Three cheers for live music!

Hey everyone,

Yes I know, I'm behind by a day. Cool your jets. I've just been so busy seeing shows..

On Tuesday, I went to the Rex with Iris to hear some great jazz. I think the band was called the Chris Gale Quartet. We didn't catch all of them, but after their set was over, there was a jam where anyone could come up and play. That was really cool. This girl who was maybe 18 came up and started singing Bye Bye Blackbird with the most perfect jazz voice ever. I recorded it, but I can't upload it for some reason. Dammit Internet, you fail me again. Just imagine it.


Last night was a real treat. I got to see She & Him at the Sound Academy with a bunch of friends. For those of you who are behind on the times, She & Him is a duo of Zooey Deschanel (She) and M. Ward (Him). You might know Zooey Deschanel from the movie 500 Days of Summer where she starred as Summer. And you might know M. Ward from just being amazing. (M. stands for Matthew, by the way. We were trying to guess this all night.)

They were wonderful. They sounded great live and had tons of energy. I did, however, get a touch of a diva-vibe from them. They made us check our cameras at the door and only talked to us like three times. The first was to ask how to pronounce Toronto, the second was to tell people not to use flash, and the third was to talk about the weather. Their energy and music made up for it.

The opening act was a bit awkward. They were the Chapin Sisters. I wanted to like them. They sang interesting songs with interesting harmonies, which usually I really like and find very ... interesting, but I don't think they achieved it as well as they maybe could. One really weird thing was that Zooey came out and sang back up on one of their songs. I've never seen the main act sing back up for the opening. But it was kind of cute because they sang back up for She & Him.

It was really crowded and super loud, but we were under the speakers for most of it, which didn't help. We somehow managed to get right to the front of the stage. By the end, we were second from the front. I'm impressed that we weaseled our way all the way up there.

Overall, it was a really fun concert and I'm really glad I went. I don't have any documentation of the concert because they checked my camera, but I'll post a few of their music videos. Enjoy!

Melissa