I first ran across Esthero when she appeared on a Blue Man Group album, of all things. She did a cool version of Jefferson Airplane’s “White Rabbit” on their release The Complex.

Then, completely by happenstance, I saw her on one of the late-night talk shows. She did the title song from her latest CD, Wikked Lil’ Grrrls. It’s a sassy little number and I liked it immediately, so when I learned she was coming to town, I didn’t think twice about picking up a ticket.

Later I discovered that Mike Doughty from Soul Coughing was going to play the Aquatennial Block Party. At that point I knew it was going to be a busy night. I’d try to see the Doughty show, then hit the Fine Line. The schedule would be tight, but it would all work out.

And work out it did. I saw Doughty and made it to the Fine Line near the end of the first opening act.

The first guy, I didn’t catch his name, but he wasn’t right for the show. He was a singer/songwriter/guitar act that struck me as whiney and a real downer.

The second opening act was a woman named Toya Alexis. I was worried when she took the stage. It was just Alexis and a guy playing acoustic guitar. To my surprise, she turned out to be something else. What an incredible voice!

On one song, I think it was “Baby”, she did about half of it as herself, then briefly as each of several well-known singers like Mariah Carey, Whitney Houston, and Ertha Kitt. There were one or two others, but I don’t remember for sure. It was both hilarious and stunning at the same time.

Then Esthero herself took the stage…with two backup singers and an 8-piece band comprised of a drums, percussion, a flute/saxophone player, trumpet, trombone, bass, guitar (who played with Toya during the opening act), and keyboards.

Based on what I could find on-line, the set list was “Wikked Lil’ Girls,” “Breath from Another,” “OG Bitch,” “Country Livin’,” “Swallow Me,” “Everyday is a Holiday with You,” “If Tha Mood,” “Superheros,” “Bad Boy Clyde,” “Half A World Away,” “Gone,” “My Torture,” “Fastlane,” “We Are In Need of a Musical Revolution,” “Joey,” “Amelia,” and “Wish You Away.” There were a couple other songs too, but I’m not even sure the list above is entirely accurate.

At one point, between songs, Esthero called out a guy because he was just way too loud. “If I can hear you better than I can hear myself, you’re too f’in loud!” Then she strongly suggested he buy her a shot from the bar. Sheepishly, he complied, but Mr. Loudmouth didn’t quiet down much afterward.

After a short break, Esthero and her brother, J, came out to do “Joey” and a new song she hadn’t practiced with the band. Then everyone came back out to do the last couple songs.

After the show, both the dummer and the trombone player took time out to talk for a few minutes. Both were very cool, but couldn’t stay long as they had to pack their own stuff and head to Chicago for a show the next night. When the trombonist saw my camera he asked if I had gotten a couple flash pictures. (I had.) The bell on his horn was painted with an orange, red, and white flame-ish pattern. The rest of the instrument was mostly white rather than a normal yellow-brass color. It took on an unearthly glow when the flash hit it.

Esthero didn’t come out after the show, but her manager or assistant took stuff backstage to get it signed. Some of the other folks waiting got brought back to see Esthero, but I got skipped. I think I’m too introverted and therefor not pushy enough to have gotten a behind-the-scenes meet-and-greet. Clearly it’s something I need to work on.

The tally: 90+ minutes of music, 1 musical discovery (Toya Alexis), 308 pictures, and 1 autograph. All on top of the earlier show. A damn fine night indeed.

As if my weekend weren’t busy enough, earlier this week I learned that that Mike Doughty, the lead singer for Soul Coughing, was doing a short set at The Aquatennial Block Party.

I had another concert the same night but, as it turned out, the schedule worked fine. Doughty was scheduled to take the stage at 2015 and finish at 2100. All of the Block Party shows where scheduled the same way; each artist had a 45 minute set with only 15 minutes between. The other show was at the Fine Line with doors at 2000, which meant the music wouldn’t start until at least 2100. This would be perfect.

Mike came on and did a handful of songs from his new album, Haughty Melodic, and a couple from previous albums. I wish I was more familiar with his more recent stuff, but at least he did a number (“True Dreams of Wichita”) from the first Soul Coughing album. Not my favorite, but great to hear the one of the old songs performed live.

After the show, he came out and signed stuff. “Anything you want,” he said in the announcement before the last song.

In the crush of people trying to get to the autograph table, I met a guy named Jason and his Grandma. Both very nice people, but Grandma was really into it all. She said she wanted to have Doughty sign her breasts. No. Kidding. Now, how cool a Grandma is that?

Jason said he was really in it to moon Mike Doughty. He changed that to getting Mike to sign his buttocks. I said that if he did, I’d try to get a picture and we’d make arrangements to get him a copy. Jason got more excited as we got closer to the front of the line. “Mike Doughty, sign my ass!” Mike looked at him and asked, “Are you sure?” then sign it (them) he did. I even have the picture to prove it.

Nothing quite as crazy for me. I got Mike to sign my Ruby Vroom CD and asked to get a picture with him. Done deal. Once I have the editing done, I’ll put the picture on-line.

It was a pretty good show and I’m glad I went. I really wish it had been a longer show with Doughty doing the whole thing. I would have blown off the other show for that, but you can’t have everything.

Final score: 45 minutes of music, 1 autograph, 45 minutes to get the autograph, 262 pictures. I should be able to scare up a dozen or so that are good enough to post.

Yeah, I’d do it again.

Came across a cool little Flash game called Chaos Theory. 50 balls are tossed up in the air and slowly float down. The goal is to set off an explosion to start a chain reaction and blow up as many balls as possible. The score from each of the three rounds are added together for your total.

Simple as it is, it’s everything a good action game should be. You get enticed by that elusive perfect score, but frustrated with never being able to reach it. A cross between luck, skill, and luck as you randomly get a decent score, start to recognize patterns in the game, then try to manipulate them (hah!) to get better.

My high was 138 (luck) on my 3rd game. My average is around 110. Lots of 120′s, offset by a couple games under 50 as I tried a couple things.