Dakota

Last night, Genevieve and I headed to New Haven, Connecticut to meet up with Amy. We were off to see Dar Williams and Girlyman at Toad's, this club I'd never heard of, but was plastered with signed photos of everyone from Mary Chapin Carpenter, to Megadeath, to Meat Loaf, to Madonna (she signed a copy of her Blonde Ambition tour book with "Too bad to passed me up;" meaning--I think--that she tried to get a gig at Toad's, failed, and hey, got really famous).

I didn't know Girlyman at all, but I like Dar a lot, and had seen part of her free concert in one of the New York concerts a few months ago. She was with a band this time around, and Amy scored tickets.

First we got food at this nearby Italian place and I got a fabulous calzone. We headed off to the club, which was bigger than than the venue I was expecting it to be. At around 9, Girlyman took the stage. It's a folk-rock trio of two women and a man, and they were really amazing. They started with a Paul Simon song, "Born At The Right Time," which was great. They also did their own material, the names of which I learned later: "Hey Rose," "The Shape I Found You In," "Saint Peter's Bones," "On the Air," "Speechless," and "Young James Dean." I am quite certain they did more than that, but I just do not recall. I was, however, blown away.

After their set, we went promptly to their merch table. I got a black shirt that says "Girlyman" and their two CDs. They signed the CDs for me, which was very, very nice of them. Genevieve and I seemed to make one of their bandmembers, Ty --an adorable dykey, androgynous woman with an awesome voice-- when we asked about the meaning of one of their songs. At the merch table, we looked at the tracklistings and one of the tracks is titled "Genevieve." I laughed and said to the woman in her 30's behind the counter, "That's her name." She blinked but was unfazed, "That's my name, too." Genevieve asked how she pronounced her name, and it was Jenn-ee-veeve, not the French John-Vee-ev, like Genevieve's.

I asked, "Are you the Genevieve in the song?" And she averted her eyes; it's a question she might get a lot... "You'd have to ask the songwriter." Genevieve quickly scanned the lyrics, and we both had visions of the singer have a torrid (although obvious, 'cause it's a song) affair with the merch girl. Turns out she's also their manager. The plot thickens. So we asked Ty, who wrote the song, and she didn't give an answer; she was mostly startled by the question and quickly started signing the CDs.

Next up was Dar, who really had a tough act to follow. I had already bought two of Dar's CDs: her latest, and Mortal City to make up for the mp3's of most it that I already have.

Dar began with "Comfortably Numb." She looked like, in my opinion, like the former hippie art teacher in a high school. She was definitely beautiful, but she was also definitely an older woman who was a mom, and had a penchant for flowy sleeves.

While I do not recall, at all, the tracklisting order, I know that she sang "Teen for God," "Beautiful Enemy," "So Close to My Heart" (which I hated), "The Mercy of the Fallen," "As Cool As I Am," "The Christians and the Pagans," "The Poignant, Yet Pointless, Crisis of a Co-Ed" (a request that she looked hesitant to do; she seemed intimidated by the crowd), "Are You Out There," "Spring Street," "Another Mystery," and "The Babysitter's Here." She did others that I either didn't know or I've forgotten. She did maybe 15 songs.

She was also quite great, although she seemed very distracted from the start. She sang well, and bantered constantly (something I love and crave in live acts) with the audience. Girlyman joined her on the stage for "As Cool As I Am," the closer (before the encores), and for the second encore... a song I didn't know, but she expected us to. Maybe the collective did.

As it stood, it was a great night, despite it's lateness and early awakening that I had to do. Fortunately I had a very low-key workday that kept me from pulling my eyes out.

It was a very good night.