The Severed Cortex

Link: http://www.nekocase.com/

How very Lillith Fair of me.

I think I've already established my fondness, bordering on obsession, with Neko Case and I can also relate to the typical Lillith Fair stereotype.  I like women too.  It's just my gender that keeps holding me back from being one of them.  Until last week, I'd never seen Neko Case live; not with her previous band Her Boyfriends, not with my favorite indie supergroup The New Pornographers, and not as a solo artist.  She'd been to Saint Louis as each incarnation in the past but I never took the initiative to see her perform.  When the show at The Pageant was announced earlier this year, I decided not to miss the bus again.  I even asked my wife if she would be interested.  Surprisingly, she was.  I say surprisingly because this was the first concert that she and I attended together since Blues Traveler and Spearhead.  (December 5, 2001 - Thanks Google)  Our musical paths seldom cross except for the occasional soul singer.

When you work at an indie bookstore or hipster coffee house, the chance of finding someone who shares your musical interests probably aren't that uncommon.  If you work as an IT geek in corporate America, which I do, you'd think the chances of finding someone who knows as much or more about music as you do would much more rare.   I've found the supporting data to show inconclusive results.  I was fortunate to work at a place where there were several people whose musical interests were similar to mine.  One of those people even knows more than I do.   For instance, when I found Tuneglue and showed it to Jason, he was able to name three times as many obscure bands as I could.  He also turned me on to the Michael Azerrad book.   We also like to talk a little fantasy baseball and football now and again.  Through the magic of e-mail, the following email exchange occurred (I paraphrase):

D: You going to the Neko Case show?
J: Gotta talk to the wife about it.
(couple days later)
J: Got the tickets. We will be there.

We worked out an arrangement to meet Jason and his wife Emily at Pi, Obama's favorite pizza.   No we did not choose Pi for its love towards liberals.  We chose it because it is directly across the street from The Pageant.  Here's a helpful tip for you.  Get there early because the place fills up quickly.  I'm sure part of that was due to the NPR/Neko Case crowd naturally gravitating towards foo-foo pizza, but I'm also guessing that on nights when Motorhead is headlining, the locals still provide a brisk business.  We arrived at 6:15.   Jason and Emily already had a table and within a couple minutes we had cold beverages and our orders placed.    At 6:55 our waitress stopped by to tell us that she had no idea where our order was.  It wasn't like they admitted to dropping it on the floor or that they made the pizza wrong.  They really couldn't figure out what happened to it.  The speculation was that it went to a different table and the other table scarfed it up willingly, but even then they were speculating.  Who knows?   Perhaps the pizza was just taxed heavilyfor the common good of everyone and then redistributed to everyone through government channels.  In all honestly, I just thought it was taking a little long.  It was crowded and every table was filled.  That's what happens when restaurants get busy and as a former kitchen worker I can tell you it is stressful.   Besides, we were having a lively conversation about how the guy from Gin Blossoms killed himself (turns out he didn't) and Ohio Valley conference schools (Murray State & Austin Peay).   At any rate, the staff at Pi fessed up that something was wrong and we were informed that they were hurriedly remaking our pies.  We made only a very mild stink about wanting to be at the show early for the opening act and to grab a seat in the middle.   The pizzas arrived only a few minutes later, the manager stopped by our table, and just like that we had our beers and one of the pies comped for our trouble.  The pizza was excellent, plus it made me want to pass health care reform and brainwash public school children with socialist claptrap.  Seriously though, the amount of trouble that the staff at Pi went to, far outweighed any damage inflicted upon us.  The worst I could ascertain was that we had to sit on one of the sides instead of one of the tables in the middle.   I still highly recommend Pi, but get there early.

Right before the opening act comes on I get the following text from a number that is not in my phone contacts.  Are you at the Pageant for Neko Case? Yes, I replied.  Who is this?

The opening act was a singer/songwriter named Sarah Harmer.  Jason was already familiar with her work but I wasn't.  She came out all by her lonesome, strapped on a Fender Telecaster, and proceeded to sing accompanied only by her guitar.  Mad, mad props to anyone who can do that.  To stand in front of a crowd exposed like that takes a ton of guts.   I prefer to hide behind a wall of Marshall stacks.  I realize singer/songwriters do this sort of thing all the time, but I'm still in awe of anyone who can do it.  Sarah's music, as you can probably guess is very Lillith Fair friendly.   That's not to say I didn't like it.  I did.  However, folkie/indie chicks aren't my strongest genre to play to.  That would be Nancy's realm.  Sarah played and sang extremely well and I thought she connected with the crowd.  She painted vignettes of the songs ahead of singing them and she bantered with the crowd in between.  She also switched to an acoustic guitar in the middle.  And then she switched back again.  It was a very nice set of about 40 minutes.  I don't think she 'warmed' up the crowd, but apparently that might be disputed by the lesbian couple making out in front of Jason and Emily.  I wasn't even paying attention enough to notice.   The bottom line is that those who decided to be uncool and actually show up for the opening act were rewarded by Sarah Harmer.  She reminded me an awful lot of Patty Griffin circa Living With Ghosts era, a record that I still like.  I listened to it again just a couple weeks ago.  But, as good as Sarah Harmer was, I was ready for Neko Case.

The requisite amount of time was allotted between acts and Neko and her band took the stage around 9:10.  Instead of just breaking into the first number, she informed the crowd that the band was trying to think of the worst song lyrics ever prior to taking the stage.  This would be a auspicious start for the evening as Neko and backup singer Kelly Hogan were as informal with the crowd throughout the show as any band I'd ever seen.  There were various cerebral topics discussed including, but not limited to:

• How much action the lead singer from Slayer got?  (I assume that to be measured in volume, not quality.)
• Why the lyrics You took the words right out of my mouth, it must have been when you were kissing me reminded Neko of Alpha Bits cereal sitting in yellowing milk.
• How truly metal Neko really is by admitting she still listens to Iron Maiden in her truck.
• Mooseknuckle vs. Cameltoe

Fifteen minutes into Neko's set I get a text response from my earlier question.  It was my friend Jeff's wife Holly and she was upstairs.

In between the discussion with the crowd Neko actually sang songs. Gorgeous songs. She also played a yellow Gibson SG and a Fender Jaguar (amongst others).  Actually, she made too many guitar changes.  Guitar playing is not why I came to see her.  The voice is why I came to see her and the voice did not disappoint me.  Each time she sang a note I expected her voice to crack, but it never did.  It had that same whiskey smooth chanteuse sound you hear in the recordings and it just kept getting stronger as the show progressed.  Sarah Harmer sang great, but without amplification no one would have been able to hear her.  The same cannot be said for Neko Case.   As well as Neko sang, when Kelly Hogan sang along it was just doubly good.  I may have looked forward to hearing Neko's voice before the show started, but once it did I really looked forward to the times where the two of them sang together.  It seemed to add so much more to it.   The band was good, but they didn't seem to be mixed spectacularly well.  Jon Rauhouse, an excellent steel guitar player, seemed to be somewhat muted.   He has collaborated with Neko Case for a long time and I expected him to be singled out more.  He also played a hollow body Gibson of some sort and a very nice sunburst Les Paul.  Paul Rigby on the other hand seemed to be mixed a couple numbers too high.  He played a Fender Telecaster primarily but he did break out a 12 string Rickenbacker too.  While you certainly don't see that every day, the volume it was mixed in at was way too high.  Neko didn't seem to mind if Kelly stole part of the show.  She also made no mention of too much cowbell from Paul either.  She was definitely not the prima donna that you occasionally read about.  In fact, she was quite the opposite.  She even used a few too many F-words for me.  My delicate sensibilities were offended.  All in all Neko put on a very fine show and it was very much worth the $22 bucks.  Yes, it wasn't the typical rock and roll show I'm used to going to but it was a very nice evening.

Holly met us downstairs after the show.