Kate's Point of View

The Monsters of Folk show in Louisville on October 31, 2009, was supposed to be some event to look forward to, a reason for Wonder Boy to cheer up. But it was so much more than that. It was wonderful.

I like the new Monsters of Folk album. I want to love it but don’t think it has enough strong tracks to really hook me in. But M. Ward, if things with Wonder Boy and I don’t work out, I might pursue him. And when you combine his music with that of Coner Oberst and Yim Yames and Mike Mogis. It’s an overwhelming amount of talent.

What made the show so particularly special, even beyond the encore, of which I will speak later, was the way the boys collaborated. Everyone played some of their solo work, sometimes alone and sometimes with someone else. When M. Ward and Yim Yames played together, they were practically making out there were so close to each other over the microphone. It’s as collaboration should be. And when the full band played together, the harmony was perfection.

If my review of the show ended with that, I would be pleased. But there is more. Just shy of two hours in, Yim Yames thanked everyone for coming and promised more music after the intermission. Intermission? At a rock show? That had already gone on two hours?

After a brief hiatus, the curtains went up and the Monsters of Folk teetered onto the stage in full Kiss regalia, wearing proper costumes right down to the silver platform boots. Another 40 minutes of rock, including some Kiss covers and audience members in Halloween costumes dancing on stage, and the show had to end. Because how in the world do you top a bunch of folk singers dressed up as Kiss

You don’t.

The quality is a little iffy, but check out Monsters of Folk as Kiss, thanks to a fan’s cell phone.

This weekend marked the beginning of my seriously rocking week in Kentucky.

• Saturday night: Monsters of Folk in Louisville, Kentucky
• Monday night: The Features and the Whigs in Covington, Kentucky
• Wednesday night: Guster in Covington, Kentucky

I’m thrilled to spend so much time surrounded by music I love and crammed into concert halls next to people who love the same bands. There’s something magical about seeing a good show.

The anticipation starts to build as soon as I get dressed and shove the tickets into my pocket: Will the show be better than I’m expecting? Not live up to expectations? Will the crowd be respectful or annoying and chatty? I try and distract myself from thinking about the show too much because I never want to be let down.

On Monday I drove up to Columbus to see Tegan and Sara perform. I went to the show alone, which was a first for me, because Wonder Boy had to work and my Columbus friends weren’t available. Despite the long drive, the show was well worth it. The Canadian mulleted twins did not disappoint. I will say that they weren’t as eager and cute as they were the first time I saw them, but they’ve been on your for while so I think some fatigue is expected.

The opening act was this band called Northern State and they were highly entertaining. Oddly, I was left, and am still pondering, the question of whether or not they were good. The group basically has three front-women, with one man on drums and another woman who plays keyboards and guitar / bass. The thing is, the girls rapped. White-girl rapped. That, in case you don’t know, is a distinct genre of rap. Now, you might think that is racist. I don’t care. If you saw these girls’ moves – you’d agree. Lordy! But they were fun. And I’ll be honest – I bought their new CD – “Can I Keep This Pen.” The song “Sucka Mofo” is brilliant.

So after I left the show and was still in that ear-ringing period bliss after good live music, I walked to my car only to find a parking ticket. It seemed an appropriate addition to both an evening that seemed like a lot of work (at least a lot of driving) and a month that has included two pricey car repairs and a speeding ticket. Ah well. The next day I got online and begrudgingly paid the ticket. Online. WHERE I WAS CHARGED A CONVENIENCE FEE. What is this? Ticketmaster? More disturbing that the $5 fee to pay my fee was the fact that I had to create a username and password to pay the fine so that way things could go more smoothly if I was a repeat visitor to the site.

Um, excuse me?

I think things are pretty badly off when you have people getting so many speeding tickets that you create a system to make the paying of them more conducive for repeat offenders. Like, maybe if things get to that state, you need to instead address why people are getting the tickets in the first place.

Ah well, the $51 that just went to help for office supplies in Columbus will not taint the evening if lady rock.