messkins in orbit

went to the moon to see steffin ratliff and tony diaz play their debut gig as "chicano space program": just a coupla guys sitting around playing songs they dig, acoustically. to hear tony sing beatlesongs is to be reminded that our barrel-chested boy can prolly sing the shit out of _anything_ that's put in front of him. most singers wouldn't tempt jeff buckley comparisons by singing his "grace" or leonard cohen's "hallelujah," a song most people under 25 probably know best through him. while tony fudged on some of the high notes, he still had the right spirit. biggest surprise of the night was hearing steffin do about half of the singing while playing neat fingerpicked accompaniment (is there anything this guy _can't_ do with a guitar?). daniel gomez raised the on-stage mexican quotient by sitting in to play a few goodwin songs with tony. the only semi-disappointment of the evening: the ex-bindle bandmates only played _one_ bindle song, "10,000 miles." but...they promised they'll do more next time. (matt hembree was in the audience and kevin geist woulda been there if he hadn't had to play in a dart tournament or something.)

proof that i need to get out of the house more: i hadn't been on berry street in six months or so, and the street seems to be a little more jumpin' than it usedta be during the middle of the week since the frog (aka "the door south") and panther city coffee opened their doors, fuzzy's expanded, and perrotti's pizza got bought out.