M'sieu Doughty
So I haven’t blogged too much lately… I have been wanting to, but life keeps presenting me with horrible distractions: car break-in, child support issues, cheap insurance company issues, short changes in time (daylight savings crapola), etc. Yata, yata, yata… wah, wah, wah…
I do want to chime in on the talented Mr. Doughty.
Mike Doughty, of Soul Coughing *alert Wikipedia link alert* fame joined us at The Triple Door on Friday, March 12th. His tour is called “The Question Jar Tour”. It is quite entertaining. M. Doughty will regale his audience with his songs and then sprinkle in responses to questions submitted to Ye Olde Question Jar. This provides a lot of humor and intimacy to the occasion. He answered such questions as, “If the constraints of logic and physics did not matter, what type of pet would you have?” To which M. Doughty replied, “A pony the size of this room. I will name him Jimmy!” and, “Can I call you Brian?”. The answer to the latter question was a simple, “Yes.”
The whole show provided a warm and fuzzy vibe. Luckily M. Doughty did not have to get all M. Doughty on folks at the 3D. It was, or seemed to me, a pretty big love-fest. The peeps were happy. The wine flowed. The food was it’s usual stellar goodness.
We had a pretty rockin’ week 3/08 – 3/12. I mean that literally. Matthew Good was loud. Lukas Nelson was loud. Efterklang (I may chime in about them in the future) and M. Doughty were the perfect finish to the week. Ethereal, atmospheric grooves and then some good, ol’ fashioned pickin’ and grinnin’ from Mike.
Good times.
I was not that familiar with Mike Doughty outside of Soul Coughing, so this was a real treat. Although some of his songs do resonate a familiarity of SC’s “Circles”, I really enjoyed his crafting. I’m a sucker for a well crafted guitar hook and Doughty has them in bunches. I also like his approach to lyricism. He’s not afraid to not take himself too seriously. So refreshing. I think that might be his maturity showing through as well. When one is younger, one tends to be soooo serious! There is a lot of cute, quirkiness to Mike’s writing. I find that fun myself. Also there is a lot of intelligence needed to pull that off. I would definitely put him in the category of a 1337 geek rocker. And I mean that with the utmost esteem. As a torturer of guitars and warbler myself, he gives hope to aspiring geeky acoustic composers like myself. 
I really enjoyed this song: Down On The River
It’s much different live and acoustic, but I couldn’t find a live recording on the ‘nets I liked. Very much more haunting with the acoustic arrangement. But you get the idea from this video. Plus it’s a bit hilarious.
Support Mike in his effort to entertain the world! It’s worth it. You will smile.
p.
