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So I’ve attended three Friday night concerts in July, but have been too busy and/or lazy to write about them. In chronological order, here goes.

Friday July 3rd, drove up to New Hampshire to see Adam Franklin, billed as “the best guitar player you’re never heard of” (toshack highway, magnetic morning, swervedriver). He played a mix of rocking jams and shoegazey stuff, very creative playing, lots of work with bending strings, plays like the guitar’s an extension of himself. Teeny tiny random NH venue, rickety seats, cheap concessions, genial and appreciative crowd of all ages, great show and experience all around.

Friday July 10th, epic 7 hour bus ride (cuz of Friday traffic) up to Burlington VT to see Davy Knowles and Back Door Slam. You’ve heard of Davy only if you read my post about Jeff Beck: Davy's a 20-something kid from the Isle of Man who plays and sings classic and original electric blues like… well, he’s been compared to Clapton and Hendrix, not just by me. He and Back Door Slam are touring in support of Chickenfoot this summer, so I’ll see them in Boston next month, but I wanted to see Davy headline a small venue, thus the trek up to VT. Because of the extra long busride I got to the venue late, but hey, Burlington VT has mellow crowds, and I was able to worm my way almost to the front immediately, and was leaning on the stage by the end of the show (12:30am). The show was so amazing, I don’t know what to say. Davy is an incredible guitarist with a great stage presence, and his new bass player and drummer are much more skilled than the former back up players, and the three of them just tore the roof off the place, to the delight of the crowd. The drummer actually broke not one but two snare heads in the course of the show, which meant there was a pause while he affixed a new one. That’s what I call rock’n roll.
As I’m getting older I’m ever less willing to travel for shows (hell sometimes I skip shows in town) but I will so travel to see these guys play. My left ear was buzzing for three days, so maybe next time I should actually wear the earplugs.

Finally, last night was Steely Dan playing Gaucho and other tunes at the Wang Theater in Boston. I’d seen them before in Mansfield but the theater accoustics were much better suited to their style of music. Donald Fagen’s distinctive voice takes a while to warm up, and this time I got to hear “Time out of Mind” played and sung as it should be, very satisfying. Fagen is kinetic and interesting to watch, flailing around and opening and shutting his mouth like a jazzy Kermit the Frog. Walter Becker's onstage persona is reserved though his bass playing is not reserved in the least. The backup band is a collection of exceedingly talented jazz horns and percussionists so the jams were downright sizzling. Much as I love the typical concert in which the audience doesn't know what tune will be played next, there's also something very satisfying about hearing the songs from a specific album played in order. Now I kinda wish I had also gone to see them play Aja Wednesday night... drat that whole job thing!