This show was pretty darn good. Here are my reviews of the band, in chronological order.

All Night was surprisingly good. This has a double meaning because I was first surprised when they took the stage. When I read "All Night" in the ad, I thought it was refering to the length of the party, since it was a late show and all. So when they came on, I was a bit embarassed. Thanfully, they were a lot of fun to watch. It was a psychedelic rock kind of thing, and they were rocking completely effortlessly. No ego, no forced humor, just good rock and roll. I bought their album.

The Bad Wizards were a bit of a dissapointment. They were supposed to be bigger and better than All Night, but I didn't think it was true. Everything right about All Night was wrong about these guys. Thankfully they only played for 20 minutes.

Rye Coaltion rocked my fucking socks off. They were just so tight and so energetic and so good. It was just horrible that there were only about 50 people there by the time they got on (12:30am) and 1/50th of them were sleeping. Only 1/5th of the people were making any noise after they finished a song. Very sad. If there had been a really good crowd this could have been the best show of all time. Even without one, they may have been the best live show I've seen all year.

I love seeing Mike Errico. He reminds me that seeing a good folk-rock singer-songwriter dude is usually a really good experience. I like the banter/music combo, so long as both are entertaining. Mike is very entertaining.

The best part about the show was the "holiday show" part. Every year Mike has a holiday show where he gives out "omens." These are little gifts that have a meaning. It will give you insight into the upcoming year. I got a frisbee from Yahoo! and I don't know what to think about that. It's certainly much better than the two guys in my group who got books on how to "mack women" and "women's best-kept secrets." I would hate for that to be a telling gift. The best gift was the doctor set that Jori got. Mike signed it with a very crude message. He he.

After the show I was able to speak to Mike for a bit, which was nice. He remembered me from all our encounters and the few promotional things I've done for him. He's definitely a good person. I'm excited to get a hold of his next studio album, whenever it arrives.

Oh, the music was really good too.

I finally went to a Broadway show. After going, I remembered that Broadway shows are rarely thought provoking. It didn't matter though; the show was tons of fun. Marissa Jaret Winokur played the lead and she was fantastic. I also thought that Kerry Butler, who played Penny Pingleton, was ridiculously cute. The rest of the cast was just fine.

The play was entertaining as a whole, but there were some mildly offensive parts. I wondered if people were laughing because it was funny or because they felt awkward. I'd like to think it's the latter but I'd be kidding myself.

The singing was really nice.

Today, I got to see The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. It required standing outside in the cold for an hour, but it was worth it. My Uncle Ted wasn't so happy about it, but he knew it was going pay off. (Thankfully he got in, because the line-nazi almost didn't after he left for just 3 minutes to get some hot chocolate.) The highlight of the wait outside was the consumption of 40s by our line neighbors. I was worried, and with good reason.

Once inside, we got a dumb spiel from our previously discussed line-nazi about what we could and could not do inside. Fifteen minutes later, they let us inside. First was the warm-up guy, who was one of their lead writers. He did a great job. He was funny enough and certainly held my attention. Most of his time was spent talking to the 40 dudes, who couldn't stop talking about pot, ladies and low-slung hats. Next, Jon came out to talk to us and take questions. I got to ask him what he got for Hannukah this year. He said nothing, and asked me. In front of 100 or so people we chatted for a minute or so about Hannukah gifts as he made jokes. It was amazing. Then I got some swag and he sat behind his desk to begin the show.

The show was a good one, as we got to see Steven Colbert and one of the new guys whose name I can't remember. He was funny. So was Steven. Colin Quinn was the guest and he was mildly entertaining. It would have been nice to have seen a big star, but I'm not complaining. Actually, I am. Forget it.

So Jon was funny, the show was really good and it was generally a good experience. I'm glad I did it.

This show was odd for me since these are two bands I really like but are nothing alike. CMJ brings very different bands together.

Imperial Teen was just amazing. Any band that does danceable pop music has great potential in a live forum. Imperial Teen did their job. In fact, my love for this band truly gelled Wednesday, October 30th 2002. Too bad I missed their other New York appearances following this one.

The Push Stars have been a long time favorite of mine, but I think I'm starting to grow out of them. They have perfected their craft and have a fun live show, but they are just bland. It's tough for me to say this since I know the guys personally, but it's the truth. Either way, if you like very polished folk-pop then this is for you. They are great, but no longer my bag.

Sidenote: I found out The Push Stars' drummer is from Highland Park, my high school rival. We grrr-ed at each other a few hundred times after the show.

TW Walsh: An amazing opener. Heartfelt songs with a mediocre voice. The voice didn't matter though, because the songs were really good.

Damien Jurado: Wow, he is an impressive fella. A great singer and his new crop of songs (for an album coming out on Secretly Canadian in February) are fantastic. He's one of my favorite alt-country dudes.

Songs:Ohia: I had never heard much of his stuff, but I really liked it. I'm going to have to check out some of his albums now. He has the sweetest voice of the three tonight, and as a result I didn't pay much attention to his lyrics.

Overall: well worth the $11. I could have easily left after Jurado and it would have been worth of it. Songs:Ohia was all gravy.

Thanks to some brilliant timing, I saw Ben Folds perform live on WFUV at the Museum of TV & Radio. This dumb luck was doubly good, since I missed his show at BAM the weekend before. The show was incredibly intimate and he gave a great performance. I've seen him 4 times as a solo act and each time has been really entertaining. He's definitely one of the best performers today.

I took a bunch of pictures and enjoyed the interview questions that took place (radio show, remember). A great, free show, but the best part was the picture I got of Ben Folds with his arm out (so I could photoshop in my sister). Yes.

So far, the first show in NYC where I enjoyed every band. Quruli is a Japanese band and they were playing their first gig in the States. They were amazing, playing 45 straight minutes without breaks. I was really impressed and bought a CD. That makes 3 japanese pop-punk bands (Husking Bee, Eastern Youth).

Vanderslice was also great. The album is better, but that's only because it is so reliant on the samples and ambient sounds used throughout the album. The drummer was redonkulous. Yelling, high (literally) cymbals, energy and begging the audience for drugs.

The D-Plan was a good time. I must admit that I don't know a lot of their older stuff. I like the new stuff a whole lot better and their old stuff is, at best, fun. Change is a brilliant album. They also played a bunch of new material and it was all really good except for one song. I'm looking forward to seeing what happens with that. To be fair, I'm going to check out Emergency & I to be sure I only enjoy their newer material. Despite this moaning and groaning, I had a lot of fun watching the Plan and will see them if they come to town again.

I've been waiting to go to this for a LONG time. Really. I love Mr. Show and I was looking forward to the new stuff they'd been doing. And, it was a lot of fun. "Wait, why aren't you going crazy and raving about how amazing it was?" Well, it was just fun. There were a lot of good sketches and some fun old ones, but I was expecting more from them. My compatriates actually fell asleep at one point. Truthfully, I think none of us are able to admit that we spent $30 on a disappointing performance. It's too bad, really.

The best part was when David gave out the phone number of a man who peed on him (yes, literally) at a stand-up gig. Everyone called and harassed the guy afterwards.

I'd give a recommendation but if you're a fan you're going to go anyway. So enjoy, it is fun to see them live. I laughed a lot.

Spoon is great, really, but I enjoyed the French Kicks more. Britt (Spoon's frontman) and the rest of the band seemed a little too into themselves this time. Maybe they were tenative in front of such a large crowd, but this performance was not nearly as good as the last show I saw with them (after the release of "Girls Can Tell"). I think this also is because the new album is not as good as the last. Still, a mediocre performance by them is still a whole lotta fun. They have some damn catchy songs.

The French Kicks were spot on. Their new record is awesome. Awesome. See them before Spoon because it will be cheaper and livelier.

Fantastic. This show really helped to bring together all the works of this band, helped me find a unified vision. Now I want to listen to all of their stuff back to back. Jangly-Pop bands playing in NYC are now 2 for 2 (Of Montreal and Starlight Mints).

Don't miss their show if like them.

This one is easy.

The Frames were boring.
The Waxwings were not.

Yay for pop and Yay for Detroit.

Overall, entertaining. The show featured Tortoise, Trans Am, Robert Randolph, Bobby Conn Band, The National Trust and Chicago Underground Duo. I missed the Duo, which was disappointing. I liked National Trust and Bobby Conn, they were fun. I respect Randolph and Trans Am, but wasn't that into it. By the time Tortoise came on stage, I was exhausted. Still, they put on a great show.

The one thing I will take from this show is that HUGE bills are cumbersome, even if you like all the bands. I will only go to things like this if I can have a comfortable chair and a number of friends to keep me entertained.