Joe Pug!

Dear Readers,

Last Saturday night my wife and I saw Joe Pug in concert. I hadn't heard of Joe Pug before last week when I was looking for something cool to do for our five year wedding anniversary. I just googled "cheap concerts" or something and I found Joe Pug. I listened some his song samples for a minute, and that minute was enough to convince me that I wanted- no, I NEEDED, to see Joe Pug.

And I was not disappointed. Neither was my wife.

The concert was amazing. Joe Pug was amazing. It energized me and provoked me. It made me happy, and thoughtful. I actually couldn't get to sleep for a while after we got home, because I was thinking about the concert. I'm probably going to buy his CD pretty soon.

I'm really glad that I found Joe Pug. He's restored my faith in the prospect of new people making good, new music.

I felt a little uncomfortable in the venue. It was a 21 and older show. It's not often that I go into a place where I have to show ID. It was in a bar, in the Sail Inn in Tempe. I think my wife and I were the only Mormons in the whole place. We seemed to be the only ones without a cup of alcohol in our hands. So, you know, I'm kind of a um... I'm kind of a um... well... a Mormon suburbanite, you know what I mean? I'm politically conservative and I've been spending a lot of my mornings lately digging around in my back yard, trying to get grass to grow, and reading Dr. Seuss books to my toddler daughter, and there I was in the middle of all these cool people... Bearded men, tattooed ladies, liberals, artists, folks who don't have kids and live downtown, you know what I'm saying? Maybe the word I'm looking for is bohemians. They're wonderful people, the concert-goers, the bohemians. I had no reason to be afraid of them. They were friendly.

I've found myself torn between two worlds- the bohemians and the Mormon suburbanites. So, I thought about some of these things during the concert. Another thing I thought about during the concert was how unashamed Joe Pug and his band-mates were. Joe Pug emoted all over the stage. He was cool, he was confident. He was a dynamite performer, but it wasn't a far-away, detached performance he was doing; he really connected with the audience.

One thing was annoying though. Between songs, Joe Pug said, "Hey did that law ever pass in Arizona where you can racially profile people?" (I imagine he was referring to SB 1070, because that law got a lot of national press) And somebody yelled, "No," and Joe Pug said, "That's good to hear," or something, and then he moved on to something else. But a guy next to me yelled, "What do you mean it didn't pass?" But nobody really responded. I sort of wanted to explain to everyone, a) SB 1070 prohibited racial profiling, b) it passed in the AZ house and senate, and was signed into law by Governor Jan Brewer, but C) The federal government sued Arizona, and federal judge Susan Bolton struck down much of the law. But you know, the setting wasn't really appropriate. Plus, people might start questioning me about my political opinions, and I'd have to fess up that I'm a crazy tea-partier, and then none of the bohemians would like me any more.

So I wish Joe Pug's politics weren't so wrong, but hey, he's from Chicago, and he's an artist, and he's a heathen, so I'll let his political positions slide. And you know Bob Dylan is my favorite musician, and he was really liberal back in the day, and he actually still is pretty liberal. Bob Dylan supported Obama last time around, but then I was cheered when I heard that Bob Dylan didn't really like Obama anymore. Point is, if I had to get rid of all my music that came from liberal musicians, I wouldn't have very much music. I guess I would still have Johnny Cash and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. But Bob Marley, Pink Floyd, Bob Dylan, you know... they're all pretty liberal. One musician I can't pin down is Woody Guthrie. Sometimes I think he's a patriotic, Constitutional conservative. Other times I think he's a socialist, because he has all those pro-union songs. But Woody Guthrie's time was so long ago... blah blah blah.

Oh, I'm glad I brought up Bob Dylan because I really want to compare Joe Pug to Bob Dylan. They're a lot alike. They both write wonderful poetic lyrics. They both play the guitar, sing, and play the harmonica. They both wear those metal harmonica things around their necks. And they both have similar voices.

Probably my favorite Joe Pug song is Hymn 101. There were a lot of people singing along to that song at the concert last Saturday night. The fans knew every word.

Do yourself a favor and listen to some Joe Pug.

Sincerely,
Telemoonfa