dinner with the president

Last night we attended (and I say we because I dragged Jenn along with me - she not being a particular fan of Fugazi or rock of the harder variety) a truly awesome little event in Albany, an intimate live show from D.C.-based The Evens. It was held in the small basement of a local public library branch and cost $5. The Evens consists of the legendary Ian MacKaye (of Fugazi - only one of the greatest bands EVER, and Minor Threat) on baritone guitar and Amy Farina (Warmers) on drums, with both of them sharing the singing duties.

Being a long-time fan of Fugazi (I saw them in Pittsburgh in the mid-90s, and in D.C. probably 7-8 years ago), I must admit to my complete ignorance of the existence of The Evens until a few days ago when I saw an announcement in the Albany Metro paper.

Wow am I glad I caught it! The show was simply phenomenal. The show started promptly and unassumingly at 8:30; the musicians right up front with 2 lamps to the sides as the only light show and a couple of small amps behind as the only sound equipment (as Ian said - they tour as a duo in a van and are their own roadies and sound techs). Ian quickly set out to establish a bit of rapport with the audience through some dry humor and stories and anti-authoritarian diatribes, and asked that everyone sit down for the performance (which everyone gladly did). He started out saying he wanted to bring down the barriers between the musicians and audience and create a kind of communal, shared-experience that really resonated with me.

The mostly uncatorizable music is a mishmash of styles, throwing in punk, rock, folk, ambiance, protest music and harmonized vocals in varied measures. The song structures are reminiscent of Fugazi with ripping guitar riffs and crisp but controlled drums, but the vocal delivery and outcomes are very intimate and raw, and if possible, even more direct than Fugazi. They played for a bit over an hour (no warm-up band), which Ian stated upfront using dead-pan humor by saying "just to demystify the process, we'll play for about an hour tonight and you'll know when we're done when we stop playing." At one point when they were rocking out a map fell off the wall to their right (all the walls contained sloppy bookshelves with old, mostly high-school, books occupying them) and an audience member commented that they "rocked the world because they made a world map fall off the wall..."

I was also impressed that Ian made a concerted effort during the whole show to look each audience member (there were maybe 75 people attending) in the eyes at some point - his fierce but honest countenance slowing scanning the audience throughout many of their songs. At the end Ian stayed on and sold his CDs for $10 a pop - shaking each buyer's hand (including my own) with an intense earnestness that was impressive. All in all, one of the best live shows I've attended in a while and certainly doing nothing to diminish the high regard I've always had for the members of Fugazi.