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Saturday, October 11, 2003

Kimya Dawson is AMAZING!

what i'm listening to Right Now: The Black Keys, Thickfreakness - Midnight
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O.K. So i'm not listening to Kimya Dawson right now, but I tell you that I've listened to little else since I got back from the Trachtenburg Family Slideshow Players show at StarrHill in Charlottesville.

Ben and I drive the 2.5 hours up and sit down in the restaurant. "Grilled tuna with Creole mustard sauce, dirty rice" for me, "Falafel cucumber yogurt sauce, coconut curry risotto, spinach" for Ben. I finished off with "warm banana bread" topped with Ice Cream.

Upstairs to the Music Hall. The place looks like someone's living room. Low hanging ceiling, Persian-style area rugs, the artists mingle with the audience (there's no "backstage" area).

We enjoy the opener, Kurt Leibert. The stage lights dim, and the candles on the tables flicker. The room is dark. I'm now expecting the Trachtenburg's. This wild lookin chick (roadie?) walks up on stage and starts messin' with the guitars. Wild feedback pierces the ears as she attempts to plug in. There is some conversation and she winds up with Kurt's guitar.

The mahogany red stage still hasn't lit up and this cute little voice fills the room. "my heart is on my sleeve my head is in the sand I said how did we end up here? You said happenstance" I later learned this to be the song Chemistry from her most recent album, "My Cute Friend Sweet Princess." I bought it at the merchandise table. I told her, "I really liked your stuff." She said, "Thanks!"

I don't think she understood just what level of "liked" I was referring to. I AM CHANGED!! At least as far as what I thought about acoustic singing/songwriting. Her songs were so cheeky. Filled with pop culture references. But usually these Anti-folk types hide their emotions behind these clever references. Not Kimya!! She does what a great artist is supposed to. She writes songs that touch her deep.

Take this song "Talking Ernest" that she sang at Starr Hill. Blew Me Away!! It goes:

shoulda heard what my talking Ernest said to your talking pee-wee
he said "last night that furby it was talkin to me
talking in the language of love"


Sounds cheeky, funny, clever. But she does not hide behind this cheekiness. It builds to:

but talking Ernest he was just making small talk
there was something bigger on his mind
.......

and then my talking Ernest said to your talking pee-wee
"hey man, it's over" he said "have you heard the news?
Jim varnish dead, he's dead"

and then your talking pee-wee said to talking Ernest
"but my friend he's not gone I pull the string on your back
and he lives on and on, on and on"


Now I make no secret of my un-ironic love and respect for Jim Varney. I'm DEAD serious when I say that Earnest Goes to Jail is a underrated movie (Jim Varney plays BOTH of the Main characters, one a ruthless Criminal!!). So maybe that's why this song stuck with me. But Kimya loves Jim Varney to. She isn't making fun of him. She's honoring him.

This song was written in her early days. More recently her songwriting has grown Wonderfully. I DARE YOU to go to her website, www.kimyadawson.com and download the track "Heroes 2002.mp3"

Listen to that one!

Listen to THAT one!!

Oh, yeah, and the Trachtenburgs were really enjoyable. Rachel is cute and Jason's a funny guy. I REALLY want to go down to Raleigh, NC to see them all again this Thursday, but that's a 4 hour drive one-way. I'm already going up to the see the Strokes/Kings of Leon/Regina Spektor show tomorrow in Baltimore (that's about 4 hour's one way). But that should be an Unbelievably good show! I'll tell you all about it when I get back!


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