Vandaveer

Monday was CD Central’s annual Labor Day party in Lexington, KY. I spent the whole day cooking hot dogs and veggie dogs, but managed to photograph and listen to the bands playing inside the store.

The Yesterday Trees were first up for the day. There was lot of promise floating around between the two members, but it never seemed to completely come together. The drummer worked percussion on a bongo and tennis racket, which was pretty nice. At the very least, it was something I’d never seen before. They covered Death Cab for Cutie’s “I Will Follow You Into the Dark,” which was good but didn’t quite hit the mark. All in all, I’d say the Yesterday Trees should do what 90% of bands should do: keep on playing and getting better.

The Yesterday Trees

J. Marinelli was the subject of a lot of discussion. I talked to some people who didn’t enjoy him, but I think it was just because his set was unbearably loud and the sound was poorly leveled. I was outside so it all got filtered through a closed door… and strangely sounded pretty good. I’d be interested to see this one man band at a venue that can properly mic and mix his performance to see if there’s much of a difference.

J. Marinelli

J. Marinelli

Next up was Vandaveer, the only musician on the bill I knew before Labor Day’s festivities. I’ve seen Mark a couple times and he’s always fantastic. He and Rose have fantastic harmonies and songs to share. But this time we got an extra special added bonus. Vandaveer played Bob Dylan’s “the Man in Me” (aka the theme song from the Big Lebowski) and completely made my day. I would have whipped out my phone to record it, but I noticed that it was a cover about a minute into it (in my defense, I was grilling hot dogs at the time). So instead I just kicked back and enjoyed a fantastic cover. Big thanks to Mark for making my day.

Vandaveer

Living With Hermits was next. I didn’t really get to listen to them too much, but they had guest vocals by one of my co-workers (Lauren, the only girl in the photo) so I checked them out for a song or two.

Living With Hermits