Matt Ulman

9:20: We leave Blaggards for the 9:30 show, or rather I go downtown, leaving J to go home on the train, and Andre to go back to Bayridge.

9:25: Give up on finding a cab & head to the F for the ride downtown

9:32: The homeless guy now has dogs instead of cats – There’s this guy who used to sit in the Carroll Street station in the morning & then the 34th Street station at night who stumbled on some cats. Two to start with, one later, but then we moved & I never managed to see if he ended up with none. He had no cats on Friday, but the cutest dog. I asked him about it, after giving him a quarter, and he said that his neighbor stole the cats

9:33: I forgot my mp3 player, so I guess I’ll just have to sit here on the train for while…[train noise] – The noise was intentional, I think, like a documentary thing. Mostly I was just looking for something to do.

9:44: The non-IRT trains are different, so open, so cool. Homelessness is rampant down here, I’ve walked by 4 already – I gave $5 to the 1st, $2 to the second… or maybe it was the 3rd & the 4th. – A little posturing, maybe? No, I didn’t give money to the 1st & 2nd guy, but I did to the 3rd & 4th. IRT trains are the oldest & most narrow-guage in the city. Since we moved to Brooklyn Heights we’ve been taking the 2 & 3 (IRTs are numbers, the others are letters), the F (from Cobble Hill) was non-IRT. It’s sometimes strange to get on a bigger train than you’re used to

9:51: Got here, Miracle of ’86 is by far the most important band on the signup sheet that the Mercury Lounge insists on doing – they’re playing the latest Pedro the Lion on the PA, which is great & Miracle is just setting up. Got a Sierra Nevada my favorite spot right next to the sound booth, and I’m going to sit here & enjoy this mother fucker – The Merc does a thing where where they you who you’re there to see – especially for the shows where they have 5+ bands playing per night – Miracle was the most popular band at that point – but other band’s fans hadn’t shown up yet – when I left, they weren’t anymore. Sierra Nevada used to be rare, when I first moved to NY. It’s not anymore, but I sometimes forget that. The ‘Soundbooth Spot’ is generally my favorite, but I think I had to abandon it later that night when a really tall guy stood in front of me

9:52: God bless the Indian Summer, I just now brought a brand new car – From Indian Summer, yeah, it was playing and I really like this song. At least I didn’t quote about how they really like the taste of corporate cum. Maybe #1 record of 2002?

9:55: They’re going to start right at 10:00 – half an hour late – something to remember for the next time I’m here for a multi-show – Pretty self-explanatory, I think

9:59: Range Life He looks like Rhett Miller even more than before, it’s fabulous – Yes, he looks like Rhett – he’s got the windmill guitar & the eye-roll down so well that I can only assume they’re stolen. It was really what originally drew me to him, I think. That & the really good pop-rock

10:03: Opened with Range Life, a Pavement Cover, and then something self-referential about how you know what it sounds like & you’re right. During Range Life they sang about being out on tour w/ Midtown & Dashboard Confessional instad of the Pumpkins & STP. – I thought that was cool, that they could rip on two bands that were that much more popular than they were. This comment was mostly because I didn’t know that I’d be able to hear the one before (which was recorded during the song)

Then I ran out of space on the phone. The rest of the show was ok – mostly from a new record that I’ll need to get in January when it comes out. Total time was only about 40 minutes.