Concert Review Number 9: The Good Life

The Good Life
The Gargoyle (Washington University)
September 25, 2007



Sooooo...what do you say about a 46 year old man out on a Tuesday evening to see a show at Washington University...free for students...ten dollars for...lets just say all others. The wife and I decided we would get out to see The Good Life. I had planned to go to the in store concert at Vintage Vinyl at 6:30 for a little taste and then get to bed early but then I realized at 6 that the in store was at 6 so I was not going to go at all. But...we had dinner and then i called my son Jon and asked him whether the show was missable and he said absolutely NOT! So rather then waste yet another night in front of the TV...we were off to Wash U.

Everyone my age who has kids college age should go to a student run event at another school in order to make themselves feel good about their own children. We arrived at 7:15 because doors were at 7:30 and the opening band at 8:00. When we arrived there was...nothing going on. Bands were warming up but no one was there. they showed up about 7:45 smiling awkwardly about the band..oblivious to their lateness, clueless about whether there were any tickets left...or any tickets at all. Anyway... other then the two of us there was one fat girl with a scarf and leggings and a pierced upper lip and a tiara like head band and pinched judgmental mouth and her skinny, awkward, long suffering boyfriend with a narrow brimmed fedora. he was trying to paw her and she was brushing him away dismissively...waiting for the band.

The opening act was Capgun Coup and they were...unremarkable. They were followed up with a Lawrence Kansas Band called 4th of July. They were a Good life sounding 5 piece band of 20 somethings.  Big bass. Ugly guitar playing dwarf. Bearded hobbit lead singer. Keyboarder does a trumpet which mean he would pick up the trumpet and blow about three clear notes (more as percussion) and then start playing the keyboards again. They were kids. The songs were well written but the guy could not sing but the songs were good. They had a Greg Allman look alike on bass. They really came apart on slow songs where they just don't play well enough to play slow. "why did I drink so much last night" typified strengths ans weaknesses. Good show and great opener for The Goodlife. I bought their CD...I have listened to it...it is...non-essential.

The Good Life is Tim Kasher, Roger Lewis, Ryan Fox, Stefanie Drootin. Kasher is a famous scion of the Omaha mope rock scene. He has a band by the name of Cursive that a lot of people say rocks but...I have never lived for them. But the Good Life came out with their third CD about two years ago called “Album of the Year” and it was a song cycle all allegedly written for the same Omaha bartendress and...it was great. And it had steel guitar and he twanged a little. So I became a fan. The new CD is also very good and is Diner review Recommended. the review will come shortly.

The crowd at Wash U is a problem. perhaps it is any college crowd or and free show at a college but you had several groups:
1. Student Government/Student Union Organizational Types: They all had badges and clipboards and cameras and videos and acted very “knowing” about the “scene.” hated them.

2. Music Heads: Boys standing alone, forlornly...staring at the girls and not talking to them. Staring at their shoes. Singing all the words of all the songs to themselves along with Kasher. these are my people.

3. Couples: Always a mistake at a show. Either the girls are there because they are in love with (want to provide sexual favors for) the band and the boy is just a crutch to be ignored and dismissed (see fat girl and skinny boy referenced above) until they do not go home with the drummer at which time they go home with the boy to punish him for the sins of of the aforementioned drummer...or the boy wants to hear the band and the girl just wants to be with him and is going as a favor. Very rare the latter and it never works out.

4. Creepy stalked like 46 year old men (me).

Kasher puts on a good show. his voice does not really hold up well outside the studio. The demigod Will Sheff of Okkervil River also has a problematic voice but he has a wide range and so is interesting in concert as well as the studio. Kasher has a bad voice with a narrow range but like every good artist he takes his weakness and makes it a strength. He bantered with the audience several times as they were working out equipment problems (this was the second show of an east coast swing) and at Wash U that was a mistake. Engineering kids who are too clever by half love to shout back answers at his erroneous TV trivia questions (Family Ties?) and loving discussion about the beauty and yes cleanliness of his own ears. He was annoying at these points and the audience was worse. Perhaps it is just because I am an old man.

His band is very tight. Roger lewis and Ryan Fox are an awesome Guitar and drum combo although the guitarist looks like a dork and the dread-locked drummer is a little too cool but they were very tight. His bass player Stefanie Drootin is 5’3” with short bobbed ringlets and is very good. She can play and watching her little hands move over simple runs was vaguely erotic. Is that a bad thing to say? She also provides background vocals which are very pronounced on their albums but got lost in the muffled basement sound of the Gargoyle.

Kasher rights excellent bleak relationships song for this band. They are bleak. Often he hates the women and they hate them but...they keep laboring on in the relationship and living with the good and the bad. The songs are a lot like real life which is hard to swallow but ultimately sweet. This band is more then a side project for Kasher, it is a calling and even in a crappy venue with poor sound and his iffy voice, it was an excellent show and to be honest...my son was right.