Friday Night Fun

This Friday was a good night to be in Morgantown, especially if you like music, which I think you do.

Kicked my evening off early at Black Bear Burritos for some Tanglewood. I'm a big fan of this band, Wade and Matt are top rate soloists, and Sam Lamont has to be one of the most underated singers in this town. Food was good, Pabst was cold, and it was a perfect kick-off to the first home football weekend of the season.

Afterwards, I headed up to the Blue Moose to catch the Diana Jones/Todd Burge show. I was on the fence about this one. It was raining, my friends were boozing it up in South Park, was I really in the mood for folk music anyway? Well, I'm happy I took the plunge, this show was great. Todd Burge amazes me. His songs are like books. They're filling and
satisfying. With a lot of tunes as long as you're there for the hook, you're fine. Not Todd's. Miss a word and you're sunk. I was held rapt.

Diana Jones was up next, but I'm not gonna lie, I was there to see Todd Burge. I debated bolting, but I stuck around, and again it was the right choice. She had the voice, but more importantly, she had the songs. Each one was better than the one before. The highlight for me was a wonderful love song ("I don't write a lot of these," she quipped) based around an Anias Nin quote about Blake. Paraphrasing: It's the cracks that let the light shine through. Unbeleivably moving. I wish I had a copy of it, it'd be playing right now.

After the show I walked down to 123 to catch the Librarians CD release show. I'm not going to lie: when this band first hit the scene, I thought they were all hype. After a few months of careful deliberation I realize I was very, very wrong. I'm not sure if they're the band who taught the hipsters to dance, or the dancers to rock, but either way they get things going. Their set was a short and sweet sonic assault lasting only about 45 minutes but each passing second brought an infectious energy to the packed room. I didn't manage to pick up their new CD, but it wasn't for lack of wanting (it was for lack of dollars) but plan to make the plunge sometime real soon.

So for those of you keeping score at home: that's 4 bands, 3 venues, 1 evening. I love this town.