More from Moritat

28 November, Moritat at The Whistler. This band has grown on me. My head has them on random. Was it last year when I saw them at Quenchers? Yes. It was a dull, boring Sunday that they saved me from back then. The boredom made me wander there, it made me explore. As accidents go, that was one that keeps on giving, because I keep seeing this band deliberately. I don't think I was all that familiar with Whistler at that time. So getting to know this Moritat and this tiny closet of a venue have been almost simultaneous. You will never soak up all that you can about a band in one performance. At Q's, I only recall Venus on vocals and keyboard and then everyone else. It's also a matter of what I actively look for, which is the female voice. Other things will naturally assume a support role in my eyes. Back at Whistler I'm noticing everyone else now, the bass player, drummer. And they all sing, like with "Pregnant Ladies", one of my favorites from the new CD "One Minute Fade". In a bizarre twist they dedicated that song to pregnant women....my sister was due to give birth herself that very week. So, it's still mostly Venus who sings. And it's her keyboard that keeps hooking me in these subtle ways. And then it's what the music fondly reminds me of when it grabs me. Remember "Sesame Street" during one of those little cartoons that help you count with some kind of pinball rolling around with that crazy jazz piano going and then they yell "Seven!"? I know they don't purposely want to sound like what I describe. These weird ways of describing them come out of me and stick to them like a nickname you can't live down.

Moritat's music plays a lot in my head. They indeed held the audience as they played. Not as many people casually talking. It's nice to bullshit with the band afterwards but I always fall into this rut talking about the same two songs or how I think they are awesome. Here and there I don't always embarrass myself.

The Whistler is awesome. It's not just because it has no cover. It's a small, classy place. There is a patio in the back. When it's open, people go back there to smoke cigarettes and talk. You can take your drink in the back to give that illusion of drinking outside like they do in England. The drinks there are absolutely outstanding, expensive, but worth it for the professional effort the bartenders put in. Yet you can still drink really cheap. I've noticed how musicians casually come see other musicians at Whistler. This time with Moritat I saw Julie Meckler.....well Venus and Julie are already friends, they are always at each other's gigs. Still Whistler seems to have become a kind of casual haven for all kinds of musicians. I should have posted this ages ago.

Zig