True Life: The Hotel Cafe tour rocks!

Okay, so I learned about the Hotel Cafe Tour from Susan's blog. Susan is my Brother-in-law's sister. For those who don't know her, she is awesome and has great taste in music. And music is the reason why I am writing this blog. Anyway, Susan wrote a blog forever ago about the Hotel Cafe Tour she went to in Houston. I took interest in this post because Rachael Yamagata was playing in the tour. For those who don't know me very well, I am a huge Rachael Yamagata fan. When I heard that The Hotel Cafe Tour was coming through Utah this month I was so excited. I found out who was going to be there and although Rachael Yamagata wasn't going to be in the show it still looked like it would be an awesome one. I got tickets for me and Rory to go because Rory has great taste in music too. Something came up and Rory wasn't able to go with me so I invited Monica because, you guessed it... she too, has great taste in music (in fact, I could probably thank her for much of my musical taste... and collection). Here is how it all went down:

Meiko: Not to be sorely confused with Mika (known for his hit song Grace Kelly). Okay, she was awesome. She has had a couple of song on Grey's Anatomy which were really great. I think the highlights of her portion of the concert were when she played Reasons to Love You and You and Onions Make Me Cry (The Hot Dog Song). She was awesome. (Have I said that already?) I bought her album and it, too was amazing. During one of her songs, she replaced some of her lyrics with the lyrics from TLC's No Scrubs. It was funny and awesome. It was funsome.

Jim Bianco: Jim Bianco was pretty talented. His voice kind of reminded me and Monica of Tom Waits. (neither of us really care for Tom Waits) Before he came on to the stage, they described his music as being: "sexually-charged." That immediately turned me off of his music. One of his songs was about being a stalker... yeah, I didn't really take to that-I mean, It might just be me, but I don't think many people can really relate to songs about stalking... unless they have done some stalking in their day. Don't get me wrong, he was a talented vocalist and musician, I just didn't care for his style.

Cary Brothers: Okay, Cary Brothers is not a group of brothers with the last name of Cary- Not The Cary Brothers. First name: Cary. Last name: Brothers. I, along with a few others, was confused by this for a while. Luckily, I was able to clear this up for myself before the show. I first heard Cary Brothers on the Garden State soundtrack. (awesome soundtrack by the way.) His single Blue Eyes was featured on it. And let me tell you, he isn't one of those artists that has one good song to base his career on and the rest are mediocre. Who You Are is probably my favorite... but then there is Honestly and Ride... and what about If You Were Here? (Thompson Twins cover) I think that is my favorite. Anyway, he is awesome. His album is good. It is Who You Are. Check his music out. You won't be sorry.

Ingrid Michaelson: Okay, so going to this concert, I was kind of worried that everybody there would be young girls who are only there because they have heard of this one singer and her one song (The Way I Am) and she wouldn't be able meet to everybody's expectations. Oh, my goodness. I was so wrong. Well, not about the girls. There were a lot of girls who, I could tell, were only there for her, but most of them warmed up to everyone else in the show and realized they were all awesome too. I was very impressed with the versatility of her sound. Every song was very different and very good. Story time: Okay, so this concert was an all ages concert (Hence, I was there. Being under twenty-one sucks when you want to see a concert but it is a twenty-one and older show because they will be serving alcohol which I wouldn't drink anyway. Come on people.) Anyway, when she performed The Way I Am, she asked us to clap along during the appropriate parts of the song and stop abruptly when appropriate also. She made the comment that the audience was very good at acting as the percussion section and usually when she performed the song there would always be one girl who would be way drunk and way off beat. Her impression of a drunk girl with no rhythm was hilarious... I guess you had to be there.

Dan Wilson: You may remember him from such bands as: Semisonic. Okay, Dan Wilson is awesome. If you learn one thing today, let that be it. For the entire show, all of the musicians commented on how they were all so lucky to have Dan Wilson performing in the show with them, but the audience didn't really respond to him very well. I'm pretty sure it is because they didn't know who he was until before his last song when he told a story. He told the 'fable' of a rock band who becomes excited when they find out that one of the band member's wives is pregnant. They then realize that this pregnancy can lead to something that has killed bands in the past; the "annoying [song] that an artist [writes] for the birth of a Jr." He gave us an example of a cheesy Jr song. It was awesome, and by awesome I don't mean well written or good. He then told us that this happened to him in his "old" band when his wife announced that she was pregnant. He relieved his band mates of this worry when he hid his Jr song in plain view. He then proceeded to play Closing Time. It was so funny, during the beginning of the song you could hear so much whispering in the crowd; "Oh, that is the guy who played in that one band, he's awesome." The song is so creative. It is about a woman not being able to drink when she is pregnant. The lyrics "This room won't be open 'til your brothers or your sisters come" should be "This womb won't be open 'til your brothers or your sisters come." Anyway, Monica bought his album Free Life and I borrowed it. I highly recommend it.