Saves the Day! Totally awesome. They were doing an acoustic set at S.O.B.'s, and it was really great -- the songs all sounded fantastic, the place was packed, and everybody was singing along to ALL THE WORDS. I felt a little bad that I wasn't a huge gigantic superfan, like the rest of the audience. It was hard to maneuver around in the crowd, because there were so many people just dying to get superclose to the stage. I was also about a head taller than all the girls that were surrounding me, so I felt a little guilty getting close because I knew that would mean that nobody'd be able to see. On another note, the bassist was chewing on some sort of root-stick or something the entire time and it looked really cool. I'd like to chew on a stick. Anybody know what these chewable sticks are?

This here is Har Mar Superstar, who put on one hell of a show (before I had to run away to go take pictures of Saves the Day). Unfortunately, my pictures from this show are not so great (I was still attempting to work with my priority modes on my camera, as opposed to going all manual, which is what I learned how to do on Friday), because the lighting was so low and vague. I do like this shot though, even though it doesn't quite capture the exuberance he showed on stage. A little too faux-soul-ironic for me to truly embrace, but I would listen to Har Mar while driving somewhere if I had a car or his CD.

Okay, so I know I've been a total delinquent, but I'm going to gradually post the rest of my CMJ adventure photos up on here. Back on track, Stefan, back on track...this is John Cale, who I knew precious little about going into this concert except that he's some sort of Velvet Underground legend, that sort of thing. I could only stick around a few songs though, because I had to make it uptown to go see Har Mar Superstar at the Coral Room...what I heard though was perfectly droney and pleasant and the crowd seemed equally nice and calm. Kind of hypnotic, especially with the lighting scheme they had going there in the Avalon (usually a gay dance club, I believe).