Alt.Coutry >> Alt.Folk.Primadonna >> Alt.Ambigutrex.Alt

Some lazy alt.country went down at El Cid on Friday night. Matt Costa (above, center) opened. He was wonderful, enough. The lilting beauty of this young folk singer was transifxing. Earnest tremblings and subtle asiatic features on such a gorgeous, crushing, charming face. And the music was pretty good too. Anders Parker played next, but we took in that set from the outdoor patio, where the conversation become more important than the music. The headliner, Richard Buckner, made quite a scene. Strumming his nylon string guitar, listening, then strumming the steel string, listening, leaving the stage, coming back, leaving. Then he said to the audience, grovelly and moody, "You guys got fucking ripped off!" It was already late. He wasn't pleased with the sound but the audience could give a shit about the technicalities. Buckner finally came back, tall and brooding and not loved tonight, grumbling about a sound check and two marriages. That's when the lanky, hoodied black bouncer at the back started tossing some jewels of realism. "It's no wonder he's had two marriages, fool can't make up his mind." Buckner finally started. And that's when we left...

The scene outside Akbar was much more jovial than the alt.coutry vortex El Cid had been transformed into this evening. From a kind of small town, civil night of quiet, seated (many on the floor) appreciation of rock subtlety (and in the case of Buckner, inanity), to the now very drunk smoking scene on the corner of Sunset and Fountain. Just a block or so of buffer sees all kinds of fluctuations. And the dancing was fun. And there was a woman wearing a shirt that read: No Zionism Any Time (above right). Not sure where she was going with that or what she meant if she meant anything at all. But I had to take a picture.