Brennan’s Pub still has that new car smell (figuratively of course) to me, each night spent there another spin around the block with the stereo blasting. Like most times I put a guitar around my neck, I can only hope that anyone in earshot has half as much fun as I do! I tried to pull a wide variety of tunes for this set, a few of which will show up in future setlist blogs - because they ALL have a story. The rest can be looked up here in past blogs for the backstory and they all can be found by the original artist and enjoyed on your favorite medium at you leisure. Here are the recommendations from Wednesday’s set:
1. “Dreaming Against Me” - Seven Mary Three
2. “Beyond Belief” - Elvis Costello (feat. Jeff Cleveland on background vocals)
3. “To Ramona” - Bob Dylan
4. “Sad Smile” - Bobby Bare Jr.
5. “Go Away” - Elvis Costello
6. “Everybody Cryin’ Mercy” - Mose Allison
7. “Unbroken (Hotel Baby)” - Monster Magnet
8. “Won’t Be Home” - Old 97’s
9. “Toledo” - Dan Bern
10. “Kill Zone” - T-Bone Burnette
11. “Shelter” - Corrosion of Conformity
12. “A Good Man is Hard to Find” - Tom Waits
13. “Cheap Rewards” - Elvis Costello
14. “Hard to Believe” - original (co-written w/ David Bowick)
15. “Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues” - Bob Dylan (feat. Jeff Cleveland on harmonica)
Having had the divine pleasure of opening for Cowspace on many of these Wednesday night shows at Brennen’s, I also have to add to this recap that the Cowspace set following mine was really something else. These guys always deliver a righteous blend of crafty originals and punchy covers. There are a handful of originals that I’ve heard live enough times to remember what that feels like - to get to know a song by seeing the band play it live on several occasions - it’s a throwback phenomenon for sure. However, on this night there we two songs that Cowspace covered that pierced my attention and sparked enough in my memory to write a few words about, if you don’t mind:
“Untouchable Face” - Ani DiFranco (Dilate - 1996)
One of my favorite feelings in life is that moment when you recognize a song so completely, when you’re overtaken by familiarity, yet can’t place the source simple because of the context. I didn’t see this cover coming and once I figured out what it was - the quintessential catalyst song from my discovery of the most clever punk ever, Ani Difranco - I lost my mind. This song got me into Ani, and I never looked back - so much so that once I realized “Untouchable Face” was one of her more popular songs (likely because of it’s brutish sentiment) I turned to the abundance of other masterpieces she’s penned for inspiration. That’s exactly why hearing this song performed live two thousand miles and a eleven years later had such a huge effect on me. Lyrically this song couldn’t be better. The masterful imagery of “neon signs on the horizon rubbing elbows with the moon” is only eclipsed by the stark brutality of “fuck you for existing in the first place.” If you don’t know Ani DiFrance, Dilate is a great place to get to know Ani DiFrance. But, if you’ve never felt pissed off, or hurt, or silly, or infatuated, or out of you mind, then you’ll have no idea what she’s talking about.
“Like A Rolling Stone” - Bob Dylan (Highway 61 Revisited - 1965)
If you’re like me, you always saw this song at the very top of every “Greatest Song of All-Time” list and scoffed because you thought there are way better Dylan songs that are more obscure. I’m here to tell you, we were both wrong. This song turns the mirror n the subject by asking the hardest question on it’s way to a perfect cadence. If you’ve never been “out on your own, with no direction home” in some sense of what those words mean, then you’ve probably never lived. Cowspace’s performace of “Like A Rolling Stone” opened my eyes to this classic in a new way, which is really the most you can hope for in hearing a cover song performed. They breathed life back into for me and seemed to enjoy the hell out of doing so - thanks Cowspace.
Photo by Nate: Cowspace live at Brennen’s every Wednesday night
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