Jenny Lewis

We saw the Jenny Lewis show at the Recher last night. As expected, she, the Watson Twins and all the rest of the band put on an excellent show, building to an amazing crescendo with an unreleased song about Jack Killing Ma and ending with a Jesus song involving a duet between her and Jonathan Rice with overtones of early June and Johnny shows.

She has this creepy-June-Carter mystique, all bourbon and Spanish moss, with a powerful voice and a wide range. A big ol' electrified hootenany punctuated with slow, often freaky ballads.

Lots of College kids there.

Uh, yeah. I have to go to work in the morning. Do you mind starting a little early? Thanks.

So maybe Jonathan Rice shouldn't be covering George Thorogood, what with his hipster T-shirt and tight pants, but he can play the geetar something powerful. The spaced-out hipster persona contrasted nicely with his smart, clever music. He was a great breath of fresh air after the torture of the opening act.

Whispertown 2000 almost made me hate music.

Hate. Them.

If Jenny Lewis and her band were the epitome of well-practiced, polished professionalism, Whispertown demonstrated how godawful it is when a band just refuses to practice.

If they hadn't know each other's names, I could have sworn they'd never met before the moment they stepped on stage.
The only one who looked and sounded like he had any talent was the bass player, who may well have wandered accidentally on stage from a British pop band. The other three looked, and acted, like college kids pretending to be in a band. The lead guitar wandered around aimlessly, both musically and literally, and the two female singers made absolutely no attempt to coordinate anything. Off key from the get-go, their voices evoked actual physical pain. It was like watching the losing band in a middle-school talent show.

They butchered Gillian Welch's "Miss Ohio." I believe Ms. Welch is now legally obligated to shoot them. I'll have to check on that.

On a final note, we both thought it was rude of Jenny to not thank each member of the band at the end. She singled out just two people. What about the bass player and the drummer who sweated it out through the whole show? After all, they even wore the ironic old-school cowboy shirts and everything.