Last night I went with John and his girlfriend Elizabeth to the Tractor Tavern to see Carrie Akre and Matthew Lee Patrick. One reason I chose this show was that I was under the mistaken impression that John already was a fan of Carrie Akre; it turned out we were both only vaguely aware of her due to KEXP. The other reason was that I hadn't seen anything else interesting for the month, and at least I'd heard of Carrie Akre. (It turns out I'm missing a sold-out show at Neumos tonight with Imogen Heap - again, someone I'm only vaguely aware of - and Zoe Keating, the second cellist from Rasputina. I definitely would've gone to that show if I'd known in time, if only for Zoe Keating.)

Not surprisingly for a show at the Tractor, both Matthew Patrick and Carrie Akre turned out to be folk-pop artists, in the vein of Jessie Sykes, Dar Williams, or the folkier side of Barenaked Ladies. Matthew Patrick had more of the Barenaked Ladies sound going on; Carrie Akre was closer to the "sad piano-playing chick" style that I generally find uninteresting, though finally her last song had a bit of driving guitar and bite to it, and I enjoyed that more. I ended up feeling like I'd sat through two opening acts and it was time for the headliner to come out and rock, except the headliner hadn't shown up. John however really enjoyed Carrie Akre and Matthew Patrick too, I think, and I believe Elizabeth liked them both too.

February has some possibilities that are more interesting to me:

• Oh hey, Kinski are playing this Saturday the 4th at the Sunset Tavern (warning: ugly web page that automatically resizes your browser window to as big as possible - Bad, Sunset, Bad!), with a couple bands I don't know (Nudity and Lott Lyzzyrd). I should probably hold off on Kinski for a bit, though. Also, that's a rather small space to put the very loud sound of Kinski into.
• Wednesday the 8th The Showbox has Stars, who do a cool trip-hop cover of The Smith's "This Charming Man," but otherwise I'm unfamiliar with them.
• Thursday the 9th, there's a bunch of bands at The Crocodile Cafe doing covers of the Magnetic Fields' 69 Love Songs (although if that doesn't sell out in advance, I'll be surprised).
• Also that night My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult are playing El Corazón, although all I know by them is "Glamour Is A Rocky Road".
• Sunday the 12th at the Sunset again, there's an early early (as in 4 pm) show including Dragstrip Riot; they're a rockabilly band, which is something else I'm not really into, but the band's bassist works at one of the bar/restaurants we (John and others and I) often go to, and their CD's not bad.
• Neumos has The Wedding Present on Tuesday the 21st, I know I heard something by them recently and thought "Oh, that's The Wedding Present? huh, interesting," but of course I can't actually remember what the song was that caught my attention

I wasn't expecting that list to be quite so long, now I feel bad for shortchanging the January show. Oh well, last year I never really wrote anything about the January show at all.

Last Sunday I went to my "official" April concert, although I may end up seeing another one or two. At the Tractor Tavern, I saw my old favorite, Tara Jane ONeil, sandwiched between the headliners Ida and opening act Michael Hurley.

I arrived a little way into Michael Hurley's set. I'd never heard of him, and my understanding is that the Tractor tends towards blues, folk, and country, so I was somewhat wary of what he'd be like. He turned out to be a grizzled old folk-blues guitarist. I'm sure he's a fine example of his genre, and I didn't think he was terrible, I just didn't find his music very interesting.

Next came Tara Jane ONeil, and her set was amazing as always. Her girlfriend/wife Kristina played melodica and miscellaneous percussion throughout the set, as well as singing backup vocals. TJO was also joined by various members of Ida on some songs, playing guitar, bass, violin, miscellaneous percussion, harmonium, and singing. TJO herself played electric guitar and made extensive use of a sampler, recording rhythms and then looping them as she played other parts of the song; Kristina also used a sampler for some of her parts.

TJO opened with an instrumental I did not recognize, which was rather in the vein of her early work with The Sonora Pine - though she has continued to do such art/experimental rock type music throughout her career, one reason I love her so much. She played a few songs I recognized, such as "The Poisoned Mine" and "Howl," and I now find another one I hadn't recognized, "Take The Waking," all of which are on her most recent album You Sound, Reflect (yes, I like her that much, I'm pushing her albums through Amazon now). I was smiling throughout the set as I enjoyed the music, but I broke into a huge grin as I recognized the beginning of her last song, "Rungs," from her old band The Sonora Pine. It's truly wonderful to hear those songs live. That was one of the songs for which members of Ida joined her, and the instrumentation included the harmonium, and the violinist playing instead a metal bowl by sliding a pestle around the outer edge.

As for Ida, I ended up enjoying them more than I expected. I'd heard of them before, because they have past connections with TJO, but didn't really know anything about them. Again, I expected them to be more folky, and they did start out with some blues/bluegrass/folk type tunes. But then they moved into more of a progressive pop/rock sound - the only thing I can think of offhand is earlier Fleetwood Mac, and indeed they later played a cover off of Tusk - and I enjoyed that much more. Ida on this tour were a five-piece including guitar(s), bass, drums, violin, keyboard, and also harmonium, and most songs feature harmonized singing from three of the members. I ended up buying a double CD, which turned out to be an "official" live bootleg.

After the show, I got to talk to TJO, and was quite pleased that she recognized me on sight (and no, that does not mean she backed away and called security). She also remembered last year's show in Ballard (where The Tractor is) and how sparsely attended it was; fortunately, this show had a fairly full house. Although it was clear that most of the audience came to see Ida, there definitely were some other people besides myself who came to see TJO, crowding up to the front during her set. I was also pleased that when I came in, one of the bar employees asked who I'd come to see that evening, so they were keeping track and will know that TJO does draw some people.

On Friday I had bought a couple shelves to add to my bookcase, and Sunday I had cleared the shelves and been in the middle of figuring out how to rearrange them when the time to leave for the show rolled around. I was unhappy because I knew I wouldn't be able to finish properly if I went to the show, and I thought about not going as I'd seen TJO before. Once again, she demonstrated why the correct decision always is to go see her, and I was very happy.