A while back I went to a Jason Webley concert. It was a crazy night. I had no idea who he was and when I arrived at a huge house that I was pretty sure was being used as a modern day commune I couldn’t help but laugh. “Tickets” were $5. There was a tiny fairy door in the wall. The audience was delightfully strange and musician singing… well let’s just say I wasn’t really expecting an accordion recounting 1980’s hits. How could I not be drawn like a moth to the flame when I heard he’d be back in Keene to sing again, this time as a warm up to another band I’d never heard of – Humanwine.

I got there an hour early so I fussed about in the rain going to Home Depot, Wal-mart, and Target in search of an elusive folding camp table. I didn’t find any, but made due with a much smaller wrought iron table. Traveling back to Main Street I found The Starving Artist. I guess it’s just a littler performance house. I walked in, passed over the $7 admission and looked around. It was a small place, there was perhaps thirty people here. I found an old beaten up couch in back with a long rip down its front. Cozy. I was a little bit early but not too bad. I didn’t expect more people to file in at a steady pace until the place was truly packed. There were perhaps fifty people here, some sitting on the floor, others standing in back, and the majority sitting in chairs. There were more beards and berets here than I have seen in my life. There was also a number of women with flapper haircuts. Three people with blue hair, a pregnant woman, a number of lesbians, some sort of gender interloper, an ungodly amount of Caucasian dreadlocks, people of all ages from teens to middle aged, and even two piss-faced drunks. One of those was so clichéd I could have laughed as he wobbled across the room, paper bag filled with two vodka bottles, in hand.

If I thought the crowd was interesting I was about to be surprised by the band. I decided it would be far more fun not looking them up prior to coming here. I figured it’d be interesting anyway, why not surprise myself? It was a band of two, the singer was a chick running around with facial and neck tattoos, a raccoon tail pinned to her backside, and a tool belt displaying a wee Bowie knife, as if she were planning to nab another raccoon should this tail wander off. Interesting. I listened intently when she started singing her chaotic, often punderfully titled, songs about political strife and how much people suck. I smiled. It was really fucking hot in the building and upon arriving I was already really tired and ready for bed. When the heat hit me I could barely keep my eyes open… that is until she got the whole audience bouncing about and yelling the chorus to one of the songs, which just happened to be, “WAKE UP! WAKE UP!” I woke up. After that I really started to have fun, even though I really couldn’t understand what she was singing most of the time, though she did a kick ass trumpet impression. I had no idea the human voice could do that…

After intermission Jason Webley came around. Strangely enough most of the people here seemed to be here for him. He gave his usual psychotically enthusiastic performance, gently harassing the people getting up and leaving to come in and out, “Next time they come back in everyone say welcome! And maybe clap!” We all did.. This was another one of those audience participation things. After singing Icarus and a few other songs he went to his usual routine of asking the audience if they wanted to hear any 80’s music that shouldn’t be played on an accordion on an accordion… You know like the Eurythmics Sweet Dreams. Of course he also did his free-style lyrically rearranged version of Free Bird as well. It remains good for a chuckle.

Eventually everyone was handed bottles with change or rocks in them to shake violently along with one of the songs. Everyone was clapping and stamping their feet a good amount of the time too, singing along when instructed to. It was all very noisy and fun. A strange moment of focus was given when he read an excerpt from a book but this was lost as he gave a farewell speech, saying he was leaving the music world for awhile… He struggled with words on that one so badly it was almost painful to watch but eventually ended the whole performance with something bouncy. We all left happy.

If you are enjoying Catching Marbles please consider adding a dollar or two to my limited gas money fund so I can continue going on adventures and sharing them with you! Thank you!