Rhett Miller @ Maxwell's - 12.12.08

So I made this big to-do about how I was going to change my ways come the New Year...and then crickets.

I don’t post for months.

I don’t catch up and write about the couple of shows I actually managed to go to during the latter part of the year, nor do I show signs of life of any sort.

My bad.

Well, any of you lot that actually check my blog know that I’m not the promptest of persons. But I’m forever trying to improve – you gotta give me credit for that ;o)

But back to the music catch up.

I couldn’t post on any new shows without mentioning some kick ass relatively recent ones I’d been to such as the great show put on my Mr. Rhett Miller, he of The Old 97's.

He came to the little burb of Hoboken to a place called Maxwell’s, who for those not in the know is a bar/restaurant with a space out back for shows...the size of most people’s family rooms. It’s teeny.

I’ve only had the chance to catch a couple of acts there so far, but it’s always fun – the sheer proximity to the artists is a blast.

So I saw that Rhett would be playing and I managed to drag a Brooklyn friend along with me – thanks L! – to Hoboken.

It was an early show, so we just trekked on over from the PATH after work and got there on time for Rhett to take the stage.


He was lovely as always – a total charmer and funny to boot. Oh and he’s pretty too :o)

As always at a Miller show there were funny bits galore. After singing a Christmas song, he said that ‘Christians are mean, Jews are nebbish and Atheists are verbose – which pretty much encapsulates Western Civilization’.

There was an old Steve Martin joke that completely bombed – bless him – and then this one that I liked:

He got himself some hostages, put them in a gunny sack and ran them up a flagpole. He then asked for 3 demands.

1. A million dollars
2. A getaway car
3. To remove the letter M from the alphabet.

‘Cause you should always have one crazy demand, so that later on you can claim insanity (laughter all around)...Getaway car – nuts. :o)

At one point he also told us that he couldn’t chat too much, since his was the early show. And so that at the end, we should leave and then pay again to come back in and that’d be the most rock’n’roll thing to do this season ;o)


He talked about how he’d made someone’s grandma into his fictionalized girlfriend for a song...and how that was just a bit wrong.

Rhett’s great at salesmanship – he said that after the show he’d be signing stuff at the merchandise booth, mainly b/c they made great Christmas presents...in that we’d pay him money and then he’d exchange that for gifts for his kids.

The encore exemplified all that is ridiculous about encores b/c of the venue’s smallness. He stepped down and stepped back up – there’s no back stage at Maxwell’s and he’d have to come through the packed crowd in order to actually go off and back.

After the rocking show during which he treated us to quite a few faves as well as some great new songs (apologies for the lack of song names – I didn’t write them down and my memory doesn’t reach back that far), he did stick around for autographs. And he was kind enough to sign my CD as well as a CD for my friend M. Even flirted a teeny bit with my concert date for the evening :o)

All around excellent gig – if only all of them could be like this. Can’t wait to see him again :o)

Old 97s @ 7 WTC - 9.17.07

Waaaay late review of Rhett Miller @ Hiro Ballroom, 3/23/07

Ok, so i realize that I'm woefully behind in posting anything at all about my recent shows. I'm not even going to begin to attempt to catch up. But I do want to post on a few and thankfully (since my memory can suck) I actually took notes on a couple of them.

One of the best ones in recent memory was Rhett Miller at the Hiro Ballroom back on 3/23. Alas I did not take any photos - the show was so intimate that it felt rude to snap away while he was pouring himself out to us. Besides, I think I might have left the camera home that evening...

Onwards to the show...
I ended up missing a bit of the show since I only got there at 9:15. Glad I didn't follow someone's advice - Mike, I'm talking to you ;o) - and get there at 10. I'd have missed most of the show.
Mr. Miller played a whole lot of songs, tried to fit as many as he could within the set, since as always the venue had a curfew and the dance party just had to start on time.
He managed to fit so many in, that I'm not sure if he missed any from his solo albums. Rhett also played quite a few Old 97s ditties, including unreleased ones (I'm taking his word for it, since I didn't check and am not that familiar with his ouevre) like a Japan only single, whose title eluded me. He also re-worked 'America the Beautiful' into 'Erica the beautiful', which he did in 'order to get laid', which seemed to be a career theme. And it had worked since Erica eventually became his wife :o)
Rhett was very personable and very sweet, and chatted with the audience quite a bit. The audience itself was a bit sparse - there were some seats right in front of the stage - but instead of chairs, they were more like low platforms. It was pretty quiet, but definitely appreciative. There really wasn't any of the typical singing along, except for a loud group of hardcore fans seated in a booth next to me.

At one point he told us that he felt like he was in Japan (the venue, for those that don't know is Japanese temple chic, with a temple gate over the stage and lanterns everywhere) and that this show would be his own 'Live in Budokan'. When we yelled back in response, he told us we should shriek a few notes higher ;o)

Earlier on, he'd mentioned how'd he do a song that wasn't on any record. He'd written it when the Old 97s (about 8 years ago), were first signed up. How he thought that when they'd be signed, there'd be an 'Ali Baba and the 40 thieves - pirate room of loot, full of doubloons, before he realized that instead they'd just be fucked over'.

Another cute little story behind a song (might have been the same one as above, I lost a little track along the way), was the one where he mentioned Steve Miller, although not by name, just by 'the old man' moniker. He planned on performing this same song when he and Steve played their all boys' alma mater centennial celebration. But he hoped that Steve wouldn't notice that he'd referred to him as 'the old man' ;o)

He ended it by telling us about a bunch of shows that the Old 97s would be doing back in Texas (which I'm sure have happened by now) and about how he was trying to get them to play NYC this summer - which they will be doing:

http://www.rtrcruises.com/schedule/schedule.htm#old97s

I'm still not sure which show I'll be going to, but I'll definitely be going. I'd been obsessively listening to his solo albums for weeks in end, always pulling them back up on my ipod whenever possible. Rhett completely delivered an amazing performance at this show. He was funny, sweet, damn talented and hey, pretty sweet on the eyes as well. I've been trying to spread the gospel of Rhett as much as possible ever since and Mike, thanks again for hooking me up with some Old 97s as well.