Friday, October 20, 2006

A Little Thursday Night Music

Last night Haley Bonar played a show at a club in the Lower East Side. I mentioned earlier this week that Boyfriend noticed it.
So I successfully made it out of the house at NINE pm, which is usually an hour from bedtime for teacher-me. There was no traffic, so I made the drive in half an hour. The LES is a great place to drive to, because it's right off the Williamsburg Bridge, which does not have a toll.

Since I am an old lady, I hate noisy and crowded bars with no place to sit. Imagine my pleasure to see this club, on a Thursday, empty with a bunch of booths and even some couches to sit. Awesome! Even cooler? As we were walking up to the door, a girl walked in and I recognized her as Haley herself. Squee!
We got a drink in the bar, and then went down into the basement club. It was tiny! Really intimate. There was another small bar and stools and some side seating. This tall hairy dude was playing and finishing up his set of guitar songs, and then Haley and her two bandmembers set up.
As they started to play, people were still moving around and chatting. But pretty quickly things died down as everyone just watched and listened to the incredible music. It was an amazing experience, like having a show in somebody's living room; there were only like thirty people there! I was really excited and happy, and also felt a bit hypnotized. Possibly due to the late hour and my lameness.
Haley and her band played a few new songs, a bunch from her second album plus a couple from the first (go listen to and buy the first and the second records). It all sounded just as good live as recorded. And it was so great!
After they were done, Haley was hanging around selling CDs. I bought another copy of her first album (for Boyfriend, since he only has the second one that I got him), and was able to chat with her. I told her how much I love her music and how glad I was to see her show. She was very friendly and seemed glad to hear it. She even agreed to a picture!

Though I was out way past my bedtime, I was thrilled to see one of my favorite singers perform live, in a small and intimate setting. It's really novel to be a real person during the week, and to take advantage of living in the Big Apple.

Moral of the story: Go listen to Haley, and get out on the town!

2 comments:

East Coast Teacher said...

I too was able to get out on the town last night - YAY for blogger meetups!

I (re)discovered the importance of having fun again.

Astrid said...

Haha .. yes, going out on a school-night can be lots of fun! I have experienced that before too! ;) And wow, the Big Apple! I hope to take a big bite of it one day again too!