Cross Record/Beat Drun Juel

 These two shows at first appear to be in conflict. I can either go see Cross Record at Quenchers or Beat Drun Juel at Cole's. Cross Record was headlining and BDJ was not. That made seeing both possible. Cole's on Milwaukee Ave was free and within a long walk away from Quenchers on Western and Fullerton. Its a matter of arriving on time and parking well between both. I find parking closest to Quenchers. I go in and notice that CR will go on at 12:15. I glance back and notice Emily talking among the crowd. I got time I did not know I had, and I was not really feeling who was playing when I walked in. I can kill time and make this walk to Cole's, at least just to find out. It does not matter if I miss BDJ. I can make it back on time to see Emily Cross. Walking don't cost me shit! Let's do this!
  
  Milwaukee around Cole's is so congested it's almost discouraging if you are driving. That's taken care of so I'm excited. I just need to know if that is possible to see two gigs within walking distance from each other. My glasses fog as I make my way past people that are standing around talking to those seated. Even if I miss Beat Drun Juel the effort is worth it. So I see her on stage, Pasty Face is how she announces herself.  Her drummer has not arrived and so she has to perform solo. At this point I don't connect Pasty Face with Beat Drun Juel. I look around to the merch table and notice the name Fox Face. So I assume I just heard wrong,....hmmm but I really heard Pasty Face. How the fuck can I get it that wrong. So I stay around and see this girl do her solo set because her drummer had not arrived on time, the entire time I'm thinking I'm actually seeing Fox Face.
  
  So she plays her solo set and then with her bass player, and then her drummer arrives and finishes the set. These singular moments often endear the performer to you by how they react to the unexpected. She played on. She trusted her music to the audience even as the components were incomplete. She trusted her own performance. That right there is gonna sell me. By this time I had already read somewhere BDJ sounded like PJ Harvey or at least they were in the same sentence together, and I recall listening to her music briefly. But I wanted the imprint to be this live event. I got to see the full intense continuum from Pasty Face to Beat Drum Juel. Intensity that was evident on her face and on her guitar playing. This is memorable for what happened and how I got there. I got to talk to her later. It turns out I heard her right. And she remembers we met before through Venus from Moritat at Burlington. The songs she played solo I want to hear again. I come out feeling empowered, having heard Beat Drun Juel, and met Ms. Pasty Face. Now, I can walk to go see Cross Record!
  
  One of the most endearing memories of Emily Cross is seeing her at this now closed Hungry Brain on Belmont. She just gave me her CD, which was essentially a double EP, Ring Bell/Magnetic Current. She did this a second time with the LP Be Good. She just gave me the bloody download card. I mean....Wow! These moments are seared into your memory and whatever is heard from that person becomes a voice for your thoughts expressed. Its just the sweet introspective psychedelic sounds and voice that reach into you. Imagine a rustic, psychedelic Julee Cruise. Oh, and the rustic was there before moving to Austin. Cross Record is from Chicago.  Y'all can start taking credit after Be Good. At some point during Emily's gig, she said it was past her normal bed time. She thought it was 1am. It was actually a little past 12. She was tired, and she don't wanna hear there's an extra hour of not sleeping. Her band, which is Emily and her husband played mostly borrowed instruments. The unfamiliar guitar that she was strapping on seemed bigger than she was. The strap was not cooperating with her, and she endured the discomfort for at least one track, perhaps more.  A little bit into this song, she had to stop. The guitar strap was not adjusting to her, she had to switch guitars and while she tuned that guitar, her husband plays on. It actually worked for me, how they weaved

it into their performance. She was tired but it was not evident on her performance. As for me, I'm a fan. It was all good and wondrous. I was happy to witness this. You just have to support the artist. I don't recall a lot of music that I'm familiar with out of her that night. And I was impressed with what she did perform. I saw emerging her own brand of cool, sweet psychedelia. Or perhaps its just the words that I finally found to describe her sounds. It only occurred to ask her what she was playing from after I left. The questions I had that would not take but two minutes, I only put into words well into East bound 90/94, going home. Aside from that last part, this was a wonderful Friday night.
Zig