Last night the Gossip saved my life

Several people had asymetrical haircuts. A stray dog ran through the crowd. Kurt Cobain lived about six blocks from the venue in the years before Nevermind.

I saw the Gossip in Olympia last night. They played on the stage of the Capital Theater, but faced backwards. The crowd stood around the riser in the theater's backstage. It was really weird, but pretty great.

This band is phenominal live. Beth Ditto has a thick, bluesy voice, and she seems really likeable onstage. For a person that could understandly be too cool for school, she's friendly and talkative with the audience. (She stood outside after the show and just talked to people. I said "Great show" when I walked by and seemed geniunely thankful.)

The band's new stuff is disco-y, unlike their old stuff, which is dance-y but in a more rock way. It's also light years ahead of their old material -- better crafted, more interesting and much more melodic.

Musically, there's no reason why this band isn't huge, at least by indie rock standards. Their new album hasn't been written up that much, unlike the new Jenny Lewis solo joint. Notice a difference in how Lewis looks and how Beth Ditto looks? That, sadly, likely explains why the Gossip doesn't get as much press. Not that I don't dig Jenny Lewis or anything. I'm just saying.

I went with my friend Cassie.(She teched the photo in this post to make it less hideous and more clear.) We drove by Cobain's old apartment, which is the upstairs of a house across the street from the state lottery building on Pear Street. It's been remodeled, so it looks much nicer than the photos I had seen in books.

We also drove out to The Evergreen State College just to kill some time because we weren't too interested in the opening bands. We kept laughing at the signs on campus. They all directed us to the organic co-op, compost piles and the "experimental theater." It was awesome.