS, THE NEXT TIME JOSH RITTER ASKS YOU TO HELP SAVE WESTERN CIVILIZATION BY SINGING ALONG AND YOU FAIL TO DO SO, I AM GOING TO CRAM YOUR IMPORTED MICRO-BREW BEER BOTTLES SO FAR UP YOUR ASSES, JESUS CHRIST. NO LOVE AT ALL, MIN.

okay, back to josh. last night was the first time i've seen josh ritter live, and i'm sort of stupidly in love completely with his new album, and this concert just blew me away. i guess i'm used to mason, who plays a similar style of music but isn't nearly as chatty or animated on stage, but josh ritter just delighted me in so many ways -- he enjoyed playing for us so obviously and desperately, he smiled the whole time, he flung himself around the stage and told stories about potatoes and, guys, he was just so delightful and pleased to be playing and it's hard to not adore someone who adores what he does so much.

and it doesn't help that he writes lyrics like a bar with a jukebox and you on my arm/heaven and earth are pretty much the same and all the other girls here are stars/you are the northern lights and am i making all the right moves/am i singing you the right blues/is there a chance that i could call you/just to see how you are doing?

i've always sort of wanted to get the line we are all half crazy and all at least half alright tattooed on myself somewhere. it's a good line. this was a fucking good show.

( set list for josh ritter @ the cat's cradle, 11.05.07 )

OKAY I GOTTA WORK NOW. and watch the progress of this frames bootleg i'm downloading. but mostly work. while i'm working, you guys should tell me about the best live concert you've seen -- either recently or ever. okay? okay.