I don't need TV, when I have T. Rex...

91. I Was Drunk, Alejandro Escovedo
There's only one Alejandro.

Throughout the first few songs of Alejandro Escovedo's set on Friday night at First Avenue, I kept thinking of David Bowie for some reason. This feeling that maybe Escovedo is the Bowie of roots rock kept weighing down on me. It's a goofy little comparison, but it just felt right. The music he allows to surround his lyrics is bendy and alien sometimes, while still feeling basic and rootsy. And his voice isn't really twangy when he sings, but it is when he talks. You get the feeling he could be anything at any time up on that stage, and each new song he played was different, but weirdly fit with the one before, as the night progressed. And Jesus, his voice...the man has Hepatitis C. You don't just take some Vitamin C and call it a bad mistake on that one. I was really worried that he'd have to limp through something up there, singing on heart and conviction, but good God was I wrong. Even if he didn't move and swagger too much, his voice crashed around the room, reintroducing himself as our weird ol' Texas spirit guide Uncle Alejandro, gone for awhile, but come back to visit. His rendition of "I Was Drunk," the 91st greatest Country Song of All Time, was outstanding, if not chilling in its desperation and tone. This is truly a masterpiece of isolation and pain, and it struck me for the first time what a brilliant move it was to never call out or record the name he's actually calling out in the song. It's all part of relating the pain and loneliness, and besides, it makes the song more universal in the end. Finally, he absolutely kicked my ass at the end, with a two song encore of "All The Young Dudes (written by Bowie--see? It wasn't just the dirty tap delirium and nausea that caused that thought)" and the Stones' "Sway."

Thu 07.21.05 Oklahoma City, OK Blue Door
Fri 07.22.05 Kansas City, MO
Sat 07.23.05 Kansas City, MO Davey's Uptown
Thu 08.04.05 Calgary, AB (CA)
Fri 08.05.05 Calgary, AB (CA) Night Gallery
Sat 08.06.05 Edmonton, AB (CA)
Sun 08.07.05 Edmonton, AB (CA) Gallagher Park w/ Edmonton Folk Festival
Fri 08.26.05 San Francisco, CA
Sat 08.27.05 San Francisco, CA 12 Galaxies
Fri 09.23.05 Austin, TX
Sat 09.24.05 Austin, TX Continental Club
Thu 09.29.05 New York, NY Irving Plaza w/ Jon Dee Graham, David Pulkingham & Matt Fish
Fri 09.30.05 Washington, DC 9:30 Club w/ Jon Dee Graham, David Pulkingham & Matt Fish
Sat 10.01.05 tba w/ Jon Dee Graham, David Pulkingham & Matt Fish
Sun 10.02.05 Philadelphia, PA Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts (Verizon Hall)

The people who live in the above cities are dumbasses if they don't go catch this guy's show when he comes to town. That's all we have to say about that.