July 31 - 5:30 PM, Rasputin Records, Berkeley, CA 

I saw Pete Yorn perform yesterday afternoon at Rasputin Records in Berkeley. As usual, I was running late. I got there in plenty of time, found a parking space near my old place six blocks off campus and four blocks from the store, and discovered that parallel parking ability really is a use it or lose it skill. Unfortunately, I needed to find the facilities, and despite being on a college campus, the first several buildings I tried were either locked or had only locked bathrooms - damn summer hours! I made it to Dwinelle Hall and after getting turned around a bit, I found what I was looking for and got out.

I made it to Rasputins about 5 minutes late, but Pete was even later. If I had been thinking, I would have pre-ordered my copy of his forthcoming Nightcrawler release before he began to play, but I’ll get to that. Pete was about 15 minutes late, which worked out for me. I had time to cool off - it was warm in Berkeley and I was the only one with a long sleeve knit top. The back room where they keep the DVDs was a funny place for the performance because everyone had to crowd in between the three aisles. It was an unnatural clumping, but amusing to see such an expectant, earnest crowd.

Pete finally showed up, in a hat, a fedora? I dunno. I don’t know from hats. He played five songs, just the right length. First up, the unreleased Baby, I’m Gone, and he was naively surprised someone knew it. Heck, even I have that song and I don’t have time to be an obsessed fan. Then Life on a Chain, including the story of how he wrote the song the very morning it got him signed to Columbia Records. Next, The Man, with a cute bit where he pretended that Natalie Maines, who backs him on the album, was there but reluctant to join him onstage. Then, I Feel Good Again, a rollicking good number. Finally, he closed with a slow The Golden Road, which is a fitting end, but a little bit of a downer to end the set.

After the set ended, Pete sat down to sign copies of Westerns, the EP that was complimentary along with a pre-order Nightcrawler. The pre-order also included a copy of a recording of the in-store. I kind of thought it would be more neat to have an in-store recording I never heard. It was all very impractical for me to put down my five bucks for a coupon for the album given that it would be a pain for me to make it back to Rasputin sometime after classes start for the sole purpose of picking up a CD I probably could get for less elsewhere and a live recording that I probably didn’t want. But I was a sucker for the instant gratification of owning Westerns.

I got my coupon and realized that had I done that while waiting for Pete, I would have been at the front of the line to get Westerns autographed. Instead, I had to tell the Rasputins folks I didn’t “want to get my copy signed” so I could circumvent the very long line in getting my copy. Surely, it would have been nice to get the autograph, but then I would be late getting back to the city and the concert I’d paid to see. It’s all right, of course, as I already met him when I lived in L.A. and he (and Marc Dauer and the very pretty Simon Petty) signed my Trampoline Records sleeve.