Marshall Crenshaw w/ the Bottle Rockets- Off Broadway, St. Louis. Jan. 21, 2011

My friend Tim gave me a Marshall Crenshaw record just on a whim, thinking I might be into his bluesey pop songs.  As it turns out, I am!  Being too young to have heard him during his more mainstream popularity, its good to listen to someone’s catalog with honest ears.  I didn’t know just how large of a reaction “someday, someway” would recieve until he jangled the opening chord.  I also had never been to Off Broadway, so I found out how cool the place is, fully equipped with a life size cardboad cutout of Billy Dee Williams, but sorely lacking Busch Beer. 

The Bottle Rockets opened the show and served as Mr. Crenshaw’s backing band.  Honestly, I’ve never really liked their songs, found them a bit flat on record.  But their live show really makes this band.  Thats how I feel good country rock should be seen:  drunk in a bar.  I hadn’t even realized that the Bottle Rockets’ bass player, Keith, was the same Keith that tends bar in my hometown’s Brewhaus bar.  Shows how much I knew, but once again, I listened with open mind.  The