Central Village: People pretending they are less famous then they are, while realizing they aren't as famous as they thought they were

May 23, 2005

People pretending they are less famous then they are, while realizing they aren't as famous as they thought they were

Started off heading down to the Alphabet Lounge to see Jesse Lacey (Brand New) play a solo set. I'm pretty sure I was the only person there to see him that wasn't a personal friend of his. I thought he was incredible, but was more taken back by the atmosphere of the show. NOBODY knew who he was. He made some jokes about how it was his first time performing, etc. etc., but I don't think anybody got it. At one point he was playing my favorite song of his, "Ok I believe you, but my Tommy Gun don't", and some chatty girl in the back shouted, "Oh! it's Brand New!", apparently under the impression that some schulb was covering the song. Very strange. But good. I shot a short video of the aforementioned song, which I'll post when I get home. I read a rumble that his band may be breaking up and Jesse will be doing more solo shows. If he's gonna be around more often, go see him if you get a chance. He's actually a superb songwriter, despite what you may think of his band, and it really shows when he plays on his own. Check out some pictures here.

So I unfortunately had to leave before getting to check out the excellent Aeroplane Pageant, but I'll be sure to catch them soon. I walked down to Bowery, (along the lovely Pitt street...yikes) to see Stellastarr* as The Ligers. Despite the fake name and all the blog spoilers out there, the show still did not appear to be sold out. Oh well. Other people's loss. They mostly played new songs that I assume will be on their upcoming album and they were fantastic. Will be looking forward to hearing the whole thing. More pictures here.

Posted by Jeff Baum on May 23, 2005 at 02:17 PM | Permalink