MyFriendCleveland Get used to it

(ed: this review of a David Bazan show was sent to us)

i write in lower case…i will have a phd soon, which means nothing except
that even if you think i’m an idiot, there are many people who will see
“dr.” before my name and think i know about everything. the chances are
good that i do.

so, here’s the thing. david bazan (buh-’ZAHN) is the guy from pedro the
lion, from seattle. he played last friday night (at the grog shop -ed). it was june 23rd or 24th.
i don’t know. in any case, he’s a banging songwriter. or at least,
whatever you faggot, hipster cumsuckers think, i don’t care. it’s likely
that he’ll go down as a banging songwriter. yes, pedro’s later stuff is
kind of weak, but don’t worry about that. the early stuff is of
considerable substance lyrically, and bla bla bla. i’m just going to say
that.

david bazan doesn’t know this and he may never know. but there’s this
special friend of mine who got drunk a few years ago and wrote an email in
response to pedro the lion’s decision to skip right over cleveland, not
playing here, despite travelling from a show in detroit to a show scheduled
in philadelphia with a day off in between. the email begain, “dear asshole
the lion.” the point is, i didn’t intervene, so this is sort of like a
confession. in any case, it was something that people do when they are
drunk.

david bazan generally wailed friday night. he played an acoustic guitar and
performed by himself. well-seasoned, witty, and sincere, he’s a charming
performer. generally, his appearance is that of a lumberjack–balding,
bearded, jeans, and blue t-shirt. between songs, he asks if people have any
questions, and they usually do. someone asked him if he could listen to
only one musician for the rest of his life, who would it be? he answered
debussey performed by some dude from the ’70’s and ’80’s who interpreted his
stuff using a moog. i don’t remember his name…tomatillo or something.

at some point he commented that it was boring that people were talking
during the set, that everyone should “pair up and start fucking.” “but
there are more guys than girls in the audience.” “that’s okay. who cares?”
and later mumbling, “a hole’s a hole’s a hole.”

he’s very kind to his audience, which is more than i can say for a lot of
hyped songwriter types, including one mr. callahan from the velvet
underground look-alikes in “smog.” “dress sexy at my funeral” is a great
song, but the guy treated his fans in cleveland like motherfucking, asshole
clowns.

after the show, i spoke with the cordial mr. bazan for five or ten minutes.
we saw him at tommy’s later that night, and umm, he tipped his imaginary hat
to us. that’s about it. you can hear the music for yourself. i just
figured i’d tell you what he was like as a person. i’m done.

dr. jamison lee.

(ed: Jamison Lee is not yet a doctor of anything.)

Posted under Hometown