Brett Ralph got a nice little write up in the local rag {scroll down to the final 'Saturday, Jan. 5' blurb}. The week before when I met him at a show, I told him that I would help work the door. I was kind of nervous, never having worked the door at a club before: "What do I do?" I said. "Just make sure you get people's money!" He said with a big grin.

And so I did (the best I could)... got there at 9:00 p.m. The bartender gave me the cash box, said if anyone looks under 21 to card them. It was $6, but she said if a there was a group of people who were grumbling about the price, I could let 'em in for $5. Then a regular in a football jersey looked at me very seriously and said "Don't turn anyone away." Well, I didn't. One problem was there were THREE doors to this place and I was only watching one. Things got fast and furious around 10:00 p.m. I hadn't worked with cash like that since my days in college working retail. I kept having to beg people to run to the bar and get me more singles/fives. Got to meet a nice guy named Stephen from Oxford, England. People were generally really nice. Some people grumbled that the show didn't start at the exact time the paper said it would. I guess I've been going to shows for so long, I'm pretty jaded about that and take it for granted that people will go on late. One guy said that if he and his wife didn't 'make it' (meaning couldn't hold out to stay long enough and catch the bands) he'd just beat me up. Ha ha... his wife laughed and I knew he was just making jokes, but his poker face was nonetheless slightly intimidating. So, I don't know, I think the bands made pretty good money, despite the people filtering in through the other doors in the joint. Lauren and Josiah came. Lauren even got up on stage and sang for a great song called: I Cry Easy. The band was on fire. The guitarist knew tons of kickass licks as did the keyboard player. The bass player was energetic and dead-on with the rock-solid drummer. All cylinders firing in this lineup. Catherine Irwin was on acoustic guitar and vocals, too -- sang great. She had a great big fluffy hat on (and a Hawks jersey). Brett was sporting a colorful cowboy shirt and really belted it out. He was running his acoustic through an amp with this cool phase-shifter that gave it a nice country-psych flavor. It was a great night in the end. Martha showed up for a little while to meet Brett, but the crowded, smokey, loud, late-night music scene isn't her thing these days, and that's just fine. I don't blame her... the environment can wear you down if you're not up for it. I know I linked it before, but in case you want to check it out again, here is the MySpace page for Brett's band. I drove the car home, feeling like I accomplished some good, helping out a band that I respect and turning on Lauren and Josiah to some fun music. I switched gears and indulged my ambient techno weakness for the ride home, listening to the beautiful sounds of Pub. If any of you are into hypnotic, electronic driving music, this stuff really works for me.