Reju Tonight @ the Grape Street Pub

If you’re looking for something to do tonight, you should definitely check out Reju tonight at the Grape Street Pub. Adrien is also playing at 3 Beans in Haddonfield on Saturday, so check out that if you can’t make it tonight.

She recently posted a diary entry on her site.

Freedom and individuality are almost synonymous. And I’m pretty sure this individuality and freedom granted to us at birth has fostered most of our self-absorption. (I am speaking generally, as I know some very selfless individuals).

Interesting idea. I think it might be the other way around, though. We are self absorbed at birth, so we crave individuality and freedom.

If you’re looking for something to do tonight, you should definitely check out Reju tonight at the Grape Street Pub. Adrien is also playing at 3 Beans in Haddonfield on Saturday, so check out that if you can’t make it tonight.

She recently posted a diary entry on her site.

Freedom and individuality are almost synonymous. And I’m pretty sure this individuality and freedom granted to us at birth has fostered most of our self-absorption. (I am speaking generally, as I know some very selfless individuals).

Interesting idea. I think it might be the other way around, though. We are self absorbed at birth, so we crave individuality and freedom.

The Filthy Critic is Dead, Matt Weatherford is Not

It turns out the Filthy Critic is dead, but not his author, Matt Weatherford. As I mentioned earlier, last Monday a message was posted on Filthy’s website saying,

“The Filthy Critic was killed in a bicycle collision late Thursday night.

He died the way he lived–wobbling aimlessly in the slow lane.”

I was afraid this meant Matt Weatherford was dead, since it wasn’t always clear where Matt ended and Filthy began. In fact, you won’t see Matt’s name anywhere on the site. I was very surprised to see Internet news sites ignore the end of the web’s most creative movie reviews. More importantly, I wanted to find out who was actually deceased.

I emailed a bunch of people for help, including Drew of fark.com, Nicole from go fish, and finally Gooden from Gooden’s Worsted Video Ventures, another site hosted on Weatherford’s BigEmpire.com. Gooden turned out to have the answer.

Filthy’s alter ego is alive, but no amount of begging and pleading will bring the character back. Believe me, I’ve tried.

So that’s it. We’re all sad Filthy is gone, but he’s only gone like Spock was in Star Trek 2 and Flthy’s face wasn’t even melted.

If you’d like to learn more about the man behind the filth, check out Matt’s interview with Pitchforkmedia.

“I get people that e-mail me and say, ?You?re the only real honest critic out there,? and it?s like no, I?m so dishonest, I?m so full of shit– but if me being full of shit is the same as what they want to hear, then they think it?s honesty. It?s fine with me.”

It turns out the Filthy Critic is dead, but not his author, Matt Weatherford. As I mentioned earlier, last Monday a message was posted on Filthy’s website saying,

“The Filthy Critic was killed in a bicycle collision late Thursday night.

He died the way he lived–wobbling aimlessly in the slow lane.”

I was afraid this meant Matt Weatherford was dead, since it wasn’t always clear where Matt ended and Filthy began. In fact, you won’t see Matt’s name anywhere on the site. I was very surprised to see Internet news sites ignore the end of the web’s most creative movie reviews. More importantly, I wanted to find out who was actually deceased.

I emailed a bunch of people for help, including Drew of fark.com, Nicole from go fish, and finally Gooden from Gooden’s Worsted Video Ventures, another site hosted on Weatherford’s BigEmpire.com. Gooden turned out to have the answer.

Filthy’s alter ego is alive, but no amount of begging and pleading will bring the character back. Believe me, I’ve tried.

So that’s it. We’re all sad Filthy is gone, but he’s only gone like Spock was in Star Trek 2 and Flthy’s face wasn’t even melted.

If you’d like to learn more about the man behind the filth, check out Matt’s interview with Pitchforkmedia.

“I get people that e-mail me and say, ?You?re the only real honest critic out there,? and it?s like no, I?m so dishonest, I?m so full of shit– but if me being full of shit is the same as what they want to hear, then they think it?s honesty. It?s fine with me.”

Open Mic/Mike Tonight

Come out to the Tree House tonight to say goodbye to Katie as she heads back to Monmouth. So far the list is filling fast.

dogwallet
arahSay allenAy
Leo
craig gaskill
ethan cornely
Phil
Matt Winn
Matt Parrish

Sign up here if you want to play.

Happy birthday to my future mother-in-law!

Come out to the Tree House tonight to say goodbye to Katie as she heads back to Monmouth. So far the list is filling fast.

dogwallet
arahSay allenAy
Leo
craig gaskill
ethan cornely
Phil
Matt Winn
Matt Parrish

Sign up here if you want to play.

Happy birthday to my future mother-in-law!

posted by phillywhizz–g love and special sauce

well, this will be the 2ND time ive chimed in about g love. some friends and i went to the festival peir at penns landing to see g love,311,and something corprate. well to my suprise i liked something corprate,and 311 ive seen before , but it was the first time i saw g love with special sauce. i have seen him with his side project lottery. anyway. the place was hoppin,and everyone in the joint had a smile on their face.when was the last time you went to a rock concert and saw everyone smiling.i have to say ive been to alot of concerts but this one was one i will never forget.g love and the sauce is one of the most underated,best kept secrets,bands out there.if they played their music more in public places like shopping malls or even just put the on the god damm raido their would be alot less crime and violince in the world. but ya know what? i kinda like it this way. just so the raido dosent plat the hell out of their songs.well until next time—(phillywhizz)

well, this will be the 2ND time ive chimed in about g love. some friends and i went to the festival peir at penns landing to see g love,311,and something corprate. well to my suprise i liked something corprate,and 311 ive seen before , but it was the first time i saw g love with special sauce. i have seen him with his side project lottery. anyway. the place was hoppin,and everyone in the joint had a smile on their face.when was the last time you went to a rock concert and saw everyone smiling.i have to say ive been to alot of concerts but this one was one i will never forget.g love and the sauce is one of the most underated,best kept secrets,bands out there.if they played their music more in public places like shopping malls or even just put the on the god damm raido their would be alot less crime and violince in the world. but ya know what? i kinda like it this way. just so the raido dosent plat the hell out of their songs.well until next time—(phillywhizz)

Filthy Critic DEAD?

Please say this isn’t true. Today I checked out my favorite movie review site, the Filthy Critic, only to find this message.

The Filthy Critic was killed in a bicycle collision late Thursday night.

He died the way he lived–wobbling aimlessly in the slow lane.

This could be Filthy’s sick way of ending the site and so far I haven’t seen anything about it on other sites. Filthy’s site lists his favorite reviews and favorite reviewed films, so you wonder if he already had these lists made before he died. hmmm…. The last movie he reviewed was Gigli, which could explain alot.

Update: Thinking about this today, Filthy was more of a character than a real person, so maybe just the character is dead. Still, the idea of Gigli being his last review is still sad.

Please say this isn’t true. Today I checked out my favorite movie review site, the Filthy Critic, only to find this message.

The Filthy Critic was killed in a bicycle collision late Thursday night.

He died the way he lived–wobbling aimlessly in the slow lane.

This could be Filthy’s sick way of ending the site and so far I haven’t seen anything about it on other sites. Filthy’s site lists his favorite reviews and favorite reviewed films, so you wonder if he already had these lists made before he died. hmmm…. The last movie he reviewed was Gigli, which could explain alot.

Update: Thinking about this today, Filthy was more of a character than a real person, so maybe just the character is dead. Still, the idea of Gigli being his last review is still sad.

Great Touring Thread

Origivation’s message board has a great thread on how to put together tours on your own.

If a bunch of 17 year olds can book their own tour, get in a van and drive, why can’t most of you? I do realize that some bands on here have done it, but the majority of you seem opposed to the idea that something like that can be done before you’re handed that record contract from the industry rep waiting in the crowd at the GSP. And playing four differnt clubs in the tri-state area doesn’t count.

Eric from Cottonmouth DN responded.

I’m guessing your question is basically retorical…

But I think it’s a good topic.

I think there are a couple of reasons that a lot of bands don’t get out there and tour:

1. Ignorance
Many bands don’t realize that booking and playing a tour is possible for unsigned or independent acts. They figure there’s some kind of special technique or secret code needed to make it happen. Well… obviously that’s not true. And not a suprise, either. There’s a whole world of options out there that a lot of bands will never experience because they just don’t realize they exist. Kinda sad.

2. Fear
They’re just scared to do it. I mean, the idea of venturing out into the unknown for shows without a net and no “definite” draw (of neighbors, friends and relatives or whatever) scares a lot of bands. Playing shows like these means you have to impress people who don’t know you and have never seen you before. You actually have to prove yourself to a new audience. If you’re not confident in your music, this is absolutely frightening.

3. Laziness
Anyone can tour… all you have to do is book shows and then play them. No big frickin’ secret there. You just get off your ass and do it… It’s just like booking shows at home… only you do it in other towns. You have to be somewhat organized and willing to be uncomfortable for periods of time. It means putting out a concerted effort to book shows in a geographically sensible way (so that you don’t have 1,000 mile drives between shows) and spending time looking for places to play in other towns. Basically, it means you have to WORK to do it, and a lot of bands just expect to have everything handed to them.

Most bands don’t realize that signing with a label isn’t an automatic passport to the easy life… They don’t understand that there are no free rides. They’ll either learn, get burned or never get close enough to ever find this out firsthand.

The thread goes on with tons of great replies from bands and club owners/bookers.

Origivation’s message board has a great thread on how to put together tours on your own.

If a bunch of 17 year olds can book their own tour, get in a van and drive, why can’t most of you? I do realize that some bands on here have done it, but the majority of you seem opposed to the idea that something like that can be done before you’re handed that record contract from the industry rep waiting in the crowd at the GSP. And playing four differnt clubs in the tri-state area doesn’t count.

Eric from Cottonmouth DN responded.

I’m guessing your question is basically retorical…

But I think it’s a good topic.

I think there are a couple of reasons that a lot of bands don’t get out there and tour:

1. Ignorance
Many bands don’t realize that booking and playing a tour is possible for unsigned or independent acts. They figure there’s some kind of special technique or secret code needed to make it happen. Well… obviously that’s not true. And not a suprise, either. There’s a whole world of options out there that a lot of bands will never experience because they just don’t realize they exist. Kinda sad.

2. Fear
They’re just scared to do it. I mean, the idea of venturing out into the unknown for shows without a net and no “definite” draw (of neighbors, friends and relatives or whatever) scares a lot of bands. Playing shows like these means you have to impress people who don’t know you and have never seen you before. You actually have to prove yourself to a new audience. If you’re not confident in your music, this is absolutely frightening.

3. Laziness
Anyone can tour… all you have to do is book shows and then play them. No big frickin’ secret there. You just get off your ass and do it… It’s just like booking shows at home… only you do it in other towns. You have to be somewhat organized and willing to be uncomfortable for periods of time. It means putting out a concerted effort to book shows in a geographically sensible way (so that you don’t have 1,000 mile drives between shows) and spending time looking for places to play in other towns. Basically, it means you have to WORK to do it, and a lot of bands just expect to have everything handed to them.

Most bands don’t realize that signing with a label isn’t an automatic passport to the easy life… They don’t understand that there are no free rides. They’ll either learn, get burned or never get close enough to ever find this out firsthand.

The thread goes on with tons of great replies from bands and club owners/bookers.

Indiefest 3

I went to Indiefest Thursday night at Club Beyond to see Jason Wheatley. I haven’t been to too many places like Beyond recently (take their virtual tour to see what I mean), so it was a bit of culture shock. Kixx records invited a number of performers from different genres to come play two or three songs. I don’t remember exactly what order people played in.

1. Jason Wheatly – Jason should feel great about his performance. He went on right after heavy rap/reggae artist, Ital Tha Ruffian, and the crowd probably needed a break. I heard a lot of people talking through the first song, but by the second you could tell the audience was listening. When he finished he got a great response.

2. AJ Swearegin – A fantastic voice. He has one of those voices where you don’t even care what the hell he’s singing about. That can come in handy while writing songs.

3. Priscilla Hartranft – I’ve heard her a few times at the GSP open mic, but I recognized her teal guitar before her face. She’s pretty talented, even though she participated in something called the Philadelphia Idol competition. That can’t be good.

4. Mick Choder – I’ve seen this guy before and he must be really motivated. Please ditch the white boy acoustic rap.

5. Ernie Migali – This world needs many things. One of them is not country/rock/rap hybrid performers, unless you’re jesting. Maybe I didn’t get the joke. He also played along with a CD, which probably rocks on karaoke night.

6. Josephine Sincere – Her intro was hilarious. A weird echoed voice asked us “Who is Josephine Sincere?” over and over. She’s a great singer, but again she sang along with a CD that included tons of backing vocals. Who knows what was her and what came out of the studio?

7. Cubby St. Charles – Remember when I talked about what the world needs? The world needs more of this guy… his fashion sense at least. He’s the kind of R&B singer you know got tons of action in the 70s. Too bad I couldn’t find a real website for him.

8. Wellstar – Their singer must have passed up a career in the WNBA. These guys were really good, and I liked their first song the best. The guitar player looked like he just quit a nu-metal band yesterday, but don’t mind me, I’m just trying to be funny.

9. Micki Barocca – She went on first and I don’t remember much about her, other than that she did some original R&B songs. Adrien mentioned she thought Micki was good.

10. Dezzie – Gospel singer. So loud I think God told her to keep it down.

11. Ital Tha Ruffian – The name fits him completely. The only words I could make out were “nudie wudie.” He totally reminds me of the music my college dorm neighbor listened to. As I said earlier, Jason had to follow Ital Tha Ruffian.

I went to Indiefest Thursday night at Club Beyond to see Jason Wheatley. I haven’t been to too many places like Beyond recently (take their virtual tour to see what I mean), so it was a bit of culture shock. Kixx records invited a number of performers from different genres to come play two or three songs. I don’t remember exactly what order people played in.

1. Jason Wheatly – Jason should feel great about his performance. He went on right after heavy rap/reggae artist, Ital Tha Ruffian, and the crowd probably needed a break. I heard a lot of people talking through the first song, but by the second you could tell the audience was listening. When he finished he got a great response.

2. AJ Swearegin – A fantastic voice. He has one of those voices where you don’t even care what the hell he’s singing about. That can come in handy while writing songs.

3. Priscilla Hartranft – I’ve heard her a few times at the GSP open mic, but I recognized her teal guitar before her face. She’s pretty talented, even though she participated in something called the Philadelphia Idol competition. That can’t be good.

4. Mick Choder – I’ve seen this guy before and he must be really motivated. Please ditch the white boy acoustic rap.

5. Ernie Migali – This world needs many things. One of them is not country/rock/rap hybrid performers, unless you’re jesting. Maybe I didn’t get the joke. He also played along with a CD, which probably rocks on karaoke night.

6. Josephine Sincere – Her intro was hilarious. A weird echoed voice asked us “Who is Josephine Sincere?” over and over. She’s a great singer, but again she sang along with a CD that included tons of backing vocals. Who knows what was her and what came out of the studio?

7. Cubby St. Charles – Remember when I talked about what the world needs? The world needs more of this guy… his fashion sense at least. He’s the kind of R&B singer you know got tons of action in the 70s. Too bad I couldn’t find a real website for him.

8. Wellstar – Their singer must have passed up a career in the WNBA. These guys were really good, and I liked their first song the best. The guitar player looked like he just quit a nu-metal band yesterday, but don’t mind me, I’m just trying to be funny.

9. Micki Barocca – She went on first and I don’t remember much about her, other than that she did some original R&B songs. Adrien mentioned she thought Micki was good.

10. Dezzie – Gospel singer. So loud I think God told her to keep it down.

11. Ital Tha Ruffian – The name fits him completely. The only words I could make out were “nudie wudie.” He totally reminds me of the music my college dorm neighbor listened to. As I said earlier, Jason had to follow Ital Tha Ruffian.

Romance on a Budget

I mentioned the Courier Post took a whole bunch of pictures at the open mic the other night. This morning I saw a copy of today’s paper at work. Flipping through it I noticed my friends Adam and Joanne made the cover of the South Jersey Scene section.

Joanne Gault, 19, of Haddon Heights and Adam Huber, 24, of Pine Hill enjoy an inexpensive night out Wednesday at The Treehouse Coffee Shop in Collingswood.

The article is all about inexpensive places to go on dates like the beach, minor league baseball games, and coffeehouses. Read the whole article here. The best part is the photographer asked Jeanne if anyone at the Tree House would admit to being on a date, so she pointed out Adam and Joanne. The paparazzi took at least 30 pictures of them from the same exact spot.

I just noticed, not only is the picture on the South Jersey Scene section, there is also a small picture on the front page of the paper!

I mentioned the Courier Post took a whole bunch of pictures at the open mic the other night. This morning I saw a copy of today’s paper at work. Flipping through it I noticed my friends Adam and Joanne made the cover of the South Jersey Scene section.

Joanne Gault, 19, of Haddon Heights and Adam Huber, 24, of Pine Hill enjoy an inexpensive night out Wednesday at The Treehouse Coffee Shop in Collingswood.

The article is all about inexpensive places to go on dates like the beach, minor league baseball games, and coffeehouses. Read the whole article here. The best part is the photographer asked Jeanne if anyone at the Tree House would admit to being on a date, so she pointed out Adam and Joanne. The paparazzi took at least 30 pictures of them from the same exact spot.

I just noticed, not only is the picture on the South Jersey Scene section, there is also a small picture on the front page of the paper!

Phoenix Trap Mentioned on Lessig Blog

Stanford University’s Lawrence Lessig mentioned The Phoenix Trap in his blog today in reference to MP3.com’s continued failure. I’ve certainly critized them in the past. Now they’re refusing to cooperate with an increasingly popular and innovative licensing movement called Creative Commons.

I can?t describe how depressing this sort of stuff is. There are many in the content community who understood right away the benefits and virtues of Creative Commons licenses. Indeed, at our announcement in December, we had a video endorsement from not only John Perry Barlow but also Jack Valenti.

But we?ve obviously not yet made the mission clear enough ? at least if this is the sort of response we get from a company like mp3.com. Mp3.com was, in its birth at least, one of the most innovative digital music companies out there. Artists were free to sign with mp3.com without promising exclusivity. The company did a great deal to enable a wide and diverse base of creators, who could produce new music and sell it on the site. Tied with the fantastic eMusic.com site (which enables unlimited downloads of real mp3s for a flat monthly fee), the potential for this group of companies to help build a revolution in the creation and distribution of content is unlimited.

Read the rest here.
Lawrence Lessig argued the Eldred vs Ashcroft case in front of the Supreme Court this year. He’s known around the world as an expert on the Internet and its impact on intellectual property law. The Phoenix Trap are from Philadelphia and their bass player, Mark, will probably say something about it on his blog (or maybe here) today.

Stanford University’s Lawrence Lessig mentioned The Phoenix Trap in his blog today in reference to MP3.com’s continued failure. I’ve certainly critized them in the past. Now they’re refusing to cooperate with an increasingly popular and innovative licensing movement called Creative Commons.

I can?t describe how depressing this sort of stuff is. There are many in the content community who understood right away the benefits and virtues of Creative Commons licenses. Indeed, at our announcement in December, we had a video endorsement from not only John Perry Barlow but also Jack Valenti.

But we?ve obviously not yet made the mission clear enough ? at least if this is the sort of response we get from a company like mp3.com. Mp3.com was, in its birth at least, one of the most innovative digital music companies out there. Artists were free to sign with mp3.com without promising exclusivity. The company did a great deal to enable a wide and diverse base of creators, who could produce new music and sell it on the site. Tied with the fantastic eMusic.com site (which enables unlimited downloads of real mp3s for a flat monthly fee), the potential for this group of companies to help build a revolution in the creation and distribution of content is unlimited.

Read the rest here.
Lawrence Lessig argued the Eldred vs Ashcroft case in front of the Supreme Court this year. He’s known around the world as an expert on the Internet and its impact on intellectual property law. The Phoenix Trap are from Philadelphia and their bass player, Mark, will probably say something about it on his blog (or maybe here) today.

Open Mic Recap @ The Tree House

More performers came out tonight than any night since I started hosting the Tree House open mic. Seventeen different musicians, bands, and poets put on great performances for the Collingswood crowd. The Courier Post even stopped by and at the suggestion of my fiance, they took at least 30 pictures of my friends Adam and Joanne. I’ll try to find out if they ever get printed.

Dogwallet is already signed up for next week and he made a comment about the lack of treble on the mic. We definitely heard it, too, and should have that fixed next week.

1. Ben Garvey – Played “The Geius of it All,” “I Hope I Die on the Moon,” and John Prine’s “That’s the Way that the World Goes Round.”

2. Joe McGarvey – He is possibly a long lost relative of mine, or maybe a direct relative of England’s Ben McGarvey. According to Joe, he’s getting back into music after a 6 year hiatus. He didn’t sound rusty to me.

3. dogwallet – He finally made it out to the open mic after bailing on us last week. He sounded good from what I heard, but I was busy during most of his set.

4. Craig Gaskill – Big improvement over last time now that he could hear himself.

5. Tina Conroy – I think my joke about her being able to toss out anyone completely flopped. I should have said she can toss anyone who boos her. I’ve only heard her sing before, and I think she sounds good with the guitar. Some people sing better when they play guitar. I think I’m in that category.

6. bravely bold sarah allen – I probably embarrassed her tonight with all the praise heaping as she walked up to play. Too bad, she deserves it. She recently took a trip to Memphis and brought me back a pick from Sun Studio! She rocks!

7. Eric and Mike – Despite their claims I think they sounded better tonight than last week. The best part was when Mike kicked Eric while playing the Tin Whistle as a cue for Eric to stop playing violin and pick up the guitar.

8. Roz King – I seem to be full of good compliments tonight and I’m not even through the first half. Has Roz gotten better now that he’s playing much more often? I think so. His guitar cord with the mute switch is a big hit at the open mic and I think the Tree House should start selling them. If they don’t, I will.

9. Willie Tapps – Willie always sounds great, but tonight he seemed to have more energy. He forgot a few words, but his fingers forgot nothing as he did some of the best finger picking I’ve ever seen him do.

10. Matt Winn – I think he got annoyed at my introduction, but that doesn’t bother me too much. Matt gets more playing time than just about anyone at the open mic, mostly because he’s damn good. Tom Gillam at the GSP open mic always calls me the “Punk Rock Poet,” which I don’t think suits me very well.

11. Aaron – His friend Ryan chickened out big time, but Aaron played two songs including a radiohead cover.

12. Jack Sparks – I just found out he and I went to the same high school, although I graduated the year before his freshman year so that was not me giving him lockeroom wedgies.

13. Jenn Douglas – A nice poet, but I wish she spoke more directly into the microphone.

14. Dylan O’Hearn – He’s a pretty solid performer. His Pete Yorn cover sounded pretty good, although I hear Pete Yorn’s new album bites.

15. Cathy – Up from Maryland, the land of crabs, tornadoes, and bay-seasoned-everything. It’s always great to see her in town because she rocks.

16. Strictly Taboo – I was very surprised and impressed with their simple, pleasant sound. I wonder if the guy with the shaker ever does anything else with the group?

17. Phil – Fill comes in with his son Straz sometimes, but not tonight. Tonight Phil rocked us out with his geat vocals and guitar work. He says I’ve heard him play before, but I’m not sure.

More performers came out tonight than any night since I started hosting the Tree House open mic. Seventeen different musicians, bands, and poets put on great performances for the Collingswood crowd. The Courier Post even stopped by and at the suggestion of my fiance, they took at least 30 pictures of my friends Adam and Joanne. I’ll try to find out if they ever get printed.

Dogwallet is already signed up for next week and he made a comment about the lack of treble on the mic. We definitely heard it, too, and should have that fixed next week.

1. Ben Garvey – Played “The Geius of it All,” “I Hope I Die on the Moon,” and John Prine’s “That’s the Way that the World Goes Round.”

2. Joe McGarvey – He is possibly a long lost relative of mine, or maybe a direct relative of England’s Ben McGarvey. According to Joe, he’s getting back into music after a 6 year hiatus. He didn’t sound rusty to me.

3. dogwallet – He finally made it out to the open mic after bailing on us last week. He sounded good from what I heard, but I was busy during most of his set.

4. Craig Gaskill – Big improvement over last time now that he could hear himself.

5. Tina Conroy – I think my joke about her being able to toss out anyone completely flopped. I should have said she can toss anyone who boos her. I’ve only heard her sing before, and I think she sounds good with the guitar. Some people sing better when they play guitar. I think I’m in that category.

6. bravely bold sarah allen – I probably embarrassed her tonight with all the praise heaping as she walked up to play. Too bad, she deserves it. She recently took a trip to Memphis and brought me back a pick from Sun Studio! She rocks!

7. Eric and Mike – Despite their claims I think they sounded better tonight than last week. The best part was when Mike kicked Eric while playing the Tin Whistle as a cue for Eric to stop playing violin and pick up the guitar.

8. Roz King – I seem to be full of good compliments tonight and I’m not even through the first half. Has Roz gotten better now that he’s playing much more often? I think so. His guitar cord with the mute switch is a big hit at the open mic and I think the Tree House should start selling them. If they don’t, I will.

9. Willie Tapps – Willie always sounds great, but tonight he seemed to have more energy. He forgot a few words, but his fingers forgot nothing as he did some of the best finger picking I’ve ever seen him do.

10. Matt Winn – I think he got annoyed at my introduction, but that doesn’t bother me too much. Matt gets more playing time than just about anyone at the open mic, mostly because he’s damn good. Tom Gillam at the GSP open mic always calls me the “Punk Rock Poet,” which I don’t think suits me very well.

11. Aaron – His friend Ryan chickened out big time, but Aaron played two songs including a radiohead cover.

12. Jack Sparks – I just found out he and I went to the same high school, although I graduated the year before his freshman year so that was not me giving him lockeroom wedgies.

13. Jenn Douglas – A nice poet, but I wish she spoke more directly into the microphone.

14. Dylan O’Hearn – He’s a pretty solid performer. His Pete Yorn cover sounded pretty good, although I hear Pete Yorn’s new album bites.

15. Cathy – Up from Maryland, the land of crabs, tornadoes, and bay-seasoned-everything. It’s always great to see her in town because she rocks.

16. Strictly Taboo – I was very surprised and impressed with their simple, pleasant sound. I wonder if the guy with the shaker ever does anything else with the group?

17. Phil – Fill comes in with his son Straz sometimes, but not tonight. Tonight Phil rocked us out with his geat vocals and guitar work. He says I’ve heard him play before, but I’m not sure.