Ten Musical Moments I’ve Shared with Matt Berlyant
Matt is out of town this weekend, living it up in beautiful Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He’s graciously allowed me (his wife, for those of you that don’t know), for the first time ever to write a list in his place. I suppose, if you’re the sentimental sort, you’ll see this as a tribute to Matt (or us). Hopefully he’ll let me do this again sometime?
June 11, 2005. The Go-Betweens at Southpaw.
I made the fateful decision to drive up from Philadelphia to see this show, since for whatever reason the Go-Betweens weren’t playing Philadelphia on this tour, which would turn out to be their last U.S. tour I believe. An email message to the Big Takeover list, hoping to find some company for the night, turns up a friendly hello from Matt at the end of the show. Except I’m exhausted, the conversation is brief, and I skidaddle so that I can drive home.
June 25, 2005. The New Pornographers play Prospect Park to celebrate Canada!
Matt joins up with me at this performance two weeks later. We’d been chatting and emailing, and an offer to sit near the soundbooth was not going to get turned down. Matt and I talk the whole night, and into the next day, which makes my sister claim that I’ve ditched her. This will probably forever be a point of contention between us.
July 9-13, 2005. The Date Decathalon.
After my impromptu invitation, Matt joins my rock and roll summer vacation to Massachusetts. This involves a Yo La Tengo performance AND a Dinosaur Jr show, a rock and roll themed diner, a museum which features children’s book illustrations, and a Yiddish book repository.
August 23, 2005.
My first letdown! I purchase 2 tickets to see a (then) rare solo appearance by Glenn Mercer at the Knitting Factory and Matt then realizes he’s already committed to see System of a Down with a friend. Ugh! Well, I go to the show anyway, Antietam and some other artists play as well, and I have some excellent Indian food with my sister, who gladly took Matt’s ticket.
February 16-20, 2006.
Matt and I go to Los Angeles where we see X (totally fitting) and St. Etienne, which to this day is one of the most boring shows I’ve ever seen. If you’re a fan, I apologize. The rest of this vacation was spent mesmerized over the fact that we visited the Warner Brothers studio lot, and thus the set of the Gilmore Girls, which lives on in my heart as television magic.
August 5, 2006.
Kiki and Herb play a couple of nights in Philadelphia. Kiki and Herb are the greatest drag cabaret act, and this was Matt’s first time seeing them. Anyone who can incorporate Wu-Tang into an act that approximates an aging lounge singer and her piano playing accompaniment is okay in my book.
January 24, 2007
I have jury duty this day, and then we go to see Mark Eitzel at the North Star Bar. This night is notable for the fact that Mark Eitzel freaks out at the people who are talking during his set. He yells at them to shut up several times, then jumps off the stage in a huff, runs out the door and drives away without really finishing his set. Oh well.
November 10, 2007.
Matt indulges the high school version of me and we go to see Buffalo Tom at Southpaw. I still love this band, nearly 20 years after I started listening to them.
December 1, 2007.
The Clean! I have an enormous soft spot in my heart for pop music from New Zealand. There were so many people at this show, that Matt gets the opportunity to ask Ira Kaplan if Yo La Tengo would play at our wedding. They don’t, for what it’s worth.
April 12, 2008.
We see Jandek, and frankly, I don’t get him and his mystery. At all. So much so that I don’t have anything else to say about him.
