I never talked about the Guster show, did I? It was a little strange, because all of a sudden, Guster is a rock band.

This was the third time I’ve seen them, and I never knew that. I don’t think they really knew either. They took a long time off from headlining shows while lots of little Guster fans loaned their Guster CDs out to soon-to-be Guster fans, and when they came back, a) they were suddenly hardcore and b) everybody knew all the words to the songs. They surprised the hell out of everyone, including themselves, and the result was one of the best shows I’ve ever seen. And they didn’t even play “Bury Me.” They didn’t have to.

The opening act was this band Blue Merle, the first purported “alt-country” band who seem to actually care about the country part. I always thought I hated most country music, but recently I’ve come to understand that what I hate is Nashville music, and that the country influence isn’t inherently bad.

(I still hate steel guitar, though.)

Anyway, Blue Merle was possibly the most enthusiastic alternative-lite band ever–much, much too happy to be doing what they were doing. This was one of the reasons I liked them so much, the other being that their music is really really good. You can stream the beginning of some of their songs on their (unnecessarily Flashy) site, and I just put up Bens mp3s like a week ago, so I won’t post them now, but be warned! Or, if you live around here, ask to borrow the CD. I’m flexible. I can handle that.

Oh, and they totally signed a broken drumstick (which the drummer threw and for which I dived, and which I snagged, in the process nearly mauling a girl with a broken arm)! I’d cam it, except it’s not really that interesting. It’s basically a broken drumstick with permanent marker on it.

You can’t borrow it, though. That baby goes on my wall.