Decent days and nights

Tomorrow signals the advent of a fine week chock full 'o' concerts I intend to attend, most of which with my friend Mark. First up is/are The Futureheads, the next best thing since The Jam meets Devo. We saw them open for similarly 80s-infatuated Franz Ferdinand, and they both smoked. They play at Empty Bottle. Next up is Jay Farrar, the appalachian voice of Uncle Tupelo/Son Volt. Saw him once with Son Volt and was bored senseless, but my expectations were, perhaps, unfair at the time. I recall that The Wailers (members of Bob Marley's old band) opened and they blew away the quiet Volts. Dig Farrar's new live album and so this time I know what I'm in for, at Fitzgerald's in Berwyn. Next is American Music Club at Schubas on Saturday night. I've seen them several times before, and the second that I feel I can put Eitzel's insatiable self-pity in my rearview of fond once-loves, they write a song like "Patriot's Heart," which is so damn incisive I just must see them play it live. I know I saw them do it a few months ago, but I didn't have the album yet and so I couldn't be so sure just exactly how ridiculuously good it is. Finally, we see Dogs Die in Hot Cars at Schubas on Monday. Their song, "Celebrity Sanctum" features one of the best choruses I can recall. Which doesn't say much, but it does to/for me. They are XTC meets Dexy's Midnight Runners. I know, but they're frickin' great, okay?

Got a few nice email responses to my first posts yesterday. My long-time and long-lost high school friend (to whom I still owe very much for drawing me out of my adolescent cocoon), Martha, offered me these brilliant quotes to amplify points I made in yesterday's post. I share them here:

"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter." -Martin Luther King, Jr.
"When the Nazis arrested the Communists, I said nothing; after all, I was not a Communist. When they locked up the Social Democrats, I said nothing; after all, I was not a Social Democrat. When they arrested the trade unionists, I said nothing; after all, I was not a trade unionist. When they arrested the Jews, I said nothing; after all, I was not a Jew. When they arrested me, there was no longer anyone who could protest." -The Rev. Martin Niemöller (the English translation varies, but I believe this is the closest).
"The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don't have any" -Alice Walker