Guess all that time spent on the road did David Berman some good, eh? Despite his reputation as a hermetic, troubled intellectual, Berman was in rare form when he performed with his Silver Jews at the Black Cat on Wednesday night. Sure, Berman might have had the stage presence of an English professor--what did you expect?--but he genuinely seemed to be enjoying himself up there as he paced up and down the stage, dryly singing his way through a night full of wordy, cerebral narratives. It helped that his band, anchored by wife Cassie, was totally on point and that the night's setlist--heavy on songs from the recent Lookout Mountain, Lookout Sea, as well as the band's 2001 masterpiece Bright Flight--was impeccably chosen and sequenced. more ›

The Red and the Black, Northeast's cozy jambalaya joint, added some more Southern flavor to their menu last night: Cackalackee (that’s “Carolina” to you Yankees) natives Mikal Evans and Sweater Weather, served up with a side of The Foreign Press. The Foreign Press aren’t exactly Southern, unless your definition of the South includes D.C. (and yes, we're below the Mason-Dixon line), but lead singer Andy Fox’s Stephen Malkmus-style delivery has earned FP comparisons to Pavement’s... more ›