After sleeping all day, I headed to afterHOURS to catch Mark Gilday, Jr. and Andrew Jackson Jihad! Gilday (a younger guy, probably a student) played alone on stage with just an acoustic guitar and his own voice. He tended toward the shouty, humorous brand of folk punk so reminiscent of Bomb the Music Industry!'s Jeff Rosenstock. Though perhaps a little rough around the edges, Gilday's set was quite fun and even contemplative at times, as if by accident. This served to whet my punk appetite, long dormant -- the real treat for the evening, of course, was Andrew Jackson Jihad. I never dared to imagine that I would get to see them live, though it's hard to say why; maybe I just considered them in the same state of flux as BTMI! The two most consistent members were present at this gig: singer/guitarist Sean Bonnette and singer/upright bassist Ben Gallaty. It's difficult to capture this show in words, so I will put it this way: it was magical. AJJ's sometimes manic, sometimes gloomy style of folk punk never ceases to amaze. Bonnette and Gallaty have incredible and hilarious chemistry on stage, which perfectly complements their wicked lyricism. It's particularly cool to see an upright bass played in a context outside of the orchestra. They even played several of my favorite songs from their repertoire, including "Love In the Time of Human Papillomavirus", "Rejoice", "Bad Bad Things", and "People II: The Reckoning", with various stories told in between. This show joins Baths and Big D & the Kids Table in a three-way tie for best show seen at afterHOURS, though this one may have the most personal significance. After the show, I went to Iris's to watch the first night of the Stanley Cup playoffs. The Penguins defeated the Blue Jackets (unhappy, but not unexpected) and the Habs squeezed an OT win over the Bishop-less Lightning.
Quotes of the day:
"Let's get- let's get sad." - S.B.
...
S.B.: "Sick solo, man."
B.G.: "Well how am I supposed to finish it when you're talkin' over it? Fuck! Some people."
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