Eric is lame

How many times have you thought about going to see a show, decided against it, and then realized that you've made a potentially lethal mistake? I don't think I'll die from this one, but I am feeling like I'm missing some great indie/jangle-pop right now, which as those who know me know, is right up my alley. Those who know also know that shows like this don't come along quite so often, and especially not to mid-sized towns in the midwest. However, tonight was an exception, and there is precisely one of these shows going on right now in my neck of the woods.

I fully intended to go to this show, which only cost $5 and is within walking distance of my apartment (it was previously within closer walking distance of my apartment at a very hip wine bar-type lounge, but it was displaced to the more generic rock club for one reason or another or who knows maybe more than one reason, even). However, some things that are very important prevented me from attending this pretty damn decent show. 1.) Laundry: I'm going out of town for a few days and I need clean clothes since I had none prior to doing a couple of loads. I also had to wash my sheets because it's been hot and humid, and without air-conditioning, my bedroom turns into a sauna at night (thankfully it's quite cool and humidity-free this evening...I love sleeping on freshly-laundered sheets :) ). 2.) I had/have a headache: this isn't really an excuse, because the simple solution to headache pain is drinking beer, which I'm sure I would have done. 3.) I saw and enjoyed the headliner, BOAT, at SXSW and they were alright. Good but not great. In fact, the thing that I was most excited about during their set was the drummer's Guided by Voices shirt and the band's live cover of "The Goldheart Mountaintop Queen Directory". I felt I could do without seeing them, and maybe I still feel that way a little bit.

The opening band, on the other hand, is pretty fucking awesome. They're called Walker Kong and they're from Minneapolis, which is just a few hours from here and from what I hear, is a very cool city. I hadn't heard of them until about an hour ago, when they were likely about halfway through their set if the first band didn't play for too long. I learned something very valuable this evening: digging around last.fm has its disadvantages when it leads you to find out you're missing a band for whom one of the similar artists are the Aislers Set, who I absolutely adore. Walker Kong sound very British, and they sound like they've got all the right influences. I'm hearing Razorcuts, Go-Betweens, Lloyd Cole, Flatmates, Dentists, and even a bit of that 6ths song with Mitch Easter of Let's Active, "Pillow Fight" (which probably recalls the artists I've mentioned plus a hundred thousand million others I have and have not heard of) only a bit more modern and clean, but not too modern, or too clean.

Check out http://walkerkong.blogspot.com
Myspace: www.myspace.com/walkerkong
Magic Marker Records: www.magicmarkerrecords.com