Damien Jurado @ Shubas

For a long while, I debated on whether I was going to attend this concert, or just stay home. I’ve been out and about a bit more lately, and really wanted to just hole up in my apartment. But… the idea of seeing Damien Juado again was too good to pass up. So I hopped a cab, and made my way over to Schubas.

Snuck behind the bar, and grabbed a quick shot. The bartenders here were nice, and let me in. They both, however, got shy and are standing behind the camera’s view, to my left.

Joining Justin and Emma at the bar. Justin continues his "No Drinking" week, which is slated to end this Saturday.

Dave stopped by, and dropped of a CD with two of his songs to Justin. I got to hear these later on, and I have to say… I’m excited to hear Dave’s new work. I cannot wait.

To top things off, the songs he dropped off were covers. He’s doing two songs for his label Secretly Canadian. To celebrate their 100th CD, they’re asking each artist to cover two songs from another artist. Gonna be a double CD, I think.

Dave just happened to get Damien Jurado. What luck. :)

Edit: I’ve been listening to Dave’s cover of "Dance Hall Places." I can’t stop playing it.

Justin and Emma, getting cozy prior to the show.

We killed some time and hopped into a nearby photo booth. I love this blurry picture because of the expression on my face. :)

Justin’s got the prints. I need to scan those, and get them on here.

Across from the photo booth, I stopped to take a picture of the various posters they’ve got around the place. That’s my Jim Beam and Coke on the ATM there. :|

As soon as I hit the Flash, these two girls asked "You weren’t taking our picture, were you?" I told them what I was doing, and why… and then asked if I could take their picture.

They said yes. :)

Left to right, it’s Nina and Erin.

Opening was someone named Rosie Thomas, who sang on a few of Damien Jurado’s albums I believe. I was pretty far back, and didn’t use the Flash much. But I did manage to sneak a few shots from way in the back of the room.

The guitarist is Eric Fisher? I think. I liked the way he was illuminated.

Rosie’s speaking voice is markedly different from her singing voice. I only heard her talk a few times, but she giggles a lot and her spoken voice is very childlike and unassuming. But the moment she breaks into song… man, I was swooning.

Female singers tend to do that to me.

Check out her site. There’s also an mp3 up there, if you want a listen.

There was someone standing to the left there, where all that darkness is. I happened to see the stage through the crook of his arm, and this sort of fade was a really unexpected, lucky effect.

For some reason, I was really fixated with my drink. I thought the candles were playing nicely off the glass, and I took more pictures of this than I’d care to admit… trying to capture the look. Unfortunately, this is as close as I got.

Just got fixated on this, is all. Maybe the three whiskeys prior to this had some role as well. Who knows where this stuff comes from?

Also got fixated on the soundboard.

Let’s move on.

Quick flash towards the end there. Didn’t really turn out.

By the end of the show, I stopped trying to take many pictures, and just listened. A few times, I tried to step up to where the soundboard was, to try and grab a shot or two… but I mostly listened.

Unfortunately, this is the best image I got of Damien Jurado. I saw him talking with Dave earlier, prior to the show… but felt a bit awkward going over and talking to him, for some reason.

After the show, I stumbled over to him, mumbled how much I liked the show, and shook his hand. He was very nice and thanked me, but it wasn’t an actual conversation – just a quick "Hey, good job" sort of moment.

I bought a copy of Ghost of David, and have been listening to it since.

Definitely check him out, if he’s performing near you. Very worth it.