We Get Out - Matt Nathanson, Sarah Jarosz

Trying for a quick recap of the musical week just past...

It began, as Mondays generally do, with the posting of my weekly concert picks column for Citysteam.com in which I wrote about shows by Hey Rosetta!, Glasvegas and Sierra Leone's All Star Refugees, among others.

But first, I throw us back in time to the week before, and a different set of concert picks with acts like
The Antlers, Todd Snider, River James and others. The one show that I made a distinct effort to get off my butt and see was Todd Snider's, but the label never answered my request (file under: Work With Me, People! just send an email one way or the other, 'K?) and other things came up. The last show on the list was Matt Nathanson, a personal favorite, but he was opening a three-act bill at Merriweather Post and that meant a bad ratio of hassle:fun.

The great thing, though, was that I had gotten word that Matt (he's such a good guy, and I've followed him so long, I'll break from the last name convention) would be doing a "secret" show at Jammin' Java on Monday night and, thanks to my lovely pals at the club, missing the very brief ticket window announcement on Twitter and email was not going to stop me from getting in.

I saw the show, loved it, wrote about it for examiner.com and got over 1,000 hits in one day for the review and photo gallery. The hits came, I do believe, from the fact that Matt's people posted the link on his Facebook fan page, which came as a nice surprise.

For the full review of the show and lots of pics, check out the story on examiner.com.

Among the shows that were listed in this past week's previews there was a return area appearance by the lovely Sarah Jarosz, who did a wonderful sold-out show at Reston's cozy CenterStage last month and was coming back to Jammin' Java with her two amazing sidemen on cello and fiddle. I made it out to that show, too. Also SRO and a thing of string-fueled beauty. 

Afterwards, I chatted with the trio and they pretended to remember me. Nice people, gorgeous music.

Today was a day to add some new music to the collection in actual, physical CD form. Borders, which appears to be decreasing its music department all the time, had sent out an email about a 40% off sale on CDs and DVDs, so I took a ride out Route 7 for a look-see. As I've said before, Borders prices are high to begin with ($15 and up for most new releases), so it takes a sizable discount to make buying there worthwhile. I tried to stay within budget and brought home the following:

DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE - The Open Door EP (Atlantic)
Five-tracks from 2009. ($2.99)
PATTON OSWALT - My Weakness is Strong CD/DVD (Warner Bros./Degenerate)
Local boy (he grew up in a Virginia town about 90 minutes from here) made very good, and very funny. I once saw him walking past the movie theatre at Reston Town Center and blurted out the name of a neighbor/friend who went to school with him. Strange, I know, but he's probably used to much worse. ($10.19)
A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC - Original Broadway Cast (Columbia)
Confession: I have to check to see if I already have this (or is it just on vinyl?) but couldn't risk missing out. Save the receipt. ($5.99)
BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN - London Calling: Live in Hyde Park DVD
I'm not the Brooooooooce fanatic I once was, but when I saw that this concert opens with "London Calling," (doh!) I felt I had to see what the Boss has been up to live lately. ($11.99)
SLY &  The FAMILY STONE - Stand/The Woodstock Experience (Epic/Legacy)
Hubby and I had both "Monterey Pop" and "Woodstock" on our Netflix queue in recent weeks and were struck with how well the music has held up over the years. Some of the performances were jaw-dropping. This Sly double-feature - the original "Stand" album plus the full Woodstock performance - made for groovy Saturday afternoon listening. ($11.99)
UNCUT Magazine  ($9.99) - Happy Birthday, Bob Dylan issue, with a 16-track CD of Dylan cover songs (Robyn Hitchcock, North Mississippi North Stars, Soweto Gospel Choir) or birthday-themed songs (Sufjan Stevens, Wanda Jackson, Hank Williams). The magazine is publishing four different  covers for  the mag/CD. I opted for the young, Tarantula-era Dylan.

YTD O/CD Tally: 50