I'd Do Anything

When Plan A falls through, it's lucky that Plan B so easily takes its place.

My road trip plans with me playing fifth wheel to a favorite couple were replaced with an anniversary celebration at my neighborhood record store, Steady Sounds

To celebrate two years in the 'hood, they had scheduled bands and DJs playing until 8:00.

Somehow, by the time I made it over there to meet up with a girlfriend, it was almost 5.

Where does a beautiful sunny afternoon go?

Our intent had been to check out Steady Sounds' current art show by P.J. Sykes, friend and band photographer extraordinaire.

And it was impressive; there were photographs of the Love Language, Superchunk, Cloud Nothings and Daniel Johnston, among others.

There was even one of Win Butler at the Arcade Fire show in Charlottesville last summer where I'd run into P.J. and his cute wife on possibly the hottest night ever to see an outdoor show.

It made me happy to see that several had already been sold.

As someone who's bought two of P.J.'s photographs myself, I wasn't really surprised.

While we checked out P.J.'s show, we listened to a DJ playing covers of classics like "Starry Eyes" and "We Got the Beat" while an unknown band set up.

"I love that we don't know what we're about to hear," my friend enthused.

It turned out to be Buffalo's Lemuria, a band I hadn't seen since late 2009 at Gallery 5.

Their website is lemuriapop.com, if that tells you anything. And it should.

With a punk power pop sound augmented with dual vocalists of both sexes and unbridled enthusiasm, they played an energetic set that captured everyone in the room.

The band cites the Lemonheads and Superchunk as influences, so fans of '90s indie pop (okay, me and all the kids in the room born that decade) were bound to get off on them.

Both obvious fans (singing every word) and newbies (becoming fans as they heard them for the first time) had the store packed for their brief set.

We left afterwards for 821 Cafe and my favorite black bean nachos with a thrash soundtrack to accompany them.

Some things just don't need to be improved upon.

Everyone I knew was busy tonight, so instead of music, I opted for a last-minute movie.

And not just any movie, but a post-mumblecore film that went a long way toward redefining the cliched romantic comedy genre.

"Your Sister's Sister" had all the mumblecore characteristics - improvised dialogue, believable characters and limited budget - but so convincingly conveyed a sense of real life that it was easy to forget these were actors, not real people.

The story of a 30-something guy who didn't really have his life together but was willing to address his shortcomings for the sake of the right woman was at times funny but also poignant.

He didn't come to that realization until after he's had a one-night stand with her lesbian sister, so that complicated things a bit.

Naturally that transgression was brought on by, what else, too much tequila and I'm here to say that I think tequila gets a bum rap as the go-to bad spirit.

 Just for the record, some of us are quite capable of drinking it without making foolish errors in judgement.

But I digress.

I laughed far too loudly at a scene reminiscent of one from my own life (Leo, you know what I'm talking about) and felt the veracity of a relationship where people who've known each other for years haven't recognized their romantic potential.

But mostly it just felt like life, where witty dialogue and unfortunate things come out of the same mouths.

And best of all, it had a totally inconclusive ending that didn't explain a single thing.

Just like real life...or Plan B.

Living the Great Life at Gallery 5

On the Monday night after Christmas weekend, live music was just the thing to do to for something completely different from the past few days.

And approaching Gallery 5 tonight, hearing the windows rattling from the band playing within, I looked forward to a most un-holiday like evening.

The music was much more enjoyable to hear from within than from without, but still loud, so I was surprised to see a guy sitting in a chair, head against the radiator cover and napping hard when I got there.

He woke up once, checked his phone and went back to sleep.

Black Wine from New Jersey was playing to a rapt crowd when I walked in.

Their punk influences ensured that most songs clocked in at around two and a half minutes of pure energy, which made their choice of a song to cover completely out of the blue: "Windy" by the Association.

They did quite a decent job with it, though, speeding it up a bit and hardening it a little around the edges while keeping the harmonies (the female drummer helped a lot in this respect).

The headliner and reason for my outing tonight was Lemuria from Buffalo, about whom I'd heard good things.

Their website is lemuriapop.com, if that tells you anything.

With an indie power pop sound augmented with dual vocalists of both sexes and catchy guitars, they played an energetic set that was a pleasure to hear.

The band cites the Lemonheads and Superchunk as influences, so fans of 90s indie pop (okay, me) were bound to get into them.

Their choice of a cover song was "Grand Canyon" by the Magnetic Fields and their version really good.

I ran into a local restaurant owner in between sets, giving me a conversational partner for the rest of the evening.

After buying me wine, he proposed a toast to me having "the greatest life."

I protested that I have far less money than most people, but he insisted that I have far more fun that most and that's what's really more important.

He also wanted to know how I always know where to be for the most fun on any given evening and if I could text him with that information.

Of course, what I consider fun isn't necessarily anyone else's cup of tea, but the texting part aside (as if), it was a fine compliment anyway.

The show was over by 11, allowing attendees to get home to a reasonable bedtime on a school night, a benefit that has no relevance to my "great" life.

I write that with tongue planted firmly in check, just so you know.