ted leo is awesome
So last night I got a little drunker on a Wednesday than I probably should have. It totally wasn't my fault, though.
Right after work, a friend of a friend was guest bartending at Second Nature on 13th & 2nd. Of course I couldn't let a friend of a friend down, so I headed over there, bringing my A-Game with me. The Roommate Eric met up, and together we proceeded to drink about a thousand $2 Coors Lights. That was a good start.
A little after 9 we headed over to HiFi for the Ted Leo & The Pharmacists "Shake The Sheets" listening party. This was a definite upgrade-- mainly because we moved from $2 Coors Lights to $2 Brooklyn Lagers. Mmmmm, Brooklyn Lager. The bar was pretty crowded, but not nearly as bad as I thought it would be. I really don't understand how everybody in the world does not love Ted Leo. I really don't. It completely puzzles me.
But anyway, HiFi was a good time. The album sounded great (from what I heard), the beer was cold, and I finally got to meet the supercool and extremely attractive aeki tuesday. After a few drinks we ended up scouting out the people at the bar, pointing out the guys that we thought would be good kissers and the girls we could tell would be great in bed. Isn't it great how alcohol completely erases any potential awkwardness between two people? Yes, yes it is.
Throughout the night Ted Leo was walking around, so we got a couple of pictures with him. He was ridiculously friendly, and it was refreshing to talk to a musician who isn't just looking over your shoulder to check out who he's going to be forced to talk to next. Great guy, great musician. If you've never heard Ted Leo, put down this blog right now and go out and buy The Tyranny of Distance. Listen to it from beginning to end, and then when it's over, go back and play "Timorous Me" a few more times. Trust me on this one.
Talking to Ted Leo reminded me of the time I met Ben Kweller. It was my junior year of college, and the girlfriend and I got tickets to see an Evan Dando / Ben Lee concert at a place in Annapolis. A guy named Ben Kweller was opening. Out of curiosity, I downloaded a couple of his songs off Napster (God, Napster) and really liked what I heard. Anyway. The night of the show, the GF and I arrived early. As we were waiting in the lobby, I noticed Ben Kweller at a little table selling T-shirts and trying to get people to sign up for his mailing list. This was long before Sha Sha came out, so nobody had any clue who he was. The GF and I walked up to him and introduced ourselves. He was completely cool, and seemed excited that people actually recognized him. We talked for a while, until the bouncers opened up the doors so we could be seated. We wished him luck and made our way in.
One problem. See, the show was a 21 and over show. I was 21 at the time, but unfortunately my girlfriend was only 14. I'm just kidding, she was actually 20, but I really hope that you got nervous for a second when you read that. Anyway. The bouncer asked to see her ID, so of course she lied and said she left it back in Baltimore. So as the bouncer's giving us a hard time, Ben comes walking up and announces, "Don't worry about it, these 2 are here with me." The bouncer apologized, and sat us right down. Now how cool is that? Very cool. That's my go-to Ben Kweller story, and that's part of the reason I'll always love him.
So in summation. I love Ben Kweller and Ted Leo, and you should too.
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b at 6:05 PM
