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i’ve decided to break my self-imposed blogger silence for this entry.

for the past couple weeks (more or less), Mabel and i had been preparing to see Bamboo live at 19 East, just north of the Sucat Exit on the South Super, along the East Svc. Road. we’d been listening to their 2 excellent album releases, familiarizing ourselves with song lyrics and whatnot so we could thoroughly enjoy the night (we don’t mind hearing new music, but meeting new music live can sometimes be uncomfortable, and we were hoping to avoid the kind of awkward moments you get from getting to know a new tune for the first time). when we got there some hours ago, their name wasn’t on the fluorescent-lit announcement board. instead, the 19 East sign announced, we were in for a night of Hale, who are, all things considered (including my own personal opinions of the band and their music), a good solid rock band, but not what we were looking for. Bamboo had cancelled that morning, due to an emergency of a "personal" nature (and, if our waiter is to be credited, congratulations, Bamboo!), and 19 East had made the quick switch to the more or less equally popular, and, perhaps, more pop, Hale.

Mabel took the blow worse than i did, being the bigger fan of the 2 of us, but, sucking in our guts and disappointments, we walked into the 19 East music hall with our two companions (nods to Karen and Sherjan).

and were blown away.

the first "act" was a duo, Noel M. Mendez and something Figueroa (sorry, didn’t catch your first name. if you read this, or if anyone who knows reads this, let me know, and i shall make amends). minimalist acoustic stuff of sterling quality, and we loved every minute of it. these guys deserve to be bigger than they apparently are at the moment, having more talent than most similar acts i’ve heard and who actually get "airplay".

and then, the highlight for my evening at 19 East… WICKERMOSS!

these guys are, as i told each of them myself, AWESOME. they covered everything from the B52’s to the Cranberries, and made each song their own. and their originals are every bit as fun and cool and amazing as their odd name implies (i’m afraid i didn’t catch Deo’s explanation for the name, if she did, in fact, give one, and i didn’t just imagine it), and that’s about as good a praise as i am capable of at the moment as it is almost 4am and my brain is about ready to shut down.

and that’s not all, Wendell Garcia sat in for drums on their cover of "Counting Blue Cars", and, in metal-speak, rocked hairy anus!

Mabel and i were so blown away, we got onstage after their last set, asked for a copy of their playlist, and asked them to autograph it. they were totally cool about it, and are all apparently nice people, at least for all of the 15 seconds we got to talk to each of them. we would have stayed longer, but some other band had to set up.

it took us a bit longer to muster up the courage to get Wendell to sign the playlist for us, but he was cool, too, even asking Mabel for her name to personalize the autograph. (actually, i should credit all the balls for getting up on stage to talk to the band and coming up to Wendell in the audience to Mabel. the ballsiest girl i know without being anything less than girly.)

and then, well, there was Hale.

awesome night, all things considered. though i think Mabel is still a bit put-off from not getting to see Bamboo.

so that’s it. i’m getting Wickermoss’ CD, Falling Leaves, first chance i get.

hurrah for Wickermoss!

now back to self-imposed blogger exile and your regularly scheduled programme. or something like that.